Mission Statement:
The East Lee Wildlife Stewardship Group is dedicated to the conservation and preservation of native wildlife species and habitat in eastern Lee County and surrounding areas. ELWSG advocates for responsible growth and development in a manner that protects and preserves our local native wildlife and ecosystems.
Our origin story:
Our group formed after a group of concerned citizens found each other and bonded over the common experience of watching gopher tortoise burrows illegally bulldozed with the tortoises being entombed and crushed to death inside their burrows. After utilizing the legal channels of calling the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Wildlife Alert Hotline and seeing that there were failures in the system due to an enforcement gap, our group formed in an effort to close this enforcement gap to get the tortoises the protections that they deserve.