Friday, December 12, 2003

153,000-acre Ecological Corridor Placed on Funding List

A critical link in an ecological corridor between the Ocala National Forest and the Osceola National Forest is one step closer to being protected. The Florida Forever Acquisition and Restoration Council voted unanimously December 5 th to place the 153,000-acre Camp Blanding to Osceola National Forest Ecological Greenway into the "A" funding category.

The Conservation Trust for Florida and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection/Office of Greenways and Trails co-sponsored the grant application. The Florida National Scenic Trail Association and the University of Florida's GEOPLAN Center also helped identify and secure support for the corridor.

"The unanimous acceptance of this project by the ARC represents an important step forward in the overall effort to protect Florida's ecological greenways," wrote Jim Wood, Assistant Director of the FDEP/Office of Greenways & Trails.

The Florida Greenways and Trails Council identified the Blanding/Osceola Greenway as one of the 10 most critical wildlife corridors in the Florida Ecological Greenways Network. Growth outward from Jacksonville and along U.S. Hwy 301 threatens to sever the corridor.

The Blanding/Osceola Greenway stretches over Baker, Bradford, Clay, and Union counties, and is one part of a proposed complex of continuous conservation lands stretching almost 200 miles from central Florida through southeastern Georgia. The primary goal of the corridor is to provide continuous habitat for wide-ranging species like the Florida black bear, which as an umbrella species, simultaneously provides sufficient habitat for other plants and animals.

The state will negotiate with the owners to acquire the land. Some will be placed under a conservation easement allowing for continued timber production, consistent with the land's function as a wildlife corridor. The Governor and Cabinet will review the project for approval prior to the state's actual purchase.

For more information about the Conservation Trust for Florida: http://www.conserveflorida.org/. For more information about the Florida Department of Environmental Protection/Office of Greenways and Trails: http://www.floridagreenwaysandtrails.org/.