
Tates Hell State Forest, a Florida Forever project |
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Florida Forever is Florida’s premier conservation and recreation lands acquisition program, a blueprint for conserving natural resources and renewing Florida’s commitment to conserve the state’s natural and cultural heritage. Florida Forever replaces
Preservation 2000 (P2000), the largest public land acquisition program of its kind in the United States. With a total of 3.8 million acres of conservation land
purchased in Florida, 2.4 million acres were purchased under the Florida Forever and
P2000 programs.
Between its inception in July 2001 to the present, the Florida
Forever program has acquired more than 638,600 acres of land
with $2.62
billion. During this time, Florida Forever has protected:
- 259,330 acres of strategic habitat conservation
areas
- 426,290 acres of rare species habitat conservation
areas
- 638,450 acres of ecological greenways
- 57,310 acres of under-represented natural
communities
- 77,920 acres of natural floodplains
- 645,350 acres important to significant water bodies
- 5,190 acres of fragile coastline
- 273,000 acres of functional wetlands
- 625,710 acres of significant groundwater recharge
areas
- 206,390 acres of land to support priority
recreational trails
- 302,130 acres of sustainable forest land
- 554 archaeological and historic sites
Florida Forever has conserved habitats for
200
protected
species [PDF - 182 KB] (99 state-listed as endangered, 39 state-listed
as threatened and 19 species of special concern).
Note: These acreages were derived from the most recently
updated Florida Forever data layers, which are
continuously amended to reflect the most current scientific analysis of
Florida’s natural resources. Additionally the acreages
recorded for each measure often overlap, and thus should not
be added together.
Florida Forever Funding Distribution - June
2008
Florida Forever funding is allocated by the legislature at
$300 million per year. It is distributed by the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection to a number of state
agencies and programs to purchase public lands in the form
of parks, trails, forests, wildlife management areas and
more. All of these lands are held in trust for the citizens
of Florida.
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