Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 976
Ì380062yÎ380062
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/20/2021 .
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The Committee on Appropriations (Brodeur) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Section 259.1055, Florida Statutes, is created
6 to read:
7 259.1055 Florida wildlife corridor.—
8 (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “The
9 Florida Wildlife Corridor Act.”
10 (2) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.—The Legislature finds that this
11 state’s population is growing rapidly and that lands and waters
12 that provide this state’s green infrastructure and vital habitat
13 for wide-ranging wildlife, such as the Florida panther, need to
14 be preserved and protected. The Legislature further finds that
15 the Florida wildlife corridor is an existing physical,
16 geographically defined area consisting of more than 18 million
17 acres of land, 10 million of which are conservation lands.
18 (3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this act, and of the Florida
19 wildlife corridor itself, is to create incentives for
20 conservation and sustainable development while sustaining and
21 conserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of
22 this state’s economy and quality of life by doing all of the
23 following:
24 (a) Maintaining wildlife access to the habitats needed to
25 allow for migration of and genetic exchange amongst regional
26 wildlife populations.
27 (b) Preventing fragmentation of wildlife habitats.
28 (c) Protecting the headwaters of major watersheds,
29 including the Everglades and the St. Johns River.
30 (d) Providing ecological connectivity of the lands needed
31 for flood and sea-level rise resiliency and large-scale
32 ecosystem functions, such as water management and prescribed
33 burns essential for land management and restoration.
34 (e) Preserving and protecting land and waters that are not
35 only vital to wildlife but are critical to this state’s
36 groundwater recharge and that serve as watersheds that provide
37 drinking water to most Floridians and help maintain the health
38 of downstream coastal estuaries.
39 (f) Providing for wildlife crossings for the protection and
40 safety of wildlife and the traveling public.
41 (g) Helping to sustain this state’s working ranches, farms,
42 and forests that provide compatible wildlife habitats while
43 sustaining rural prosperity and agricultural production.
44 (4) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
45 (a) “Conserved lands” means federal, state, or local lands
46 owned or managed for conservation purposes, including, but not
47 limited to, federal, state, and local parks; federal and state
48 forests; wildlife management areas; wildlife refuges; military
49 bases and airports with conservation lands; properties owned by
50 land trusts and managed for conservation; and privately owned
51 land with a conservation easement, including, but not limited
52 to, ranches, forestry operations, and groves.
53 (b) “Department” means the Department of Environmental
54 Protection.
55 (c) “Florida Ecological Greenways Network” is a
56 periodically updated model developed to delineate large
57 connected areas of statewide ecological significance.
58 (d) “Florida wildlife corridor” means the conserved lands
59 and opportunity areas defined by the department as priority one,
60 two, and three categories of the Florida Ecological Greenways
61 Network.
62 (e) “Opportunity area” means those lands and waters within
63 the Florida wildlife corridor which are not conserved lands and
64 the green spaces within the Florida wildlife corridor which lack
65 conservation status, are contiguous to or between conserved
66 lands, and provide an opportunity to develop the Florida
67 wildlife corridor into a statewide conservation network.
68 (f) “Wildlife” has the same meaning as in Article II of the
69 Wildlife Violator Compact Act, s. 379.2255.
70 (g) “Wildlife corridor” means a network of connected
71 wildlife habitats required for the long-term survival of and
72 genetic exchange amongst regional wildlife populations which
73 serves to prevent fragmentation by providing ecological
74 connectivity of the lands needed to furnish adequate habitats
75 and allow safe movement and dispersal.
76 (h) “Wildlife crossing” means a landscape design element
77 that connects two or more patches of wildlife habitat and that
78 is meant to function as a safe conduit for wildlife over or
79 beneath roads, waters, and other barriers to wildlife movement
80 and that is designed to protect Florida panther and other
81 critical wildlife habitat corridor connections and to reduce
82 motor vehicle collisions with wildlife, reduce the likelihood of
83 injuries and mortalities to humans and wildlife from such
84 collisions, and to reduce the potential for damage to motor
85 vehicles from such collisions.
86 (5) DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT.—The department shall:
87 (a) Encourage all state, regional, and local agencies that
88 acquire lands, including, but not limited to, the Fish and
89 Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Department of
90 Transportation, to include in their land-buying efforts the
91 acquisition of sufficient legal interest in opportunity areas to
92 ensure the continued viability of the Florida wildlife corridor.
93 (b) Encourage investment in conservation easements
94 voluntarily entered into by private landowners to conserve
95 opportunity areas.
96 (c) Encourage state land-buying agencies and state land
97 management agencies to consider the conservation of opportunity
98 areas as a multi-phased project for the purpose of listing,
99 acquisition, and management.
100 (d) Consider the inclusion of private funds to supplement
101 the state’s contribution in its efforts to acquire a fee or
102 less-than-fee interest in lands that contain recognized
103 opportunity areas and conserved lands in the Florida wildlife
104 corridor.
105 (e) Seek opportunities to attract new sources of federal
106 funding and to strengthen existing programs to protect and
107 conserve the Florida wildlife corridor.
108 (f) Encourage private landowners, through existing and
109 future incentives and liability protections, to continue to
110 allow their private property to be used for the preservation and
111 enhancement of the Florida wildlife corridor.
112 (g) Encourage new approaches and novel financing mechanisms
113 for long-term protection of the Florida wildlife corridor,
114 including, but not limited to, public-private partnerships;
115 payments for ecosystem services; blended financing for growth,
116 resilience, and green infrastructure; and support for the
117 sustainable growth of agriculture.
118 (h) Encourage state and local agencies with economic and
119 ecotourism development responsibilities to recognize the
120 importance of the Florida wildlife corridor in encouraging
121 public access to wildlife areas and bringing nature-based
122 tourism to local communities and to support acquisition and
123 development activities for preservation and enhancement of the
124 Florida wildlife corridor.
125 (i) Encourage private investment in ecotourism focused on
126 the Florida wildlife corridor.
127 (j) Encourage the protection, preservation, and enhancement
128 of the natural value of the Florida wildlife corridor for
129 current and future residents of this state.
130 (6) RESTRICTIONS.—A local or state governmental entity may
131 not restrict proposed future activities on private properties
132 designated within the Florida wildlife corridor boundaries based
133 upon the property’s inclusion in the Florida wildlife corridor
134 area.
135 Section 2. (1) The St. Johns River Water Management
136 District, in consultation with the Department of Environmental
137 Protection, Seminole County, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
138 Commission, and the Department of Transportation, shall issue a
139 report by December 31, 2021, that includes information and
140 updates regarding the implementation of recommendations from the
141 Little Wekiva Watershed Management Plan Final Report dated
142 November 2005. The report must include, but not be limited to,
143 the following information: a description of all projects or
144 recommendations included in the report that have been
145 implemented and their completion dates, an analysis of how the
146 projects or recommendations achieved the results included in the
147 report, an analysis of costs for ongoing operation and
148 maintenance of the constructed projects completed, a list of
149 permit violations which may have contributed to sediment buildup
150 north of S.R. 436, an analysis of any new projects that may
151 benefit the watershed, and recommendations and cost estimates
152 for future studies or projects that may be necessary to identify
153 new or potentially significant contributors of sediment
154 accumulation in the Little Wekiva River.
155 (2)(a) The Department of Environmental Protection and the
156 water management district shall immediately review, with the
157 goal of identifying significant contributors of sediment
158 accumulation, any permits which the water management district
159 has determined may have contributed to sediment buildup north of
160 S.R. 436 to assess whether the permittee is in violation of any
161 permit conditions. Appropriate action to resolve compliance
162 issues shall be undertaken pursuant to chapter 373 if the
163 department or the water management district discovers a
164 violation of any permit condition.
165 (b) As part of the review, the Department of Environmental
166 Protection and the water management district shall review known
167 violations of such permits since 2018, and attempt to determine,
168 using existing information, what effects such violations may
169 have had on sediment accumulation in the Little Wekiva River.
170 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.
171
172 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
173 And the title is amended as follows:
174 Delete everything before the enacting clause
175 and insert:
176 A bill to be entitled
177 An act relating to the protection of ecological systems;
178 creating s. 259.1055, F.S.; providing a short title; providing
179 legislative findings and a purpose for the Florida Wildlife
180 Corridor Act; defining terms; requiring the Department of
181 Environmental Protection to take certain actions to support the
182 Florida wildlife corridor; prohibiting proposed future
183 activities on private properties within the Florida wildlife
184 corridor from being restricted by local or state governmental
185 entities; requiring the St. Johns River Water Management
186 District, in consultation with the Department of Environmental
187 Protection, Seminole County, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
188 Commission, and the Department of Transportation, to issue a
189 report that includes information and updates regarding the
190 implementation of recommendations from the Little Wekiva
191 Watershed Management Plan Final Report dated November 2005 by a
192 specified date; requiring the Department of Environmental
193 Protection and the water management district to review certain
194 permits along the Little Wekiva River; requiring certain
195 enforcement actions to be taken against noncompliant permittees;
196 providing an effective date.