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Preserving natural Florida, forever
Coalition wins renewal of land-buying program
Florida has long been one of the fastest-growing states in the country. Although the price of growth has been steep, renewal of the Florida Forever land-buying program promises to curb that cost.
“Sprawling development has carved wildlife habitat into smaller and smaller pieces, dividing it by highways or paving over it entirely and threatening state symbols like the Florida panther and the Florida black bear,” said Environment Florida’s Holly Binns.
“Many of Florida’s coastal marshes and barrier islands—home to endangered wildlife such as manatees and loggerhead sea turtles—have been transformed by golf courses and condominiums.”
To stem this tide, Floridians have taken action to preserve the natural beauty and unique ecosystems that drew many of them to the state in the first place. Since the late 1960s, Florida has funded strong programs to preserve unique natural areas. The latest such effort is called Florida Forever.
Florida Forever makes a total of $300 million available for conservation purposes each year. Florida Forever has been successful in preserving important natural resources, from pristine beaches along the panhandle to critically important wetlands in south Florida.
Despite these successes, Florida Forever was scheduled to expire in 2010. In March, Environment Florida launched the Preserve Natural Florida Campaign, a grassroots effort to convince Gov. Charlie Crist and state leaders that passage of a successor program to Florida Forever should be a top priority. The campaign generated nearly 10,000 postcards and e-mails to the governor.
Then in April, with our allies in the Florida Forever Coalition, we won approval of legislation that will create a successor program to Florida Forever. We also restored funding for the program after leaders in the Florida House proposed removing all funding from next year’s budget.
Looking ahead, the coalition will be working to increase annual funding for conservation and recreational land buying from $300 million to $600 million to compensate for the rising cost of land and to accelerate preservation.
Increased funding for land buying is critical to protect rapidly disappearing open space.
