Collier County votes on new development in Panther habitat - show up and say NO! (2)From:South Florida Wildlands Association
To:FialaDonna
Subject:Collier County votes on new development in Panther habitat - show up and say NO!
Date:Monday, January 27, 2020 8:39:07 PM
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Dear Friends,
Please join South Florida Wildlands, your friends, neighbors and other environmental
organizations on Tuesday, January 28th at 10 AM at the Collier County Commission
as we unite to oppose the creation of Rivergrass Village. If you're coming - please
wear a green shirt. Map to the Collier County Government Center can be found here:
https://goo.gl/maps/Hp7pfNYpC7m5uGcS9
A Facebook Event Page has been created here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1473814346118717/
The issue at hand is a new village in Florida panther habitat - just a stone's throw from
the Florida Panther National Widllife Refuge and a critical wildlife corridor that
connects the refuge to vital lands to the north (e.g. the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary).
Rivergrass Village will develop approximately 1,000 acres and bring up to 2,500 new
homes and many more vehicles to a currently rural part of Southwest Florida. And, if
Rivergrass does get through, there are at least three more planned villages on the
horizon for this same area (Bellmar, Longwater, and Hyde Park). Five Florida
panthers have already been killed in 2020 in Southwest Florida - four by vehicle and
one by train.
This proposal should never have gotten this far. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
estimates that viable panther habitat is shrinking by approximately 1 percent per year.
The service is also in the middle of writing a Habitat Conservation Plan for this entire
area. If approved, the plan submitted by area landowners would allow for up to
45,000 acres of new development in the habitat (an area approximately size of
Washington D.C.) - and would include what is now being called Rivergrass Village.
But the plan HAS NOT been finalized yet - nor has it been reviewed by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service in a Biological Opinion.
Along with most panther scientists, South Florida Wildlands believes no new
development should take place in the mosaic of habitats that comprise the core habitat
of the Florida panther - and certainly not 45,000 acres worth (also means many
thousands of new vehicle trips and much more panther roadkill). At the very least,
the commissioners of Collier County should wait for the Fish and Wildlife Service to
weigh in BEFORE granting a development right to Collier Enterprises for this new
development. The commissioners also have the option of rejecting this development
outright as "sprawl" and too injurious to the county's vulnerable wildlife populations.
A right to put dense development on agricultural lands, once granted, is not easily
taken away.
It should be noted that peer-reviewed scientific papers written in 2005 (Kautz, et al)
and 2015 (Frakes, et al) both concluded that the remaining habitat for the panther was
the bare minimum needed to maintain viable panther populations in Southwest
Florida - and none of it should be lost to development. According to the 2015 article
by Frakes, et al: "Because there is less panther habitat remaining than previously
thought, we recommend that all remaining breeding habitat in south Florida should be
maintained, and the current panther range should be expanded into south-central
Florida. This model should be useful for evaluating the impacts of future development
projects, in prioritizing areas for panther conservation, and in evaluating the potential
impacts of sea-level rise and changes in hydrology."
This will not be the last opportunity to weigh in on the plight of the Florida panther -
but if you are free tomorrow and can make it to Naples, your presence at the Collier
County Commission meeting would be very appreciated.
And if you'd like to help this little organization and our continued work with a
financial contribution, tax-deductible donations in any amount are greatly appreciated
and can be made HERE.
Panther mortality.jpg
A portion of the FWC dataset showing Florida panther mortality (February 1972 to
December 2018) on lands surrounding Rivergrass Village. The vast majority of the
yellow pushpins represent a Florida panther struck and killed by a vehicle. Traffic on
roads surrounding Rivergrass Village (currently an uninhabited tomato field) will
increase tremendously once the development goes in.
Best regards,
Matthew Schwartz
Executive Director
South Florida Wildlands Association
P.O. Box 30211
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33303
954-993-5351
https://www.facebook.com/southfloridawild
This email is intended for donnafiala@colliergov.net.
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