Hello All
I've been far too busy to participate lately and so will just pass this
on. It's a little group in Florida fighting to save some of their
country.
Denise
From:
To:
Greetings. To answer your questions, the loss of the large live oak
trees
mostly impacted the landscape since they were in bahia pasturelands.
These
supported a number of state listed species including burrowing owls and
Sherman's fox squirrel. The 3000 or more destruction of the remaining
natural uplands (longleaf pine and turkey oak) was much more damaging and
we
lost well over 1000 gopher tortoises which provide habitat for at least
300
species found in this dry savannah habitat. Some of these lands were
supposed
to be purchased by the state under their land conservation program
(CARL).
The state has been so slow in purchasing these lands, the Davis ranch has
purchased them. As long as this clearing was not happening near a major
highway, no one including the local politicians would pay attention. We
did
get the destruction stopped around the bald eagle nest. I should point
out
that local conservation organizations have yet to make any effort to get
the
state to get these lands purchased or to do anything but howl now, after
the
fact. We are extremely concerned about 650 acres which surround the
wetlands
at the base of this ancient sand dune. Many of the species we have here
migrate to the wetlands and back several times a year, the loss of that
corridor will have effects on the faunal populations on our preserve.
Meanwhile, since we could not get help from anyone, we developed our own
NGO
conservation organization and are now working with landowners to put land
in
conservation easements with habitat management requirements (we manage).
I
met with Mr. Davis yesterday and I am to meet with his land manager today
or
early next week. They will consider some form of land management on this
piece. Meanwhile the folks who have complained have had some impact in
that
the folks in the CARL program are waking up to the situation at
Watermelon
Pond and may begin buying lands again. I am trying to get The Nature
Conservancy to assist in possibly getting a conservation easement on the
650
acres if that becomes necessary (paying Davis a percentage of what the
land
is worth to insure they will not develop it or do intensive tree
planting.
Meanwhile, there are three agencies involved in managing the Watermelon
Pond
CARL project. One is the Dept. of Forestry. The DOF has just produced a
management plan for this land which has been purchased to protect
biodiversity. They propose to put the natural areas into pine plantation
(exactly like the situation on the Davis property). According to the
proposed management plan, conservation organizations in our county and
the
government have been involved in the decision making that led to the
development of the plan. I have yet to find one that had any input.
There is
a public hearing about the plan on May 2 and I hope that some formal
statements can be provided by Alachua County, the city of Archer, and the
conservation organizations to demand that the management plans be changed
to
enhance biodiversity, including proper burning and systematic thinning of
tree stands which are now too dense to provide habitat for must upland
and
lowland species of plants or wildlife. Bottom line in all of this is
there
is no unified conservation plan within state agencies, local governments
to
carry out conservation, even on lands purchased for this purpose. This
situation gets worse because agricultural folks are exempt from most
regulations pertaining to habitat protection and protected species. On
the
other hand, local governments are hamstrung when it comes to land use
planning and control of development, especially when these lands are not
in
wetlands. We have no laws that protect uplands. The amount of habitat
loss
on just one highway going west out of Gainesville has lost as much or
more
habitat in 6 months than those lost on the Davis ranch and there is no
way to
control it.
I hope this gives you some background on the situation. Regards, Ray
Ashton
Ashton Biodiversity Research & Preservation Institute, Inc.
5745 SW 75th St. #331
Gainesville, FL 32608
Phone 352-495-7449
Fax 352-495-7433
http://www.geocities.com/ashtonbiodiversity/Home.html
Denise Goodfellow (Lawungkurr Maralngurra)
Specialist Guide
Ph/fax 08 89818492
PO Box 39373
WINNELLIE NT 0821, AUSTRALIA
www.earthfoot.org
Parap Bookshop
2ndhand and new books
08 89813922
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