In October 2006 we went to Tampa to meet with Greg Howe, a Naturalist working for the City’s Parks & Recreation Department. Tampa. The trip was quite interesting.

Tampa and the majority of the north end of Hillsborough County as well as large parts of adjoining Pasco County are being subdivided and developed under various large Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) and Developments of Regional Impact (DRIs). A map of the various developments looks like a jig-saw puzzle where very little, if any, of the original natural habitats will remain open or unaffected by the development. After a buildout of the area the only remaining wildlife habitat will be

Greg’s job is to work with each of these landowners/developers as they go through the development review processes and to try to implement the City’s Upland Habitat Protection requirements such that some useful and logical habitat may remain after development occurs. This is no easy task. The developer of course, is trying to maximize use of every acre of land to get as many developable units as possible. From a natural plant and wildlife perspective over the long-term, Greg’s work has most lasting value if he can cobble together enough area, linking from one development to the next, such that some wildlife and plant communities will stand a change of sustaining viable populations into our future. Click Here for a more complete description of the trip and Tampa's Upland Habitat Protection  Ordinance.