Home : Hunting: Hunting Opportunities:

What does the future hold for Florida's hunters?

By Tony Young
Media Relations Coordinator
Division of Hunting and Game Management
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

To start the new year off, I'd like to tell you about a report that was recently released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) titled "Wildlife 2060: What's at stake for Florida?" The report is based on a study done by 1000 Friends of Florida - a nonprofit organization that monitors our state's growth, and there's some pretty alarming things in it that we hunters need to be aware of.

Today, Florida has the fourth-highest population in the country at 18 million, and this report predicts that by the year 2060, it will double to 36 million residents.

As a result of this tremendous population growth, it's estimated that an additional 7 million acres of the state's 34 million total acres will be converted from natural and rural lands to urban uses during the next 50 years.

To put that in a more visual perspective, 7 million acres is the size of the entire state of Vermont. And of this 7 million acres, nearly 3 million of it will be existing agricultural lands, 2.7 million will be native habitat and 1.6 million acres will be woodlands/wetlands that will all be turned into roads, shopping malls and subdivisions.

And when these habitats are gone, so will be the animals that live in them.

The report even goes so far as to say black bear and wild turkey habitats may decrease by 2 million acres by 2060. And for Florida's more than 200,000 deer hunters, this estimated loss of 2.7 million acres of native habitat could equate to 62,790 fewer deer in Florida, based on the fairly conservative ratio of one deer per 43 acres.

It is predicted that as much as 25 percent of the private lands, such as the large timber and forestry companies that provide most of the private-land hunting opportunities through hunting leases, will disappear by 2060 due to development.

You think the cost of private hunting leases is high now, with these types of properties currently leasing for a statewide average of around $15 an acre? In 1985, that same land was leasing for just $2 an acre, so at that rate, it will go for about $300 an acre in 2060! If you don't think hunting is turning into a rich man's sport, just wait.

This all gets me to thinking that I need to go in with my brother-in-law and father, and we need to pool our money and buy some hunting land to ensure our family and future generations will have some place to hunt.

Currently, Florida boasts one of the largest wildlife management area systems in the country at almost 6 million acres, but what's going to happen to it in 50 years? It will undoubtedly shrink from the pressures put on it by encroaching "big money" development. And for the nearly 50,000 public-land hunters, many are already feeling the squeeze and complain of areas being overcrowded. How crowded are they going to be when our population doubles, making the number of hunters in the woods sure to increase dramatically?

Starting to get the picture? - because it's not a pretty one.

So what can we do about it? Well the fact is, the state simply can't afford to buy all of the land that needs protecting. But a more cost-effective way would be to assist property owners who own "key" wildlife habitats by helping them manage these lands and by creating financial incentives to help protect and keep these native lands wild.

One thing residents already are doing is creating new taxes to preserve important local ecosystems. Since 1972, 30 Florida counties have voted to tax themselves in the form of real estate "doc stamps," and that has generated more than $2 billion, which purchased nearly 375,000 acres of conservation lands.

And it's important how this money is spent . . . in other words, which tracts of land are priorities to buy and put into conservation. We don't want to have a continuous expanse of concrete subdivisions from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic. Rather, we want communities separated by green spaces in the form of woods, swamps and farmland that will hold and protect wildlife.

Plus, we want to minimize the effects of habitat fragmentation by making sure large areas of conservation lands and wetlands stay connected to other natural and necessary landscapes. The report estimates that 2 million of the 7 million acres projected to be lost to development by 2060 lie within a mile of existing public conservation lands. If this happens, it will create "islands" of natural habitat that will isolate groups of some wildlife from each other. This will really have a negative impact on the black bear and Florida panther - two species that require vast tracts of undisturbed land to survive.

And all of this additional fragmentation will make prescribed burning, a management technique that is essential for maintaining quality wildlife habitat, even more difficult.

But by using smart-growth initiatives and green-infrastructure planning, we can encourage development that is environmentally sensitive, instead of allowing haphazard urban sprawl to occur.

Proactive strategies are best adopted at the local level and include acquiring and protecting large parcels of conservation lands, promoting compatible agriculture like cattle ranches and timber farms (because they provide wildlife habitat), developing conservation easements, creating tax incentives and managing the growing development with large-scale, land-use planning in mind.

Here are some ways you can get involved in advocating for wise land-use decisions on future development in your community to minimize negative impacts to our wildlife. Ask your city or county if it has a local land-acquisition program. Are the roads there being designed and located to accommodate wildlife? Does your community view conserving its green infrastructure and wetlands with the same importance as maintaining its roads, buildings and bridges? And are you, yourself, incorporating wildlife habitat conservation measures on your own property?

To view "Wildlife 2060: What's at stake for Florida?," go to MyFWC.com/wildlife2060. Another site you can log onto and get involved with is "Teaming with Wildlife" at www.teaming.com.

We might not be able to slow down growth in our state, but I encourage you to join the FWC and these other organizations in working together to find solutions that make a brighter future for our wildlife - and the future of hunting here.