Rollings Realty's Environmental Blog

Days before the start of the legislative session, Tallahassee's resembling a MASH unit, trying to restore the state's health by stabilizing services ranging from education to transportation.

If state government's triage neglects the environment — typically ignored or mistreated during dire economic times — it can forget about any chances of a full recovery.

Unfortunately, efforts are under way that essentially could rub out what's left of the state's efforts to manage growth. And building on the progress the state has made in the fight against climate change is no longer certain, either.

Here are the challenges lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist must work to overcome:

A group of lawmakers led by Sens. Mike Bennett of Bradenton and Don Gaetz of Niceville is promoting a bill that would do away with road-building requirements the state now imposes on developers. Critics of Florida's so-called "concurrency" rules contend the costs have either stymied construction or driven developers to abandon the cities for rural areas, where they can build more cheaply and, in the process, create sprawl.

The senators propose eliminating the transportation requirements in urban areas so developers can build up, making cities more vibrant places to live, curbing growth in pristine areas and stimulating the economy to boot.

Encouraging population growth in metro areas — not in rural outposts like Yeehaw Junction — is what responsible land planners and managers also want. It's what the state's top growth manager, the Department of Community Affairs' Tom Pelham, wants, too. It's what we've advocated.

But oh, the bill's pesky details. Turns out it wouldn't just eliminate those transportation costs for developers in dense urban areas. They'd vanish in cities and counties with more than 1,000 people per square mile or with a population of more than 1 million.

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When people compare a map of Florida as it is currently to a map reflecting predicted development by the year 2060, there is usually a gasp.

The amount of anticipated development is stunning, and the byproduct is the loss of wildlife as the lands they inhabit become urbanized. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) tackled the challenge of predicting what may be in store for wildlife 50 years from now if growth trends continue. The results are available in the FWC publication "Wildlife 2060: What’s at stake for Florida?" This document looks at the future of Florida’s fish and wildlife resources in a practical and objective way.

The FWC report is based on a study, "Florida 2060" conducted by 1000 Friends of Florida (www.1000friendsofflorida.org), a not-for-profit organization that monitors growth in the state.

"As the state agency whose mission is to manage fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of people, it is our responsibility to predict what could happen to the resources we have been charged to conserve. It is what people expect of us," said Ken Haddad, executive director of the FWC. "Our scientists and managers have ‘crunched’ the numbers for the Wildlife 2060 report and assessed what might happen to fish and wildlife if growth continues on its same course."

The report provides specific examples of how Florida’s species could be impacted by growth. Recent predictions indicate the state’s human population may double to 36 million in the next five  decades.

The amount of urbanized land in Florida also is expected to double. To accommodate the increase in population, the report projects that by 2060, roughly 7 million additional acres of Florida land will be developed.

"The development of 7 million acres represents a substantial loss of habitat and exceeds the size of Vermont," said Dr. Thomas Eason, conservation initiatives coordinator for the FWC. "Continuing the current trend clearly would be detrimental to wildlife, but it also would be detrimental to people. Fishing, hunting, bird-watching, all kinds of outdoor activities, which brought many of us to Florida in the first place, would be greatly diminished. This affects our quality of life and our economy."

The revenue from hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing and boating brings billions of dollars to the state annually.

Wildlife 2060 illustrates how continuing the past patterns of urban sprawl could result in fragmented natural places.