Fla. Stat. § 259.105 The Florida Forever Act

• Library: Florida Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Chapter 352 of the 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: Fla. Stat. § 259.105

(1) This section may be cited as the "Florida Forever Act."

(2)

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that:

1. Land acquisition programs have provided tremendous financial resources for purchasing environmentally significant lands to protect those lands from imminent development or alteration, thereby ensuring present and future generations' access to important waterways, open spaces, and recreation and conservation lands.

2. The continued alteration and development of the state's natural and rural areas to accommodate the state's growing population have contributed to the degradation of water resources, the fragmentation and destruction of wildlife habitats, the loss of outdoor recreation space, and the diminishment of wetlands, forests, working landscapes, and coastal open space.

3. The potential development of the state's remaining natural areas and escalation of land values require government efforts to restore, bring under public protection, or acquire lands and water areas to preserve the state's essential ecological functions and invaluable quality of life.

4. It is essential to protect the state's ecosystems by promoting a more efficient use of land, to ensure opportunities for viable agricultural activities on working lands, and to promote vital rural and urban communities that support and produce development patterns consistent with natural resource protection.

5. The state's groundwater, surface waters, and springs are under tremendous pressure due to population growth and economic expansion and require special protection and restoration efforts, including the protection of uplands and springsheds that provide vital recharge to aquifer systems and are critical to the protection of water quality and water quantity of the aquifers and springs. To ensure that sufficient quantities of water are available to meet the current and future needs of the natural systems and citizens of the state, and assist in achieving the planning goals of the department and the water management districts, water resource development projects on public lands, if compatible with the resource values of and management objectives for the lands, are appropriate.

6. The needs of urban, suburban, and small communities in the state for high-quality outdoor recreational opportunities, greenways, trails, and open space have not been fully met by previous acquisition programs. Through such programs as the Florida Communities Trust and the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, the state shall place additional emphasis on acquiring, protecting, preserving, and restoring open space, ecological greenways, and recreation properties within urban, suburban, and rural areas where pristine natural communities or water bodies no longer exist because of the proximity of developed property.

7. Many of the state's unique ecosystems, such as the Florida Everglades, are facing ecological collapse due to the state's burgeoning population growth and other economic activities. To preserve these valuable ecosystems for future generations, essential parcels of land must be acquired to facilitate ecosystem restoration.

8. Access to public lands to support a broad range of outdoor recreational opportunities and the development of necessary infrastructure, if compatible with the resource values of and management objectives for such lands, promotes an appreciation for the state's natural assets and improves the quality of life.

9. Acquisition of lands, in fee simple, less than fee interest, or other techniques shall be based on a comprehensive science-based assessment of the state's natural resources which targets essential conservation lands by prioritizing all current and future acquisitions based on a uniform set of data and planned so as to protect the integrity and function of ecological systems and working landscapes, and provide multiple benefits, including preservation of fish and wildlife habitat, recreation space for urban and rural areas, and the restoration of natural water storage, flow, and recharge.

10. The state has embraced performance-based program budgeting as a tool to evaluate the achievements of publicly funded agencies, build in accountability, and reward those agencies which are able to consistently achieve quantifiable goals. While previous and existing state environmental programs have achieved varying degrees of success, few of these programs can be evaluated as to the extent of their achievements, primarily because performance measures, standards, outcomes, and goals were not established at the outset. Therefore, the Florida Forever program shall be developed and implemented in the context of measurable state goals and objectives.

11.

a. The state must play a major role in the recovery and management of its imperiled species through the acquisition, restoration, enhancement, and management of ecosystems that can support the major life functions of such species. It is the intent of the Legislature to support local, state, and federal programs that result in net benefit to imperiled species habitat by providing public and private land owners meaningful incentives for acquiring, restoring, managing, and repopulating habitats for imperiled species. It is the further intent of the Legislature that public lands, both existing and to be acquired, identified by the lead land managing agency, in consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for animals or the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for plants, as habitat or potentially restorable habitat for imperiled species, be restored, enhanced, managed, and repopulated as habitat for such species to advance the goals and objectives of imperiled species management for conservation, recreation, or both, consistent with the land management plan without restricting other uses identified in the management plan. It is also the intent of the Legislature that of the proceeds distributed pursuant to subsection (3), additional consideration be given to acquisitions that achieve a combination of conservation goals, including the restoration, enhancement, management, or repopulation of habitat for imperiled species. The council, in addition to the criteria in subsection (9), shall give weight to projects that include acquisition, restoration, management, or repopulation of habitat for imperiled species. The term "imperiled species" as used in this chapter and chapter 253, means plants and animals that are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act, or state-listed by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. As part of the state's role, all state lands that have imperiled species habitat shall include as a consideration in management plan development the restoration, enhancement, management, and repopulation of such habitats. In addition, the lead land managing agency of such state lands may use fees received from public or private entities for projects to offset adverse impacts to imperiled species or their habitat in order to restore, enhance, manage, repopulate, or acquire land and to implement land management plans developed under s. 253.034 or a land management prospectus developed and implemented under this chapter. Such fees shall be deposited into a foundation or fund created by each land management agency under s. 379.223, s. 589.012, or s. 259.032(9)(c), to be used solely to restore, manage, enhance, repopulate, or acquire imperiled species habitat.

b. The Legislature recognizes that there have been geographical and capacity constraints on available gopher tortoise recipient sites that have coincided with increased demands for such sites. The Legislature also recognizes that the success of gopher tortoise conservation depends on participation by privately owned lands and the use of appropriate public lands for gopher tortoise and other imperiled species management and recovery. To encourage adequate capacity for relocating gopher tortoises, each lead land managing agency, in consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shall consider the feasibility of using a portion of state lands as a gopher tortoise recipient site in management plans for all state lands under the management of the agency that are greater than 40 contiguous acres. If the lead land managing agency, in consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, determines that gopher tortoise recipient site management does not conflict with the primary management objectives of the lands, the management plan must contain a component prepared by the agency or cooperatively with a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wildlife biologist that assesses the feasibility of managing the lands as a recipient site for gopher tortoises consistent with rules of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The feasibility assessment by the lead land managing agency must also evaluate the economic feasibility of establishing a gopher tortoise recipient site, including the initial cost and recurring management costs of operating the gopher tortoise recipient site consistent with the rules of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the revenue projections necessary to ensure the initial and recurring costs of establishing and perpetually maintaining the gopher tortoise recipient site do not create an increased recurring expense for the agency.