By Nicola White
Tampa Tribune
05/01/08

TALLAHASSEE - Score one for Florida's panthers, black bears and gopher tortoises.

Following on the heels of unanimous Senate support last week, the House on Wednesday voted unanimously to give the state's popular Florida Forever land conservation program another 10 years of life to help protect wildlife and wetlands from encroaching development.

"I think what this legislation said is that we are very, very serious about protecting the natural resources of this great state for future generations of Floridians," said Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who ushered the legislation through the Senate. "We all know that if we don't protect these resources from development, we will literally kill the economic engine of the state, which is tourism."

Lauded by conservationists as one of the best land-buying programs in the nation, the almost two-decade-old Florida Forever has helped the state purchase about 3 million acres that otherwise might be bulldozed for development.

Of course, the program isn't free and this has been an incredibly lean budget year.

Midway through the legislative session, House leaders budgeted no money to keep Florida Forever alive, raising the ire of environmentalists.

By the time the House and Senate hammered out the budget, though, Florida Forever got $300 million, and fans of the program breathed a sigh of relief.

One of those fans is Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader, who hopes that the county can use Florida Forever funding to purchase the 12,500-acre Cross Bar Ranch in central Pasco that includes farm pasture, wells and raw land that is home to endangered whooping cranes and burrowing owls.

"We're hopeful we can get this deal done and keep it in the public ownership forever," Schrader said.

 

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