A photo of Chairman Barreto is available at MyFWC.com/About/commissioners.htm.

As I see it

By Rodney Barreto, Chairman

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Wildlife needs wild lands and caring landowners

Most Floridians are aware of the state's purchase of the Babcock Ranch Preserve and know some about its importance for conserving wildlife. However, the 74,000-acre is more valuable to wildlife conservation than many of us may realize.

A golden web of interconnected public and private lands, consisting of somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 acres, stretches through the center of the state from Sarasota County east to Lake Okeechobee. Here, wildlife has a real opportunity to flourish, even in the face of significant human intervention in the surrounding areas.

On the western end of this belt, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and its partner agencies, the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Sarasota County, have forged numerous conservation partnerships with private landowners. The partnerships have created a web of wildlife habitat stretching well to the west of the Babcock Ranch Preserve - into the heart of the Myakka River Basin.

This belt is the cornerstone for conservation of wildlife species that live north and west of Florida's River of Grass. Importantly, areas of this size are essential to the survival of wildlife populations, because wildlife requires large amounts of contiguous, quality habitat if native species are to remain viable and healthy. Areas like this one also provide resting spots and sustenance to large numbers of migratory birds funneling through peninsular Florida as they travel down the Atlantic flyway. Passerines in particular must maintain high numbers, because the long, arduous migration takes a significant toll on their populations. Only large habitats can support the number of birds needed for species survival.

At the forefront of the FWC's private-partnership efforts is the agency's Landowner Assistance Program (LAP). LAP biologists throughout the state enroll, fund and work with private landowners and other agencies and conservation groups to ensure wildlife gets the things it needs -- land that is managed properly for the benefit of wildlife and people.

One such private cooperator is Buster Longino, whose ranch is in eastern Sarasota County. Longino is a well-known, forward-thinking agribusiness man and former Sarasota County Commissioner. Of his 8,000 acres, fully half are enrolled in conservation programs.

At the direction of Longino, ranch manager Cliff Coddington employs best management practices for wildlife that complement the 4,000-acre cattle operation. Programs in which the ranch is enrolled include wetlands mitigation and restoration programs and a quail restoration program that uses prescribed fire to encourage restoration of native plant species. The ranch is also an approved recipient site for relocated gopher tortoises. The forestry management program, of which Longino and Coddington take great pride, is based on the natural regeneration of native pine trees. In addition, the ranch manager employs best practices for rangeland management, and drip irrigation is used to conserve water in the modest orange grove.

Because of careful planning, with conservation in mind, the ranch remains a viable economic entity as well as a safe haven for wildlife populations of both game and nongame species. Turkeys, quail, deer, gopher tortoises and pine lilies, a rare plant species, abound. Better yet, many of Longino's neighbors have enrolled in landowner assistance programs with the FWC and NRCS. Together, private and public land managers are mapping out the future for wildlife in this state, and that future looks very bright.

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