Conservation banking can help save panthers
News Release
Monday, March 01, 2010
Media contact: Joint op/ed - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are pooling resources
and expertise to protect Florida panthers and other wildlife.
Conservation banking is among the innovative and promising
strategies.
Conservation banks for endangered species have been
successful in other places across the country. Banks set up a
system where the private sector provides funds to preserve and
manage important habitat … forever. Landowners can sell
credits to developers planning to impact what are usually marginal
habitats elsewhere, ensuring the most valuable habitats continue to
flourish.
This system offers landowners an economic incentive
to maintain and use the land in ways compatible with
conservation. Fittingly, ranchers, who have been stewards of
Florida's landscape for generations, can pass that legacy to their
children and grandchildren.
The panther Primary Zone in Southwest Florida is
where most panthers live, but not all land there is of equal value
for panthers. Through the federal and state
development-review processes and working proactively with
landowners, we identify important wildlife resources and applicable
conservation strategies to guide land-use decisions. The
Primary Zone includes 2.27 million acres; about 75 percent is
permanently protected. Conserving the remaining high-value
areas within the Primary Zone is extremely important, and banks
serve a vital role. The Service finalized a conservation bank
in the Primary Zone, another is nearly complete, and seven others
are under consideration.
The panther Dispersal Zone represents the only
natural passageway from the Primary Zone to the Caloosahatchee
River and panther habitat farther north. The Dispersal Zone
is 28,000 acres - about 1 percent of the size of the Primary
Zone. Most of the Dispersal Zone is privately owned and not
held for conservation. Recent completion of a panther bank in
the Dispersal Zone is an important step in preserving a portion of
this valuable area. Three additional banks in the Dispersal
Zone are proposed.
The strategic importance of the Dispersal Zone is
well known and became even clearer during the past few years.
Male panthers transit this area en route to habitat in
South-Central Florida. Last year the FWC documented a female
panther in the Dispersal Zone, just south of the Caloosahatchee
River, within a mile of the recently finalized conservation
bank. This was farther north than any female panther has been
verified in decades and indicates a growing panther population -
about 100 individuals today - as compared with the 62 panthers
tallied a decade ago and 20-30 estimated two decades ago.
The Florida Panther Recovery Plan, published in
December 2008, noted that protecting panther habitat in Southwest
Florida and finding ways to expand the population are important for
the long-term recovery of the species. The proximity of the
Dispersal Zone to the river makes the land desirable and
expensive. A few years ago, property costs in this location
made it appear unlikely that conservation alternatives such as
banking were possible. For example, according to the
landowners, the recently finalized Dispersal Zone conservation bank
was nearly lost to development for that reason.
We will continue to work with counties, landowners
and environmental groups to avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife
and their habitats. Conservation banks are one more tool -
along with land acquisition, habitat restoration, wildlife
crossings and advances in science - that will serve a strategic
role in our partnership to conserve and recover the majestic
Florida panther and many other treasured parts of Florida's rich
wildlife heritage.
Nick Wiley,
Executive Director,
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
and
Paul Souza,
Field Supervisor,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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