Entries For: March 2007
Lake Jackson Ecopassage - An Example of Sustained Local Concern Working Toward a Solution
Lake Jackson is a 4000-acre sinkhole lake in northwestern Florida located 7 miles north of Tallahassee, FL in the Ochlockonee River basin. U.S. Highway 27 crosses between the main body of the lake and what is known as Little Lake Jackson. Through sustained local work an Ecopassage is being planned (but yet to be built). This effort deserves your attention as an example of a wildlife crossing and highway safety problem that may be improved by the actions of a few, but growing group of local citizens.
US Highway 27 is a four-lane highway that was built directly across a 3/4-mile portion of northwest Lake Jackson, isolating part of the lake to the west now known as Little Lake Jackson. US Highway 27 is a virtually impassable barrier to turtles and other wildlife with 23,500 vehicles traveling along it each day.
***The road mortality and attempted crossings, especially of turtles, is higher than has been documented anywhere else in the world!.***
We have documented over 11,267 (as of 06 December 2006) animals of 61 different species (not including birds) attempting to cross the half-mile section of US Highway 27 at Lake Jackson in the last 6 years. Clearly, a permanent solution to this significant wildlife mortality problem is needed.
In order to prevent massive road mortality of the entire population of migrating turtles, we constructed a temporary fence using silt fence material that directs turtles into a culvert under the road. A 3,600 foot fence along US Highway 27 North was completed on 3 April 2000 and has been monitored 2-4 times per day since construction. A 2,600 foot fence was then constructed along US Highway 27 South to intercept turtles that attempted to migrate across the road when Lake Jackson refilled. Turtles were hand-collected as they moved along the fences, measured, transported by hand across the highway, and released into the water. Over 8,800 turtles and hundreds of other reptiles and amphibians were saved from death on the highway by these fences.
Wildlife Planning, Design and BMPs - 2nd TAC Meeting
1000 Friends of Florida and the Florida Wildlife Federation in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Wildlife Federation are working on a multi-year project to develop a document addressing wildlife habitat planning, developmental design and best management practices directed at Florida communities and landowners. The project builds upon the Florida’s Wildlife Legacy Initiative and Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) as developed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It focuses on a habitat approach, looking for ways to translate concerns and identified needs under the “Legacy’s” documents into appropriate actions that can be taken at the local level to keep common species common (as well as helping to avoid reduction or loss of the identified threatened or endangered species).
The end product this effort is aimed at producing a Florida-based document (Summer 2008) targeted to community planners, landscape architects, landowners, developers and active citizens similar to our award winning document, "Protecting Florida's Springs - Land Use Planning Strategies and Best Management Practices" published in 2002.
Our first draft chapters are found within this site at:
April 10th, 2007 Technical Advisory Meeting Materials
The current DRAFT chapters include the Introduction and a Chapter addressing wildlife and transportation facility planning. The Florida Department of Transportation is assisting and has drafted "Wildlife and Transportation Chapter for us to consider (entitled, Wildlife Crossing Guidelines". Our (1000 Friends of Florida) draft chapter is entitled, “Transportation030707” and is a bit more expansive than the FDOT version. Overtime (by April 2008) we plan to merge, adapt and add to make just one Transportation Chapter.
The project recognizes and will document the opportunities that exist to further wildlife habitat conservation, restoration and habitat connectivity through use of local or inter-local planning strategies, design features and best management practices. Presently there is an unconsolidated mix of these materials available to local governments and landowners. Most existing data and materials are geared to the professional biologist and wildlife conservation professional. The information often tends to be species specific, targeted to threatened or endangered species only and difficult to understand or translate into on-the-ground actions and projects by community planners, landscape architects, landowners and developers. This project will work to help rectify this and produce a document with information useful to local land use planners, practitioners, landowners and others.
The meeting will be held in the first floor conference room (Conference Room A) of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building in Tallahassee. Meeting starts at 9:00 and will go till 3:30pm with and 12 to 1:00 for lunch on your own. If you have time please drop by and contribute or download the Drafts and provide comment back to us via email: dpennington@1000fof.org
Beach to Bay Connection in Walton County - Endangereed Species
What's a smart thing for local wildlife organizations to do to educate folks on endangered and threatened species? The Beaches to Bay Connection - South Walton Coastal Conservancy has developed a good site for learning about such wildlife in their area. On their site you just click on the animal's portrait to learn more about the species. They also provide South Walton Greenway Trail Network maps.
South Walton is a precious and imperiled ecosystem. Its beauty and natural environment is being systematically destroyed by development. The single greatest threat to wildlife on the planet today, and certainly in South Walton, is loss of habitat. Not all doomed species disappear immediately. Most first suffer loss of their ranges and gene pool to dangerously low levels, eventually descending to join what biologists call the ``living dead." Learn more about the endangered species of South Walton, and do what you can to help protect the native inhabitants with whom we share this beautiful place.
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