When the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act became law, the aim was to protect panthers, bears, and all of the unique animals native to Florida. But in a first-of-its-kind study, experts are showing how it can offset the worst impacts of climate change.
The new report, "The Florida Wildlife Corridor and Climate Change: Managing Florida's Natural and Human Landscapes for Prosperity and Resilience," is a joint project by Florida Atlantic University, Archbold Biological Station, Live Wildly Foundation and brings together scientists, researchers, biologists, and climate experts from across the state.
"The Florida wildlife corridor is an 18 million acre landscape, a connected intact landscape all the way from the Panhandle down to the Keys," said Meredith Budd, Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Live Wildly Foundation.
"It's a mosaic of different types of land covers. You have ranches and pristine, natural areas. Both of those types of lands are critical for conservation and protection of both water and wildlife, for people making sure that we have the natural resources that we all love about Florida, and to be resilient against the impacts of climate change," Budd said.
The first-of-its-kind study reinforces how valuable wild spaces can be.
"Florida, is in a lot of ways, really ground zero for advancing climate change. Increasing heat, frequency of floods, intensity of floods, storms, hurricanes, and increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires," said Joshua Daskin, Director of Conservation at Archbold Biological Station.
He continued, "So, for climate resiliency, the Florida wildlife corridor contains two-thirds of our state's floodplains. So, we want to avoid building in those areas because it means that when there is a flood or a storm, we will have fewer people in the way of those events and fewer structures that need insurance. In the case of wildfires, having conserved connected areas means it's much easier for our wildland firefighters to deal with a wildfire where there are fewer structures and fewer people are exposed to them. We're heading in a direction in Florida where the risk of large wildfires is increasing. And that's because we have increasing heat."
Coastal areas only comprise about 707,811 acres (4%) of the FLWC, but the report stated they are "vital to the function of watersheds, floodplains, and inland forests. Mangroves and coastal marshes, wetlands, and forests in the FLWC could mitigate the impact of storm surge along the coastline, reduce erosion from waves, serve as windbreaks, and provide water quality benefits and habitat for fauna."
"The report, I hope, educates people so they can make their own decisions and make them a little bit more informed," said John "Jay" Baldwin, Ph.D.
Dr. Baldwin is co-lead author, a professor of biological sciences, and associate dean for faculty development at FAU College of Science.
"We're going to see probably more flooding, we're going to see more fires, we're going to definitely see more heat. We're going to get these storm events. And so, how can we do things smarter going into the future? And so I think that's just as an educational tool," he added.
The FLWC climate report collaborators include Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, UF Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, University of South Florida, South Florida Water Management District, reTHINK Energy Florida, and Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning
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