National Audubon Society

Florida Legislative Session and Policy Update

It may be the end of the year, but Audubon Florida is already gearing up for the next Florida Legislative Session. In your last Advocate newsletter of 2024 but first for the upcoming session, we bring you news from interim committee weeks, an opportunity to use your voice to protect black bears, and state and national-level successes in conservation and restoration. Read on!

Do You Know Your Elected Officials and Their Committees?

The first official interim legislative committee week in the run up to the 2025-2026 Legislative Session will begin after the holidays on January 13, 2025. At the end of each committee week and each week of Session, you can count on Audubon to keep you up to speed on the issues facing Florida’s environment and let you know when your voice can make a real difference.

Our commitment to funding for natural resources agencies, landmark conservation land-buying programs, investment in resource protection, and Everglades and freshwater spring restoration are among our highest priorities.

House and Senate Committee Assignments

Committee lists were finalized last week in anticipation of the start of interim committee weeks for Session 2025-2026. While all Floridians’ voices are important for influencing legislation during session, if your state representative or senator sits on key committees that hear environmental bills, your voice can be especially powerful for Florida’s wildlife and wildlands. Now in these early days of legislative season, make sure you know who your representative and senator are and check their committee assignments. If your elected officials sit on any of the following committees, your voice is especially important this year:

Find Your Representative
Budget Committee
Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee
State Affairs Committee
Natural Resources and Disasters Subcommittee
Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee
Rules and Ethics Committee
Commerce Committee
Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee

Find Your Senator
Agriculture Committee
Appropriations Subcommittee
Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government
Commerce and Tourism
Community Affairs
Environment and Natural Resources
Fiscal Policy
Regulated Industries
Rules
Transportation

Least Bittern. Photo: Therese Scheller/Audubon Photography Awards.

FWC Soliciting Public Input: Should Florida Allow Black Bear Hunt?

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is asking Floridians to share their thoughts on whether Florida should allow hunting of black bears. At a time when other environmental issues are threatening our way of life in the Sunshine State—including invasive species, loss of habitat, and plummeting wildlife populations— the FWC has many other pressing priorities.

We need your voice. Tell the FWC that you do not support a future bear hunt, especially when there are so many other, more important problems to address first.

Click here to use your voice and write a letter to the FWC.

Black bear.

Legislation Filed to Protect Florida State Parks from Development

Floridians and politicians of all stripes erupted in anger in August this year when the Department of Environmental Protection proposed adding golf courses, 350-room lodges, pickleball courts, and other amenities to nine state parks. Traditionally, state park management plans and management plan amendments require general public meetings and advisory group meetings. Instead, the state hurriedly scheduled eight public meetings across eight counties—not allowing sufficient time for public review and input. Currently, there is nothing in law/rule within the management plan process that specifically precludes agencies from building golf courses or court-sport amenities in a park. This makes our parks vulnerable to these types of ideas and plans, and we need crisp statutory guidelines to guide development of nature-based recreational opportunities in parks (docks, concessions, etc.). Their design must be guided by sound ecological principles. Additionally, we need something better than vague guidelines about the required process for public input.

Step Forward

Senator Gayle Harrell recognized the need to put some guardrails into the management plan update process and has filed SB 80, State Land Management.

The proposed legislation:

- Mandates public hearings for all updates to land management plans.
- Requires the Division of State Lands to provide electronic copies of land management plans for large parcels and state parks before these hearings.
- Requires advisory groups to offer input on management plans for large state park parcels, ensuring public hearings and stakeholder engagement.
- Revises the duties of the Division of Recreation and Parks to emphasize conservation-based recreational uses while prohibiting activities harmful to state park resources.
- Bans the installation or operation of lodging establishments in state parks.

Ways to Improve the Legislation

Notably, the bill highlights the need to address deferred maintenance in state parks but overlooks habitat management issues, which should be added to ensure comprehensive land stewardship. Additionally, Audubon supports grandfathering existing facilities, like the historic Wakulla Springs Lodge, under the new legislation.

Anastasia State Park

Record-breaking Conservation Purchase

On Tuesday, the Florida Cabinet approved the purchase of land and conservation easements to protect 85,778 acres of Florida’s most important wildlife habitats and rural ranchlands for $318,386,613. These conservation lands cover 134 square miles, or 2.5 times the size of the City of Miami, and constitute the largest increment of conservation land and easement purchases ever proposed on a single Cabinet agenda. House and Senate leaders in the Florida Legislature included strategic appropriations for conservation land acquisitions and easements in Florida's budget—an important investment in Florida's economy, ecology, and quality of life. Many of the proposed acquisition projects are part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Read more.

Great Egret. Photo: Mary Flaherty/Audubon Photography Awards

Good News for the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow

The South Florida Water Management District announced in December that they would provide seed funding for the conservation breeding of the critically endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow.

The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow was listed as endangered in 1967. It relies on marl prairie habitat, and is non-migratory with an extremely limited range in South Florida. Because the birds require drier conditions for nesting season from February through August, chronic high-water conditions, especially within the last year, have been disastrous for their population numbers.

A conservation breeding initiative will help ensure continued survival and resilience of the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow population and aid in translocation programs if the birds need to move to higher ground. These efforts have proven successful with Florida Grasshopper Sparrows farther north (they just released the 1,000th sparrow this year!).

Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. Photo: Lori Oberhofer/NPS.

Congress Passes Historic Everglades Legislation

Huge news for Everglades restoration! Congress has passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), delivering major wins for critical projects like the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP) and the Lake Okeechobee Component A Reservoir (LOCAR)!

WERP will improve water flow, address water quality issues, and restore habitats in some of the most vulnerable areas of the Everglades. It’s the only CERP project with documented benefits for both the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of Florida, while also protecting habitats for imperiled species like the Wood Stork and Florida Panther.

The Lake Okeechobee Reservoir is the largest CERP storage feature north of the lake, designed to store excess water and release it when needed. This project will help stabilize Lake Okeechobee levels, reduce harmful discharges to northern estuaries, and protect downstream ecosystems.

It was a historic day for the Everglades and we want to thank our champions in Congress, especially the Florida delegation and Everglades Caucus, for their bipartisan leadership and unwavering commitment to a shared vision of restoration. Together, we’re building a brighter future for America’s Everglades!

Everglades. Photo: Mac Stone

Community Leaders Applaud Release of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Restoration Blueprint

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Restoration Blueprint, a major step towards finalizing this long-awaited plan for the Sanctuary. The Blueprint updates the Sanctuary’s management plan, marine zones, regulations, and more for the first time since 1997. This plan will provide additional safeguards for the Sanctuary’s reefs, seagrass meadows, and island havens, which draw visitors from around the globe and make up the lifeblood of Monroe County’s economy. Its final iteration was developed following years of input by local residents and represents a common-sense approach to conserving the area’s most at-risk natural areas.

“I’ve been lucky enough to live in the Keys for decades, and like many residents, I’m deeply concerned about the declining health of our reefs, seagrass beds, and more. Not only does this decline threaten our fish and wildlife, but it also threatens our way of life.” says Jerry Lorenz, PhD, Audubon Florida’s State Research Director and 24-year FKNMS Advisory Council member, on behalf of the Florida Keys Restoration Partnership. “The Restoration Blueprint, informed by stakeholders from across the Keys, gives us a chance to pass this way of life on to our children, and is a welcome step forward for the wildlife and people that call the Keys home.”

Read more.

Florida Keys.

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