BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38, PT. 1(5)


types and locations of burrows in an area may also be a limiting factor to this
species.

 Conservation.- No demographic study of the eastern diamondback has ever
been published, therefore the extent of its decline is difficult to determine. As early
as 1976, Ross Allen (pers. comm.) cautioned me that eastern diamondback
rattlesnake numbers had declined drastically over the preceding 20 years in
Florida, due mostly to habitat destruction. One thing is certain--biologists record
fewer and fewer local sightings of this species every year (W. Auffenberg, F.W.
King, R. H. Mount, S.R. Telford, Jr., pers. comm.), yet malicious killing and the
harvest for their skins and curios continues unabated. Enge (1991) felt that this
snake is "the most likely candidate for some form of protection from human
harvest" considering the relatively high scores that it received from a biological
vulnerability ranking system (Millsap et al. 1990). Ernst (1992) felt that ecological
studies of the eastern diamondback should be conducted soon, "as much of its
habitat is disappearing, particularly in Florida, or it may be too late to assure the
survivorship of this magnificent beast." Indeed, between 1936 and 1980, Florida's
total forest cover declined by 29% (Bechtold and Knight 1982); an educated guess
of the extant original forest would put the figure at no more than 50% today.
Where once forests were often replaced by agriculture, which can provide at least
marginal habitat for snakes, now most land clearing is linked to housing and
commercial development. The continued destruction and fragmentation of native
habitats can only lead to still greater declines for all of Florida's snakes.
 In 1993, the Gopher Tortoise Council formed the Rattlesnake Conservation
Committee. The purpose of the committee is to investigate the biological status of
C. adamanteus and promote its conservation throughout the southeast. It has
become evident to the committee members that this species warrants conservation
and management--in some states, perhaps, as a harvestable species, in other states
as an endangered species. In fact, I believe most Florida herpetologists would
agree that there is sufficient evidence to warrant listing the eastern diamondback
rattlesnake as a Species of Special Concern in the state of Florida. According to
the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission's Wildlife Code, a Species of
Special Concern is a species "which warrants special protection, recognition, or
consideration because it has inherent significant vulnerability to habitat
modification...or substantial human exploitation which, in the foreseeable future
may result in its becoming a threatened species...[and]...may occupy such an
unusually vital niche that should it decline significantly in numbers or distribution
other species would be adversely affected..."
 The State of Florida has made great strides in conservation in the last 10
years. The Preservation 2000 program for conservation land acquisition places
Florida at the forefront of such activities (Calleson et al. 1993). At the same time,
however, about 1,000 people move to Florida every day--people who know little, or
nothing, about the fragile nature of the Florida environment or of the struggles that