Bluetail mole sink12/19/2023 ![]() These xeric communities require periodic fire to maintain their ecological and biological functions and values. In addition to the direct destruction of xeric uplands within the Project area, increasing fragmentation has resulted in the degradation of many of the remaining parcels of habitat. Within the Lake Wales Ridge, about 85 percent of xeric uplands have been lost. Recent estimates indicate that 70 to 80 percent of the xeric uplands in Florida have been lost or degraded. Severe freezes during the mid-1980’s also resulted in a shift in citrus production from north central Florida to south Florida which resulted in further loss of xeric uplands. Since then additional losses are attributed to increasing urban growth, particularly in the northern portions of the action area. Urban and agricultural development in this area has resulted in substantial losses of habitat by the early 1980’s habitat loss was estimated at 66 percent. Xeric uplands within the Lake Wales Ridge have declined in distribution and ecological quality over the past 100 years. The recovery of sand skinks will require restoration of habitat and possible reintroduction of individuals into successfully restored habitat. The species is vulnerable because of habitat loss due to conversion to residential, commercial, and agricultural uses and from habitat degradation due to fire exclusion. The sand skink is a small, semifossorial lizard that occurs on the sandy ridges of interior central Florida from Marion County south to Highlands County. Habitat protection and management are essential for the survival of this species. Much of the blue-tailed mole skink’s historic habitat has been destroyed or degraded because of fragmentation due to residential, commercial, and agricultural development. The bluetailed mole skink is highly adapted for life in the sand it spends the majority of time below the surface where it moves through loose sand in search of food, shelter, and mates. It requires open, sandy patches interspersed with vegetation. The blue-tailed mole skink is a small, slender lizard that occupies xeric upland habitats in central peninsular Florida. ![]() We will make all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety. We will not, however, consider anonymous comments. ![]() If you wish us to withhold your name and address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. There may also be other circumstances in which we would withhold from the administrative record a respondent’s identity, as allowable by law. We will honor such requests to the extent allowable by law. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address from the administrative record. Our practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular business hours. Finally, you may hand deliver comments to either Service office listed below (see ADDRESSES). If you do not receive a confirmation from us that we have received your internet message, contact us directly at either telephone number listed below (see FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Please also include your name and return address in your internet message. You may also comment via the internet to Please submit comments over the internet as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption. You may mail comments to the Service’s Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). Please reference permit number TE105732–0 in such comments. ![]() SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of several methods. Michael Jennings, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Jacksonville Field Office, Jacksonville, Florida (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 904/232–2580, ext. David Dell, Regional HCP Coordinator, (see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/ 679–7313, facsimile: 404/679–7081 or Mr. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620 Southpoint Drive South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, Florida 32216–0912. Documents will also be available for public inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the Regional Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30345 (Attn: Endangered Species Permits), or Field Supervisor, U.S. Please reference permit number TE105732–0 in such requests.
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