The Southwest Florida Water Management District will hold an important meeting on Thursday, November 3, beginning at 9:00 AM at their Tampa Service Office, 7601 US Highway 301 North (map).

You can make a difference this coming Thursday by attending an important meeting of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) Governing Board Subcommittee on the Surplus Lands Assessment Project. The district has about 450,000 acres of land in its conservation inventory, much of which was purchased under the Preservation 2000 and Florida Forever programs. The SWFWMD emphasizes that it will likely only consider a “small percentage” of its properties for surplus, including lands without conservation or water resource value. Its new web site points to odd parcels that were required out of necessity when a willing seller was dealing with the district – sometimes only a few non-conservation acres tied in to a tract thousands of acres in size.

While these representations offer some reassurance, the drumbeat in the background of the SWFWMD surplus land process is punctuated by ill-informed statements by some political figures that contend that SWFWMD owns large areas of land that should be returned to private ownership to promote economic development. The watchword for the environmental community with regard to any “surplus lands process” should be one of caution, and it is a time when participation in public meetings (such as the one to be held November 3) is urgently needed.

There can be positive environmental advantages from a properly conducted surplus land program. For example consider a proposed surplus lands trade involving an isolated 80-acre parcel acquired when a 5000-acre tract of environmental significance was originally purchased. The 80 acre “outparcel” isolated from the remainder of the conservation property might be traded with a private landowner for two 40 acre parcels that will complete part of the larger tract’s contiguous boundary by “filling in gaps” in that boundary. At a time when there are no new acquisition dollars flowing from the Legislature, smart decisions regarding properties that are not really ideal for conservation can add up to actually expanding and improving the conservation land inventory.

It is the job of the conservation community, and Audubon members and chapters to make sure that the outcomes from a surplus land program fall into that category of beneficial actions. Without our voice, it would be easy for public agencies to fall victim to special interest pressures to declare land surplus for less noble reasons.

The District’s web site offers the opportunity for citizens to send in comments directly to the agency, and also will post the time and place of future district stakeholder meetings on surplus lands.

Audubon of Florida encourages all concerned Audubon members, chapters, and environmentally concerned citizens to pay attention to this process.

We hope to see you at the upcoming meeting on Thursday, November 3, beginning at 9:00 A.M. at the SWFWMD Tampa Service Office 7601 US Highway 301 North (map).