{"id":1062,"date":"2025-11-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/?post_type=story&p=1062"},"modified":"2026-02-02T20:08:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:08:36","slug":"university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/stories\/university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"University Students Protect Gopher Tortoises with Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"

NWF and Mutual of Omaha\u2019s Wild Kingdom awarded grants to seven universities to protect endangered and vulnerable species<\/a>. The University of South Florida’s \u201cBull\u2019s Nature Trail\u201d Boardwalk Project will transform an underutilized campus resource into an ecologically sustainable green space that fosters biodiversity and mitigates human-wildlife conflict while strategically preventing encroaching development that threatens their diverse ecosystem. The project will minimize disturbance to existing habitats for the gopher tortoise and strategically channel foot traffic away from sensitive habitat areas, reducing trampling and erosion.<\/p>\n\n

Photo Credit: Lisa-Squicciarini<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NWF and Mutual of Omaha\u2019s Wild Kingdom awarded grants to seven universities to protect endangered and vulnerable species. The University of South Florida’s \u201cBull\u2019s Nature Trail\u201d Boardwalk Project will transform an underutilized campus resource into an ecologically sustainable green space that fosters biodiversity and mitigates human-wildlife conflict while strategically preventing encroaching development that threatens their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1063,"template":"","meta":{"featured_image_background_position":"","location":"University of South Florida","address-full":"","lat":28.05506,"lng":-82.4071,"footnotes":""},"topic":[10],"pillar":[5],"class_list":["post-1062","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-cwh","pillar-wildlife-recovery-and-habitat-restoration"],"yoast_head":"\nUniversity Students Protect Gopher Tortoises with Grant - 2025 Impact Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/stories\/university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"University Students Protect Gopher Tortoises with Grant - 2025 Impact Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NWF and Mutual of Omaha\u2019s Wild Kingdom awarded grants to seven universities to protect endangered and vulnerable species. The University of South Florida’s \u201cBull\u2019s Nature Trail\u201d Boardwalk Project will transform an underutilized campus resource into an ecologically sustainable green space that fosters biodiversity and mitigates human-wildlife conflict while strategically preventing encroaching development that threatens their […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/stories\/university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"2025 Impact Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NationalWildlife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-02T20:08:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/02\/Reptile-Gopher-Tortoise-Florida-Lisa-Squicciarini.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nwf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/stories\/university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/impact.nwf.org\/2025\/stories\/university-of-south-florida-protects-gopher-tortoises-with-grant\/\",\"name\":\"University Students Protect Gopher Tortoises with Grant - 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