CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Richard Aliperti knew he wanted to live near wildlife when he moved to Cape Coral 14 years ago. He regularly made animal pottery so to him, living near wildlife made sense.
"When I found this piece of property and moved here, it was natural for me to want to be in an environment where I had creatures that I liked to create with my craft and also live amongst them," he said.
To their surprise, gopher tortoises habituated on their property and the one next door, a threatened species in Florida. They knew the tortoises needed the land to stay the way it is for them to keep their home, so decided to purchase the half-acre lot as soon as it went on the retail market.
"Since I've lived here for about 14 years, I've been trying to buy the property next door to watch the tortoises develop. One day, fortunately, it went up for sale," Richard said.
He felt it necessary to save land designated for the tortoises since more developments continue to pop up in Cape Coral.
"A lot of what we've grown up with disappears around us to preserve that for future generations is important," Richard said.
The named the lot "Maryjane's Preserve" after his wife Margaret's mother, who recently passed.
"She always enjoyed seeing the tortoises," Margaret said. "It's just in memory of her."
To commemorate her memory, Richard handmade tiles and created the "Maryjane's Preserve" sign posted at the front of their lot. He also created other pottery animals and placed them around the lot, hoping to draw some attraction to the yard. The couple even purchased a "Gopher Tortoise" information poster from Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife to display so people can learn about the wildlife they're seeing.
Richard says he hopes this preserve could become a small environmental park.
"A lot of our tourism could be driven by this," he said.
Another group is working on expanding the eco-tourism industry in Southwest Florida. Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife wants the city to designate six acres of City-owned property as a preserve for gopher tortoises in Northwest Cape Coral.
Until that happens, Richard wants to work with scientists and researchers to study the gopher tortoises and their daily routines.
"Be able to track the tortoises where they go, and be able to see how old they are, what they eat, where they travel, how they mate," Richard said.
Currently, Richard estimates around 40 burrows in the yard.
