Florida enacts sweeping law to protect its wildlife corridors

[Teresa]

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Florida enacts sweeping law to protect its wildlife corridors​

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was passed unanimously. It aims to protect green spaces, drinking water, and wildlife such as panthers.

By DOUGLAS MAIN
PHOTOGRAPHS BYCARLTON WARD JR.
PUBLISHED JUNE 30, 2021

Florida made conservation history by enacting a bill and securing $400 million in funding to help protect the state’s vast network of natural areas.

Known as the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, the legislation passed the Florida State Senate and House unanimously in late April. It was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on the evening of June 29.

The act formally recognizes the existence of the Florida wildlife corridor, an interconnected web of green spaces throughout much of the state that includes forests, swamps, fields, pastures, timberlands, and even the edges of suburbs.

Top: A double-crested cormorant dries its wings while perched on a fallen palm in the Rainbow River, near Dunnellon, north of Tampa...Read More

Bottom: A manatee mother and calf explore a spring in Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. Such springs provide warm refuges du...Read More

A fishing boat winds through mangroves in Everglades National Park. Conserving the corridor and the Everglades headwaters closer...Read More

These areas are crucial for the existence of Florida’s rich wildlife, especially wide-ranging species such as Florida panthers, black bears, otters, alligators, and many types of birds. Habitat fragmentation, caused by roads and development, is one of the most critical but least recognized threats to biodiversity.

Along with the bill, the legislature has also earmarked $300 million toward protecting lands within the corridor, which can be used to fund conservation easements on private property or acquire land. That’s in addition to $100 million allocated generally to the main state’s land conservation program, called Florida Forever, which functions similarly, though over a slightly broader geographic area.

The act is also intended to protect agricultural lands from development, to provide for continued recreational access to natural areas, and to safeguard clean water and air. That’s vital in the third most populous state, where an average of nearly a thousand people move every day.

A Florida panther walks among cypress knees during the dry season in Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. To survive, the endan...Read More

“It’s the best hope we got,” says Cary Lightsey, a sixth-generation cattle rancher who lives near Lake Kissimmee, of the corridor bill. Protecting these lands will “keep our natural resources going, protect our endangered species, and most of all, the landscape.” (Read more: How America’s most endangered cat could help save Florida.)

natgeo.org

Florida enacts sweeping law to protect its wildlife corridors

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was passed unanimously. It aims to protect green spaces, drinking water, and wildlife such as panthers.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[bob bob]

Fantastic - I wish our coasts had been protected and kept open and free of development.

 

[Teresa]

Another wonderful article about Florida Wildlife Corridor

Ward has for years advocated for the corridor -- a project that received statewide recognition this week, when Gov. Ron DeSantis passed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which allocated around $400 million to protect millions of acres of the state's precious green space.

The animals, Ward said, provide an entry point for human residents of the state to care about the corridor and learn more about the ways its survival is entwined with their own.

The corridor's recognition is an essential step for conservation

The Florida Wildlife Corridor makes up just less than half of Florida, Ward said. It's not a straight line up the side of the state -- on a map of Florida, the wildlife corridor consists of all the green spaces, public and private, between pockets of cities.

"Look at it like a quilt," he explained. "If you have a quilt of different shades of green, some of those patches are the public lands, state parks, national parks and state forests. The other parts of the quilt are citrus groves, timber farms ... but they're one connected green fabric. As long as you have that green path, that green swath of land, the Florida panther and Florida black bear can roam throughout the state."

The $400 million appropriation will go toward conservation easements, in which land owners hold onto their land, but sell the development rights to back to the state or to a nonprofit -- preserving natural space. Incorporating private land will help prevent the fragmenting of land and water in the state so animals will have more room to roam freely, and the state's natural resources won't be as vulnerable to overuse or pollution, Ward said.

More:

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is nearly 18 million acres of natural wonder. The state just took a significant step to keep it alive

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is home to many native species including panthers, black bears and alligators. This week, Gov. Ron DeSantis passed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which allocated around $400 million to protect millions of acres of the state's precious green space.

www.cnn.com

 

[Matt J]

Is Pt. Washington state forest park of the corridor? Seems like this would kill a convenience road being cut through it.

 

[Jim Tucker]

I think Nokuse might be part of it. Or hoping to be. Areas closer to the coast are too chopped up to make a corridor.

 

[Professor]

Agreed Matt J. This was my first thought. It, at the very least , creates another roadblock (literally).

However...it does not prevent a couple of BCC boys from trying to spend another $600,000 for a *study".

I'm going to write each Commissioner today highlighting the passing of this wonderful act and to " just give it up" on the road

 

[Dawn]

Is Pt. Washington state forest park of the corridor? Seems like this would kill a convenience road being cut through it.

Point Washington State Forest being a STATE FOREST should kill any road through it!

 

[Matt J]

Agreed Matt J. This was my first thought. It, at the very least , creates another roadblock (literally).

However...it does not prevent a couple of BCC boys from trying to spend another $600,000 for a *study".

I'm going to write each Commissioner today highlighting the passing of this wonderful act and to " just give it up" on the road

The ultimate roadblock is for the BCC to explain to folks in the other 90% of the county why they are building a 20-30 million dollar road to alleviate tolerable traffic in an area entirely populated by the rich. I'm sure commissioners can't wait to justify this to their constituents.

 

[Sally]

Maps | nokuse