MOULTRIE — The Clark family likes to take vacations together but their idea of a vacation might be a little different then other family’s ideas of a vacation. Theirs always includes reptiles. This time, however, they decided to include something else — gopher tortoises.

On Saturday, some baby tortoises from Reed Bingham State Park’s Gopher Tortoise Management project were released back into the park after being given a better head start in life by park staff and volunteers. This project is just one of several ways the park is trying to protect and reclaim its natural sources, said Park Manager Chet Powell.

Jason Clark, his wife Sarah, their daughter Audrey, and several members of their family were on hand for the event. Clark and his family have formed an organization called Southeastern Reptile Rescue, which travels around the southeast educating people about reptiles — specifically snakes.

“When we take a vacation it’s usually reptile related...This is what we do for fun,” he said.

Clark, who is from Griffin, Ga., said he had heard about Reed Bingham and the work that Powell and his staff was doing with the gopher tortoises, so they decided to visit.

“I heard he has an excellent program here. I hope to learn something, too...It’s a beautiful place,” he said.

The Clark family did not just come alone, either. They brought the Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet with them along for the ride, as well. Animal Planet will be airing a show next season with the Clarks as the subject, he said.

“It follows every aspect of what we do,” said Clark.

He said he believed the reason that Animal Planet was interested in filming them was because he has gotten his entire family interested in and working with the reptile rescue organization. He said people can check in at his website, in the future, (www.snakesareus.com) to see the show dates. Clark said they have also developed a following of people who show-up wherever they happen to be presenting a program.

“It’s just people who enjoy nature,” he said.

Saturday morning started out a little brisk and overcast but quite a crowd showed-up at the beach pavilion at the park to watch the release. Powell and his staff began the day by presenting their program on the gopher tortoise and other species of turtles and tortoises. Powell introduced his staff and told the audience that all of them had started out as volunteers. He also told the crowd that Reed Bingham was not one of the parks that would be closed by the state and he got a round of applause from the audience.

“We’re the only park in the country that does the work we do,” he said.

He told them that he had been to Jekyll Island to the day before to learn how they insert microchips into sea turtles and also use this same technology for his baby gopher tortoises.

“Each one of these babies has a microchip in it,” he said.

He said that he was very impressed with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and what they were doing had given him some other ideas, too. He then, turned the program over to Mitch Lockhart, professor of Biology at Valdosta State University, who explained the new aspect of the Gopher Tortoise Management project, which was implanting the babies with the microchips.

“We took about 20 of the babies over to Jekyll Island and implanted the tags. It’s like you put in a pet,” he said.

He said they can track the babies and learn about them because they are a declining species. Things that have affected the gopher tortoise numbers are urban development and an upper respiratory disease that will spread through a tortoise population, he said.

“It’s kind of like the flu,” Lockhart said.

Jennifer Glover, interpretive ranger, then narrated the presentation about the various species of tortoises and turtles that they have in captivity. During the presentation, they were shown to the group. The Clark family participated by carrying the animals around the pavilion for the audience to see. Glover told the audience that the gopher tortoise was Georgia’s state reptile. She also said that armadillos, which are not native to Georgia, are one of the predators of the gopher tortoises. These animals will go “burrow to burrow like a buffet,” she said, to eat the eggs.

After the presentation, the audience was divided into groups to go to the area of the park where the gopher tortoise nests were, so that they could watch the babies being placed back in their burrows. The babies’ microchips were “scanned” before they were released by Christine Chessler, a Valdosta State University student who was doing her thesis on this project. The Clark family helped to release the babies with Powell and his staff, under the ever watchful eye of the Animal Planet camera crew.

On Oct. 11, the rest of the babies will be released and this is also open to the public, as well. Those interested in volunteering with the Gopher Tortoise Management Project may contact the park at 896-3551.