9 high-priority sites identified within nonprofit’s service area
Big Waters Land Trust has unveiled its first Strategic Conservation Plan (SCP), a data-driven strategy whose priorities are linked to its six conservation values: clean water, imperiled species, coastal resiliency, sustainable agriculture, access for all, and carbon sequestration, the nonprofit has announced.
The plan focuses the Land Trust’s work on issues where its leaders believe they can make the greatest impact, a news release explains. “Grounded in ecological and social science research, geospatial data, and stakeholder collaboration,” the Strategic Conservation Plan outlines an active “and landscape-scale approach to land conservation, identifying which places needs to be saved now,” the release emphasizes. “By strategically targeting the most urgent conservation opportunities, Big Waters aims to address current environmental challenges and build a framework for future resilience across Southwest Florida’s landscapes and communities,” the release points out.
“It is our hope that this plan leads to new partnerships, increased resources, and more land saved quickly,” said Christine P. Johnson, president of Big Waters Land Trust, in the release. “It will take private and public funding to achieve our audacious goals, and we are in a race against time,” she added. “Yet, with the continued support of our conservation community,” Johnson continued, “we will protect the land and water Southwest Florida needs to thrive.”
Over the previous year, Big Waters worked with Shafer Consulting to research Southwest Florida’s land-based challenges and concerns, the release explains. The nonprofit’s service area — which includes Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties, plus parts of DeSoto and Highlands counties — “features a diverse geography characterized by natural ecosystems, agricultural lands, rapidly urbanizing areas, and culturally significant communities,” the release notes. The service area “also includes the critical watersheds” of the Manatee, Myakka, Peace and Caloosahatchee rivers, “connecting inland ecosystems to coastal estuaries. The health of our coast depends on these coastal wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass beds, which drive tourism and our economy,” the release points out.
“Rivers and their floodplains provide crucial drinking water and flood protection,” the release continues, while upland habitats such as pine flatwoods and oak scrub support wildlife “and ensure abundant and clean drinking water.
“Unfortunately,” the release says, “rapid urbanization in coastal cities,” such as Sarasota, Bradenton, Fort Myers and Naples, “drives development pressure both on the coast and inland, where urban sprawl threatens remaining natural and agricultural lands. Agricultural producers are under tremendous pressure to sell their land for development, and phosphate mining operations continue to expand,” the release continues. “Rising sea levels exacerbate risks” such as storm surge, habitat loss, and saltwater intrusion, “highlighting the urgent need for coastal resilience to protect our communities from the continued impacts of climate change,” it adds.
The success and well-being of the region depend “on the health and well-being of our land and water,” the release says, making “a laser-focused approach to protecting that land and water … of the utmost importance.”
In its Strategic Conservation Plan, the accredited nonprofit identifies nine high-priority sites within its service area that have the greatest potential to benefit its six conservation values, the release adds. Those areas were identified through use of “a Geospatial Intelligence System (GIS) decision model,” the release continues. Big Waters evaluated nearly 100 datasets and selected 15 — 12 core natural and community resource data layers and three data layers representing potential development risk, the release explains.
Big Waters’ GIS model identified the sub-watersheds that contain the highest concentration of its conservation values, as well as the sub-watersheds most at risk of development, the release continues. The results showed 24 priority sub-watersheds clustered into nine geographic areas. These nine Focus Areas are where the land trust leaders will concentrate the bulk of their work, the release says: Terra Ceia, Upper Manatee River, Lower Myakka River, Myakka Ranchlands, Lower Peace River, Jacks Branch-Long Island Marsh, Corkscrew Swamp, Charlotte Harbor and Cape Coral.
“By strategically identifying and then concentrating our efforts in these nine Focus Areas, we will maximize our chances of success and therefore maximize our donors’ return on investment in our mission,” Brooke Langston, Big Waters’ director of land protection, noted in the release. “We will still continue to protect land outside of Focus Areas; however, this work will primarily be reactive, mostly in response to landowner inquiries and partner requests, rather than proactive,” Langston added.
“Much of Big Waters’ Strategic Conservation Plan is proprietary and private; however, a portion of the document is available for public review,” the release says. Visit bigwaterslandtrust.org/scp.
“Those interested in learning more about how to protect their land, including funding resources available, are encouraged to complete Big Waters’ online contact form” at bigwaterslandtrust.org/savemyland or call the office at 941-918-2100.