Why the Road Crossed the Tortoise: The Properties of Expressway Development and Displacement of Protected Wildlife

Keywords: property, expressway development, conservation, climate, threatened species
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 18

Abstract

Protected and listed species are given recognition by state environmental agencies, while simultaneously continue to be subjects of injustice when faced with a politics of security that justifies the building of road infrastructures that continue to exacerbate climate crises. Listed species life and habitat is often sacrificed to construct new road projects that are argued as necessary for promoting circulation and bolstering emergency management. This paper examines how property rights claims and expressway governance intersect with gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) conservation in Florida, using the case of the Osceola Parkway Extension (OPE) in Central Florida. We highlight how county protected lands associated with gopher tortoise conservation were targeted for right-of-way acquisition—rather than displacing the private property situated within adjacent (built and proposed) residential subdivisions. We illustrate how the habitats, movements, and lives of both gopher tortoises and suburbanites are considered, prioritized, and secured in the process of selecting the alignment of the OPE and offsetting its impacts. This suggests that legal and political conservation strategies need to be understood in dialogue with the governing rationalities of infrastructure development that continue to constitute enduring threats to the gopher tortoise and their local environments. Fully recognizing the threats to listed species and their protections allows for better decision-making in proposing and constructing road infrastructures that further climatic crises, positioning us to move towards a multispecies justice future.