Defenders of Wildlife Blog

©Pauline I. Stacey

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

Last month, we celebrated the First Annual Everglades Day, designated by the Florida legislature in recognition of America’s unique and intriguingly diverse Everglades ecoregion. The date, April 7th, was also the birthday of the late Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, an iconic heroine and newspaper reporter who spent many years writing about and advocating for Everglades protection.

The Everglades region is recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. The area encompasses three national parks, and a dozen national wildlife refuges and marine preserves, as well as a host of state, regional and local parks, forests and wildlife management areas. Extensive private land holdings in the region are also an integral component of valuable wildlife habitat ranging from 100,000-acre ranches to thousands of one-acre lots.

Biodiversity here is among the highest in the nation, with many species found nowhere else in the U.S. Many of Defenders’ key species are in the region, including Florida panthers, manatees, sea turtles, gopher tortoises and other listed species such as the Everglade kite, wood stork, Big Cypress fox squirrel, American crocodile and Key deer.

The Everglades are truly a national treasure and deserve the utmost protection and management. Without adequate funding, we’d be unable to acquire the habitat and linkages that species like panthers and bears need, protect water quality or work to protect natural systems from degradation and invasive species.

Throughout the month of April, we took action to protect south Florida’s Greater Everglades region. Defenders’ Florida Representative Elizabeth Fleming, our lobbyist Travis Moore and I, as well as other Everglades Coalition members, met with volunteers from around the state in Tallahassee to speak with our state senators and representatives who were in the midst of the Florida legislative session. Our message: The state budget needs to provide adequate funding for Everglades protection and restoration projects that protect our water and wildlife. One third of all Floridians rely on clean water from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and more than 120 federal and state endangered and threatened species depend on the region’s varied wetland, upland and marine habitats. The health of the Everglades brings economic health to the region. Quite simply, what’s good for the Everglades is good for southern Florida and beyond, because its visitors and migratory wildlife come from around the globe.

Staff and volunteers on the steps of the Florida Capitol.(©Pauline I. Stacey)

This was the first trip to the state capital for Will Johnson, a Defenders volunteer who made the nearly 7-hour drive to Tallahassee from Naples, who said, “Everglades Action Day is a great opportunity to engage with legislators and a wonderful group of activists to help preserve and protect the beauty and wildlife of Florida.”

Another volunteer, Magdalena Braker, took the long ride by joining others on a chartered bus that the Everglades Coalition reserved for the event, starting in Miami and picking up activists along way. Magdalena urged legislators to provide funding and support for the Everglades with this message: “La riqueza natural y servicios ambientales de los Everglades se están marchitando debajo presiones urbanas y venimos para emfátizar la importancia de los Everglades tanto para las especies silvestre como para los ciudadanos del sur de la Florida.” Which means:

“The natural resources and ecosystem services of the Everglades are withering under the pressures of urbanization, and we come here to emphasize the importance of the Everglades, not only for the native wildlife, but for South Floridians.”

The nearly 60 volunteers who made the trip from around the state to Tallahassee attended more than 30 meetings with their elected officials, asking them to make funding for the Everglades a priority. And it made an important contribution to Everglades protection! Just last week, as the 2013 legislative session concluded, the Florida Legislature designated $70M for Everglades restoration projects. Thanks for all who participated in our action day! If you’re in Florida, join us next year for lobby days at the state capital! And no matter where you live, get to know your state representative and senator back in your district. It always makes a big difference when elected officials hear directly from their constituents.

Fl. Representative Powell meets with volunteers and activists (©Pauline I. Stacey)

Listen to Defenders’ Elizabeth Fleming on Public News Service Radio.

NAPLES, Fla. – A proposal to create a new national wildlife refuge north of Lake Okeechobee could give a big boost to efforts to save the Florida panther.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to designate the 150,000-acre Everglades Headwaters refuge as part of a greater effort to connect to the panther refuge in the south. So far, four public meetings have been held and public comment is being accepted until March 31.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida representative of Defenders of Wildlife, says this proposal is different in that it features a public-private partnership.

“One-third of it would be acquired as public lands and a full two-thirds of it would remain in private ownership.”

Although numbers have been increasing, the latest estimates say there are still only 100 to 160 adult panthers in Florida.

Much of that land would remain under the control of the area ranchers. Fleming says her group is working on a way to compensate ranchers for any losses caused by panthers. Although numbers have been increasing, the latest estimates say there are still only 100 to 160 adult panthers in Florida.

Defenders' Elizabeth Fleming has been working to save FL panthers since 2004, when it was estimated that there were fewer than 100 big cats in the state.

A “Save the Panther Day” open house is planned from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge near Naples. Sandy Mickey, park ranger at the Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands national wildlife refuges, says these areas are instrumental in helping increase panther numbers.

“It certainly has rebounded and that’s thanks in part to habitat protection in south Florida, including the refuge which was established in 1989.”

As the panther population grows, Mickey says, people should never feed wildlife, watch out for wildlife while driving, secure pet food and garbage, and protect pets and livestock in enclosed structures – especially at night.

- Glen Gardner, Public News Service – FL

Attendees of the 26th Annual Everglades Coalition Conference this weekend received some unexpected good news when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the proposal to create a new national wildlife refuge and conservation area to preserve the community’s ranching heritage and conserve the headwaters and fish and wildlife of the Everglades.

In this venture, the Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to protect approximately 150,000 acres of important environmental and cultural landscapes in the Kissimmee River Valley south of Orlando. In addition to improving water quality, the proposed conservation area and refuge would protect important habitat for 88 federal and state listed species, including the Florida panther, Florida black bear and whooping crane.

“The Greater Everglades is one of the most fascinating, biologically diverse areas of the world. Yet the region – as well as many endangered species who call it home – continues to face grave threats.”

This year, Defenders of Wildlife co-hosted the Everglades Coalition Conference, called Renewal of Life for the Everglades: Moving Forward Together. Florida representative Elizabeth Fleming, who moderated a discussion on safe passage for wildlife on busy roads, said of Salazar’s announcement, “We are thrilled with the plan to establish the Everglades Headwaters refuge. Defenders sees this as part of a much larger vision to conserve wildlife habitat in a significant area of interconnected lands that reach the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.”

Laurie Macdonald with Everglades champion and former FL Senator Bob Graham

During the conference, the Everglades Coalition outlined its conservation priorities for the year. This year’s goals include protecting key wildlife habitat, reducing water pollution and sustaining momentum on Everglades restoration jobs.

Defenders’ Florida director Laurie Macdonald moderated a plenary session on large-scale initiatives to protect the Greater Everglades ecosystem. She said, “The Greater Everglades is one of the most fascinating, biologically diverse areas of the world. Yet the region – as well as many endangered species who call it home – continues to face grave threats.”

“Now is the time to seize opportunities for coordinated federal, state and local action. Several large-scale planning initiatives are underway that, in concert with Everglades restoration plans, have the potential to preserve a network of public and private conservation lands that benefit not only wildlife but people as well.”

Learn more:

Read more about the threats facing America’s Everglades in a new Endangered Species Coalition report, “It’s Getting Hot Out There: Top 10 Places to Save for Endangered Species in a Warming World.”

Learn more about the Everglades Coalition.

Just one day before the start of the 26^th annual Everglades Coalition conference, Renewal of Life for the Everglades: Moving Forward Together, Defenders and other groups that make up the Endangered Species Coalition have named the Greater Everglades Ecosystem as one of the top 10 places to save in the United States for wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction in a new report.

It’s Getting Hot Out There: Top 10 Places to Save for Endangered Species in a Warming World examines how the changing climate is increasing the risk of extinction for imperiled fish, plants and wildlife, and the importance of protecting key ecosystems.

According to the report, the Greater Everglades region is one place where action to address the impacts of climate change is critical. With projected rises in sea level of three feet or more over the next century, much of the low-lying Everglades ecoregion is at risk of being submerged under water. For iconic Florida species like the panther, whose diminished population already struggles with increased development and habitat loss, such an impact could prove devastating.

Learn more:

Other places to save for endangered species span the country – read the full report here.

Defenders of Wildlife is a cosponsor for the 26th Annual Everglades Coalition Conference. The conference focuses this year on wildlife, wildlife habitat and renewing productive partnerships among the governmental, scientific, private and nonprofit sectors.  Click here to learn more.

Stay tuned for more on Renewal of Life for the Everglades: Moving Forward Together.