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Peace
River Greenway Initiative
We are currently working with landowners along the lower Peace River in Desoto County to explore various means of conserving their lands. This area is part of SWFWMD’s Lower Peace River Conservation Corridor Initiative and is a Wildlands Conservation Florida Forever project. Our Florida Forever Project: The Peace River Refuge, currently encompasses approximately 3800 acres along both sides of the River, from Arcadia southward. We are working with other landowners throughout the region as well, to assist in putting their properties under conservation.
The Peace River is the principal freshwater source for Charlotte Harbor, Florida’s second largest estuary. Charlotte Harbor has been designated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as a Class 1 Waterbody, an Aquatic Preserve and Outstanding Florida Water. The Peace River is the life line of central Florida – it is the watershed of the bone valley region; its health is directly related to the health of Charlotte Harbor. A healthy, protected lower Peace River is therefore critical in light of the fact that the region’s primary land uses over the past century have been phosphate mining and agriculture.
Our overall goal is to facilitate a corridor of protected lands, from Charlotte Harbor northward to the Green Swamp in Polk County, where the headwaters of the Peace River begin. We are coordinating with landowners, private industry, SWFWMD, environmental groups and counties in the region.
Please visit our Peace River Greenway Initiative page to learn more. |
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Curry Island
Wildlands is developing a management plan for Curry Island, a 2,700 acre parcel of land on Lake Okeechobee. We are working for Lake Okeechobee Habitat Alliance (LOHA), a non-profit group that has secured a lease on the property with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Currently, the land consists of a wide swath of marshland that extends along the western side of the Lake. One of the challenges for this plan is trying to determine the best way to manage a natural, water dependent ecosystem that is influenced by the water levels; water levels are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps has to consider agricultural interests and flooding potential as well as the ecological integrity of the Lake in making their water level management decisions.
We are crafting a plan that needs to consider the needs and interests of the stakeholders involved. Our Management Advisory Group (MAG) is comprised of such diverse interest groups as the Everglades Coordinating Council, Natural Resource Conservation Service, United Waterfowlers, The Florida Airboat Association, Ducks Unlimited, Audubon of Florida, Glades County, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the South Florida Water Management District. Our mandate is to develop a comprehensive management plan that addresses restoration, long-term management, and continues the access of various compatible recreational land uses. Passive recreational uses include, duck hunting, fishing, airboating, hiking, and nature appreciation. Our plan will be subject to review by the MAG, LOHA, and the Florida Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC).
See map of Curry Island
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Collany Wetland and Conservation Banks
Wildlands is in the process of assisting with the development of parallel applications to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the South Florida Water Management District to establish a conservation and mitigation bank along the east side of the Lake Wales Ridge in Polk County. The Conservation Bank addresses mitigation credit needs for the federally listed sand skink and the bluetail mole skink. Once the banks are permitted, a 300 acre of parcel of land that will be protected and managed for its valuable resources in perpetuity. Wildlands will assume long-term management responsibilities for the banks, and will hold the easement for the Conservation Bank. The site is adjacent to an existing preserve and is dominated by scrub and bay seepage slopes. The scrub recharge area/bay seepage slope is a unique assemblage of natural habitats found only in Florida scrub. Florida scrub is extremely rare due to historical conversion for agriculture and residential development and is under continual threat of future conversion due to increasing development pressure. The Lake Wales Ridge is a rare and threatened scrub ecosystem of central Florida considered to be of global significance both because of the rarity of the ecosystem and the number of endemic species that it supports. The Lake Wales Ridge harbors one of the highest concentrations of listed species within the country.
See map of Collany site
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Gopher Tortoise Authorized
Agent Classes
Wildlands Conservation has
been certified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) to, in collaboration with the Ashton
Biodiversity Research and Preservation Institute,
to offer the training courses required to become
an Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent. We teach surveying,
marking, transport and release, capture methods,
and mechanical excavation. We offer classes throughout
the state and have conducted over twenty classes
to date. The training courses are designed so that
students get the needed field experiences, and gain
a good understanding of gopher tortoise life history,
the permitting guidelines, and gopher tortoise conservation.
We also offer introductory classes on gopher tortoise
natural history and ecology.
Please
see our website for more information: gophertortoisetraining.org |
The Effects of Flatwoods Restoration on Wildlife
In
1998, CF Industries underwent
an experiment to compare various
treatments in attempt to identify
the most effective, timely,
and cost efficient way to restore
improved pasture to pine flatwoods,
the native habitat type on
six selected treatment areas.
Throughout the restoration
process, Wildlands Conservation
implemented a survey method
designed to determine the response
of wildlife to the restoration
of unmined improved pastures
to pine flatwoods. Wildlands
has been conducted surveys
on each of the restoration
units and compared them to
reference sites of improved
pasture and pine flatwoods. Our
objective is to determine if
the treatment areas (restoration
units) are approaching our
reference control sites (pine
flatwoods) in both species
richness and relative abundance.
Currently, we have embarked
on a 3-year effort to intensify
survey efforts by adding more
trapping stations and reference
sites. We are currently
surveying for birds, small
mammals, large mammals, and
herpetofauna.
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