Melissa and other volunteers used handheld GPS units to record the location of gopher tortoise burrows at Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center in Ruskin.

Volunteers like Katie and Alice also were taught how to measure the opening of the tortoise burrows and to assess whether the burrows were being actively used.

Harry gets close to a burrow to measure it and mark the location. The volunteers found more than 240 burrows, of which about 60 were deemed ot be actively used by gopher tortoises.