Surplus of State Lands UPDATE (via Wildlands Conservation): The Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC) that will decide on which parcels to sell is meeting next Friday the 13th, at 9:00 a.m. in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Conference Room A, The Department of Environmental Protection, 3900 Commonwealth Boulevard, in Tallahassee. The Green Swamp conservation area and the Hilochee Wildlife Management Area parcels not only have conservation value, they are ESSENTIAL for regional and state conservation priority protection. You can tell the state that too. More specifically, the Hilochee parcels proposed for surplus are also essential for completion of ecological linkages within a statewide corridor system called the Florida Ecological Greenways Network. In particular, Hilochee parcel #1 is absolutely essential to complete a functional ecological linkage between the Peace River headwaters and Green Swamp. The retrofitting of I-4 to allow for functional wildlife and water crossing is a key part of both Green Swamp conservation and protection of a statewide corridor system. The Hilochee parcels in state ownership are critical for providing the opportunity to build these crossing structures when improvements and reconstruction/widening proceed along the Green Swamp segment of I-4 in the future. Both bear and panther tracking telemetry studies have helped to document how this segment of I-4 presents a movement barrier for wildlife. Traffic volumes and road width make safe crossing extremely difficult or even impossible for these and many other species of wildlife. Without the Hilochee parcels, several of these planned wildlife and water crossing structures across I-4 will not be constructed.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 18:21:40 +0000