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This week the Florida Forever Coalition sent key legislators a letter enumerating our position on the surplus of state lands for Florida Forever. The Coalition has proposed amending the surplus provision to include a requirement for appraisals when the property has an estimated value of over $1 million. Click here to download a copy of the letter.
The Senate proposes spending authority only, not an appropriation, of up to $308.6 million, provided from the sale of state-owned lands. The lands proposed for possible surplusing include parcels of currently owned conservation lands with no natural resource value for conservation, lands turned over to the state under the Murphy Act, and non-conservation lands like buildings, parking lots and prisons. This provision in the Senate budget changes for one year the procedure by which state lands are sold, and would exempt the properties from appraisal and disposition requirements under current law. The budget conferees will take up this issue in their budget negotiations.
On Wednesday, the Florida Legislature began the process of negotiating their budget differences. They have announced the budget conferees, the At-Large Committee will be chaired by Senator Alexander and Representative Grimsley. Click here to download the full lists of Senate and House Committee members.
Please join the Florida Forever Coalition this Friday, April 29, at 3:00PM for the latest on the budget process.
Call-in: 866-699-3239
Pass-code: 20198505#
This week, Governor Scott and the Cabinet approved the purchase of 172 acres surrounding Whiting Field Naval Air Station, as part of the Florida Forever program. The purchase will help buffer the base and allow the Navy to continue their training without disturbing the surrounding community. Read about the meeting here!
At the halfway point in the 2011 Legislative Session, the Coalition Steering Committee would like to provide you with an update on the status of Florida Forever in this year’s budget.
To date, both the Florida House and Senate have passed their respective budgets -House $66.5 billion, Senate $70.1 billion. Florida Forever is not funded in the House budget.
The Florida Senate, however, has proposed a different method of funding Florida Forever. The Senate proposes spending authority only, not an appropriation, of up to $308.6 million, provided from the sale of state-owned lands. The lands proposed for possible surplusing include parcels of currently owned conservation lands with no natural resource value for conservation, lands turned over to the state under the Murphy Act, and non-conservation lands like buildings, parking lots and prisons. This provision in the Senate budget changes for one year the procedure by which state lands are sold, and would exempt the properties from appraisal and disposition requirements under current law.
On or about April 25, the House and Senate will enter negotiations on the differences in their budgets. The Coalition will keep you updated on the progress of this proposal, and will send an Action Alert if and when coordinated action is needed.
Please join the Florida Forever Coalition for our 3:00PM calls each Friday for the latest legislative updates and calls to action.
Call-in: 866-699-3239
Pass-code: 20198505#
The 2011 legislative session is well underway, it’s time to let the Senate and House Appropriations Committee Chairs know that you support funding Florida Forever. Please take a few moments to call Senator JD Alexander and Representative Denise Grimsley today! Click here to download talking points. Visit our Take Action page to learn other ways to get involved.
Check out today’s press release!
TALLAHASSEE, FL – C’mon, Gov. Scott, let’s take a hike!
Responding to the governor’s stated interest, reported in the press, in enjoying a hike on a Florida trail, the Florida Forever Coalition has offered to help him find just the kind of trail he’s looking for.
In a March 21 letter, the coalition of more than 200 organizations, agencies and businesses also invited Scott to join a coalition hike on the annual “Take a Hike, Florida!” day, this Saturday, March 26. (See attached letter.) The coalition has set up 19 hikes throughout the state, from Miami-Dade to Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Two hikes are scheduled in Leon County, home to the governor.
“‘Take a Hike, Florida!’ is a celebration of Florida’s natural heritage and the great work Floridians have done to preserve it,” said Andy McLeod, director of government affairs for The Nature Conservancy.
“We can’t think of a better guest for one of these hikes than the governor of this state that we all adore, particularly at a time when the future of environmental conservation is in question,” McLeod said. “We hope a few hours enjoying natural Florida will help convince Governor Scott of the long-term environmental – and economic – importance of parks, trails, all of the special natural places protected for Floridians.”
Florida Forever was created in 2001 to succeed the extremely successful Preservation 2000 conservation program. Under the two programs, Florida has protected more than 2.4 million acres of land.Under Gov. Scott’s proposed budget for the upcoming year. Florida Forever faces unprecedented challenges. Scott has proposed eliminating funding for the program in 2011, as well as a restructuring of the agencies that support the program in a way that would make it next to impossible to resurrect funding in the future.
The Florida Forever Coalition includes more than 200 organizations, agencies and businesses with environmental, recreational, cultural and community missions. The coalition steering committee includes The Nature Conservancy, 1000 Friends of Florida, Audubon of Florida, Defenders of Wildlife, Florida Wildlife Federation, Everglades Trust, Florida Recreation & Park Association and The Trust for Public Land.
Click here to download the release!
Click here to find your local hike!
Don’t miss last weekend’s editorial on Florida Forever in the Tallahassee Democrat:
In both Washington and here in the Florida capital, conservation isn’t exactly Job 1. Protecting our great outdoors is being neglected, even undermined.
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On the state level, our popular and successful Florida Forever program, which protects thousands of acres of recreation lands, springs, forests, coasts and agricultural lands, is in jeopardy in legislative budgets.
The governor and lawmakers are looking at eliminating trust funds and regulations intended for land management, including removal of invasive plants, water resource restoration, restrictions on fertilizers that cause nutrient pollution such as we’ve seen in nearby Wakulla Springs, and other tools that protect major resource systems.
Diverse groups of supporters, including ranchers and sportsmen — business folks who know conservation is very good business — object to cutting Florida Forever even further than has occurred in recent years.
Read more here: Our Opinion: Forever means forever | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat
Check out this outstanding editorial in Florida Today.
Dense wetlands, vast pine forests, towering live oaks.Sea turtle nesting grounds, fish nurseries, mangrove hummocks.
Those are just a fraction of the rich natural resources permanently saved through Brevard County’s taxpayer-approved Environmentally Endangered Lands program.
Purchases also made possible by Florida Forever, the state’s landmark land conservation program and its predecessor, Preservation 2000.
The two land-acquisition efforts have been responsible for conserving 2.4 million acres of wilderness statewide since 1990, with EEL receiving $32 million from Florida Forever and its precursor since the early 1990s.
Florida Forever also has hugely benefited the St. Johns River Water Management District, with some $228 million funneled district-wide over the past 10 years to buy land, develop water resources and pay for restoration projects.
That includes the vital headwaters of the St. Johns River in South Brevard and Indian River counties through the Upper Basin Project. There, 150,000 acres of original floodplain have been restored to create a vast water bank to help meet the future drinking water needs of East-Central Florida and prevent flooding in South Brevard.
It also protects wildlife and has become a popular bass-fishing haven for anglers from around the state and nation.
In all, Florida Forever has saved irreplaceable land, preserved wildlife, provided green space, protected drinking water supplies and ensured future generations have the privilege of experiencing natural Florida.
But the critical effort ground to a halt in 2009, when legislators reduced its annual $300 million in funding to zero. We said then a one-year freeze was acceptable as part of painful budget cuts hitting most state services, but that the program should be restored as soon as the economy improved….
Read the full article here!
Big news! Florida panther tracks are discovered in the brand new Charles H. Bronson State Forest, a Florida Forever project!
March 15, 2011|By Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel
Here’s some of what Florida’s newest state forest offers: watching American swallow-tailed kites, hiking, really cool mountain-bike riding and kayaking on one of the most picturesque rivers in the state.
Oh, and looking for further examples of what may be the first certified Florida panther tracks in Central Florida.
Those are all doable at the newly opened Charles H. Bronson State Forest, 10,945 acres of open space in east Seminole and Orange counties assembled largely with funds from a land-preservation program that will be shut down this year if Gov. Rick Scott has his way with the state budget.
The new forest and its recently expanded next-door neighbor, Little Big Econ State Forest, now comprise more than 20,000 acres where the Econlockhatchee and St. Johns rivers come together.
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Second, individual tracts were bought largely with money flowing through the state’s Florida Forever program, which, along with a predecessor program, had been funded since 1991 with $300 million annually for the purchase of environmentally sensitive lands and for other conservation measures.
Lands acquired for the Bronson forest cost about $95 million; of that, nearly $64 million came from Florida Forever, $12.5 million from Orange County, and nearly $19 million from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. The 4,569 acres recently added to the Little Big Econ forest cost $50 million; of that, $37.5 million came from Florida Forever and $12.5 million from Orange County.
Florida Forever, for years the most aggressive land-conservation effort in the nation, is headed into a legislative session this spring during which it could face elimination because of the state’s budget shortfalls. Funds were cut off two years ago because of the deteriorating economy, then replaced last year with the much-reduced amount of $15 million.
Read the full story here!
Follow up with a letter to the editor here!
The weather is warming, plants are blooming, it’s time to take a hike! The Florida Forever Coalition is organizing hikes across the state for March 26, 2011. Have you checked if there’s a hike in your area? Just visit our Take a Hike, Florida! page to see where we’re hiking this year. Check back often, hikes are being added every day! Don’t see a hike in your area? Sign up to lead your own! Have you RSVP’d for your local hike? Visit our Facebook event to RSVP and connect with other hikers!
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Florida Forever Stories"The Pasco County Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program (ELAMP) is a relatively new program that receives a portion of Penny for Pasco sales tax proceeds to acquire lands. The ELAMP relies on Florida Forever funds as matching funds to stretch our limited dollars to protect land primarily in designated wildlife corridors and along the Gulf of Mexico. Projects include the 12,500- acre Cross Bar/Al Bar Ranch on the Florida Forever A list, the 117-acre Pasco Palms project located along the Gulf Coast, a high priority for the West Pasco Audubon Society, and eligible for Florida Communities Trust funding, and 270 acres on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Pithlachascotee River, a highly likely contender for Florida Communities Trust matching funds. We recently received seven nominations, indicative of the economic climate where the best deals will be made and properties that were once unreachable are now attainable."
-Pasco County |
