For fifty years, Florida Audubon has worked with ranchers to protect important wildlife habitat and water resources in the Northern Everglades. These efforts now culminate in a proposal to establish a unique partnership between ranch landowners and the public creating a new National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area protecting and restoring the Everglades Headwaters.

Over 100,000 acres of conservation easements and 50,000 acres of land purchases are now proposed for acquisition in the area north of Lake Okeechobee and south of Kissimmee. The Everglades need you to speak up on behalf of this proposal - click here to use our easy email form!

 

Audubon's Priorities

Audubon supports this proposal because it would aid in the restoration of the Everglades and protect vital habitat for key indicator species – The Everglade Snail Kite, Bald Eagle, Crested Caracara, and Grasshopper Sparrow. From a restoration standpoint, the proposed easements help cattle ranches stay in business. These ranches have been good land stewards and are highly beneficial to wildlife and water management.

The new Refuge and Conservation Area will aid other programs to assure a more natural flow of waters into the Everglades. A key example is the “dispersed storage” project of the South Florida Water Management District which compensates ranchers to restore water levels in over-drained areas, thereby reestablishing wetlands, reducing phosphorus pollution and slowing the flow of water to Lake Okeechobee.

Audubon of Florida Asks You to Submit Comments in Support of this Proposal

Comments are due by October 24 - use our easy email form right now and help make a difference for the Greater Everglades! Your comments can also be faxed to (321) 861-1276, or mailed to: Everglades Headwaters Proposal, US Fish and Wildlife Service PO Box 2683, Titusville, FL 32781-2683.

Two Public Hearings are Scheduled:

Saturday, September 24, 2011, 1 - 5 pm , South Florida Community College Theatre for the Performing Arts,600 W. College Drive Avon Park, FL 33825

Saturday, October 1, 2011, 1-5 pm, Osceola Heritage Park, Exhibition Building-Hall A, 1901 Chief Osceola Trail Kissimmee, FL 34744.

Further information on the proposal, including detailed maps of priority properties for acquisition can be obtained by clicking here.

Please share this action alert with your friends, family, co-workers and other Florida nature-lovers. Thank you for making a difference.