Florida Conservation Group Inc

Advocacy and outreach: we continued working with landowners to develop and implement conservation plans for their properties. We are active throughout southwest and southcentral florida. There are myriad of different state and federal conservation programs available; the challenge is to bring together the best fit for each landowner and property, as well as to secure the appropriate funding for each property. Over the past year, we met with 60 different landowners, to provide outreach and the various conservation programs that are available to protect and manage private land for conservation. We conducted one-on one outreach with landowners to provide information on conservation programs. We are currently working with various landowners to apply for funding and advocate the protection of their lands. We also hosted several smaller group meetings with landowners to discuss conservation easement programs available to them. The vast majority of our landowner meetings were centered around talking about the state's rural and family lands protection program - the state's agricultural easement program. The new application cycle opened in december of 2024. We also worked with the united states fish and wildlife service national wildlife refuge system to reach out to landowners on the new everglades to gulf conservation area. The new conservation area was established in march of 2024; it encompasses 4 million acres and is an opportunity area, where landowners can sell their lands to usfws for conservation. We helped lead the education efforts for this new area.

Science: the everglades to gulf conservation area we partnered with the university of florida's center for landscape conservation planning and the u.s. Fish and wildlife service (usfws) to provide the science foundation for the usfws' effort to establish an everglades to gulf conservation area. With our help, conservation area was formally established in march of 2024. Within this proposed 4-million-acre conservation area in southwest and south-central florida, the usfws would work with willing landowners to pursue conservation easements or fee title acquisitions. Land protection in southwest florida is critical because this area is home to over 70 federally or state-listed threatened and endangered species including the florida panther, florida scrub jay, and crested caracara. However, this ecologically diverse area faces threats from climate change, rapid population growth, and land use intensification. Protected lands, including those within the florida wildlife corridor, would improve species' resilience in the face of these threats. Land protection also supports family farms and ranches and improves water quality."

Landowner assistance florida conservation group (fcg) and our partner common ground ecology (cge) assisted florida nrcs at the state, area, and field office levels by providing programmatic consultation to state conservationists, guidance to district conservationists and field office staff on grazing planning organization and process, and prescribed grazing technical assistance directly to local ranchers enrolled in nrsc cost-share programs. This assistance included the evaluation of land for improved grazing management and the development of final prescribed grazing plans. Grazing plans were provided to producers to implement, improving the quality and quantity of surface water by promoting native and desired species composition and decreasing soil compaction and nutrient run-off.