Open Space Planning (7.5M)
Speaker: David Barth, Glatting Jackson Hercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart
Florida communities that desire well-planned systems of open spaces are pursuing their creation through a variety of different strategies, tools, and partners. Learn how one of the Florida's foremost community planning and design firms assists cities and counties in creating long-term visions for parks and other permanently protected land. Explore the ways in which private sector planning professionals employ formal public participation, innovative urban design techniques, regional and master planning, and other means to help communities prioritize land protection objectives.
Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities (8.9M)
Speaker: David Hansen, Lake County
Between 2002 and 2004 the population of Lake County grew by about one-quarter, and in 2004 county voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure to create the County's first conservation land acquisition program. In order to help decide what to buy, the County then contracted with the Trust for Public Land to create a "greenprint" designed to identify important resources that are important to the public and appropriate for protection. The County's Public Lands Manager will explain this process and how conservation priorities are being determined.
Wildlands - Urban Interface Management Techniques: Fire, Forestry, and Exotic Plants
NIMBY- "Not in my backyard" is a term we have all heard before. We may even empathize with the speaker when they are objecting to a landfill, an airport or a freeway. But now we are frequently confronted with NIMBY while trying to manage conservation lands in the interface. Our neighbors like the conservation value of abutting public lands right up until we need to manage those lands. This workshop will present methods employed by land managers when they have harvested trees, prescribe burned, and controlled exotics in the urban interface.
Case Studies Presented By:
Steve Miller, St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD)
(5.6M) &
(2.8M)
Bill Helfferich, South Florida Water Management District
Walt Thomson, The Nature Conservancy
(8.9M)
Pete Colverson, Pandion Systems, Inc.
Disease, Habitat Quality and the Gopher Tortoise (7M)
Speaker: Henry Mushinsky, University of South Florida
Repeated surveys of the gopher tortoise at ten public lands in Florida have suggested a general decline in population size at most but not all sites. The upper Respiratory Tract Disease (URTD) was known to be present at four of the ten sites prior to the resurveys, and was discovered at four additional sites during this research. Although the tortoise is in decline at some sites with URTD infected animals, not all such populations are in decline. Furthermore, changes in habitat structure have occurred during the decade between the two surveys and these changes also are associated with declines in the populations of resident tortoises.
Leadership in Conservation Administration (1.5M)
Speaker: Doug Weaver, Volusia County
The Volusia Forever Program, which was created in 2000 when Volusia County citizens voted to tax themselves .2 mills over 20 years to protect the County's natural biodiversity, is a top example of agency leadership for land conservation. Over the life of Volusia Forever it is anticipated that $162 million will be raised and invested for public conservation.
Conservation Finance (3M)
Speaker: Linda Greck, Davie Area Land Trust
In less than two years, a group of committed citizens in the Broward County town of Davie have achieved an extraordinary amount. A committee was organized to propose and advocate for a $25 million open space bond -- it passed with 60% of the vote in September 2005. This effort led to the creation of the new Davie Area Land Trust, which is now looking toward its first project. Learn about the role of community leadership in meeting the demand for local land conservation financing from an effective citizen volunteer.
Creating Visions for the Protection of Community Conservation Lands (4.1M)
Panel Discussion:
