LibGuides: Conservation and Natural Resources: Florida

Contact Information

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Farris Bryant Building

620 South Meridian Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399

Northwest Region	George Warthen, Regional Director 3911 Hwy. 2321 Panama City, FL 32409-1658 850-265-3676
North Central Region	Chris Wynn, Regional Director 3377 E. U.S. Highway 90 Lake City, FL 32055-8795 386-758-0525
Northeast Region	Shannon Wright, Regional Director 1239 S.W. 10th Street Ocala, FL 34471-0323 352-732-1225
Southwest Region	Thomas Graef, Regional Director 3900 Drane Field Road Lakeland, FL 33811-1207 863-648-3200
South Region	Dr. Thomas Reinert, Regional Director 8535 Northlake Boulevard West Palm Beach, FL 33412 561-625-5122

For direct contact numbers, click here.

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About Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

Mission

Managing fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of people.

Conservation Programs

Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration
Florida is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and full of lakes, freshwater bays and estuaries, rivers and springs, forested and non-forested wetlands, and the “river of grass” that is the Everglades. Unfortunately, over the last 100 years, approximately 50% of Florida’s aquatic resources have been negatively impacted due to drainage practices, urbanization, flood control, etc. These impacts can also have a negative effect on the fish and wildlife that depend on these aquatic resources.

FWC's Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration (AHCR) Section has the responsibility of restoring, enhancing and managing many of these publicly owned aquatic resources. To achieve this, AHCR has established multi-disciplinary teams throughout the state to help identify and prioritize aquatic resources that have been negatively impacted. Teams are comprised of individuals from governmental and non-governmental entities, conservation groups, stakeholders, and partners who have a vested interest in how these public aquatic resources are managed.
Aquatic Plant Management Program
Invasive plants degrade and diminish Florida's conservation lands and waterways. Some invasive aquatic plants pose a significant threat to human welfare by impeding flood control and affecting recreational use of waterways and its associated surrounding economy. The Invasive Plant Management Section is the lead agency in Florida responsible for coordinating and funding two statewide programs controlling invasive aquatic and upland plants on public conservation lands and waterways throughout the state. The section also ensures that beneficial native aquatic plants in Florida's ponds, lakes and rivers are protected through its permitting programs and funding research to find more cost-effective management techniques.
Blackwater Fisheries Research and Development Center
Blackwater Fisheries Research and Development Center is located in scenic Blackwater River State Forest near Holt, Florida. Constructed in 1938 and operated by the Commission since 1940, the Center has stocked millions of bass, bream and catfish into Florida waters. In recent years production of fish has emphasized striped bass and striped bass hybrids (sunshine bass) and advanced fingerling largemouth bass. From the years 2000 to 2007 this facility has produced over 4.3 million striped bass and striped bass hybrids and nearly two million largemouth bass, bream and channel catfish for stocking in public waters. As a result several notable fisheries have developed.
Fish Management
A Fish Management Area (FMA) is a pond, lake or other body of water established for the management of freshwater fish as a cooperative effort with the local county. The FWC's Division of Freshwater Fisheries manages about 80 water bodies throughout the state that are designated as Fish Management Areas. Examples include most community-based fishing lakes and Commission-managed impoundments. In many cases, these lakes are stocked with channel catfish, largemouth bass and sunshine bass. Automatic fish feeders and fish attractors concentrate sportfish for bank anglers.
Sport Fish Restoration
Do you buy fishing gear? Fuel up your boat? Purchase a fishing license? Every time you do, you help improve your fishing experience by supporting the Sport Fish Restoration Program (SFR).

SFR is a national program managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that collects revenue from purchases of fishing-related items such as motorboat fuels and fishing gear and creates recreational sport fishing enhancement projects throughout the nation.

Each state’s share is based 60% on its number of paid licensed anglers and 40% on its land and water area.

Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration
Florida is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and full of lakes, freshwater bays and estuaries, rivers and springs, forested and non-forested wetlands, and the “river of grass” that is the Everglades. Unfortunately, over the last 100 years, approximately 50% of Florida’s aquatic resources have been negatively impacted due to drainage practices, urbanization, flood control, etc. These impacts can also have a negative effect on the fish and wildlife that depend on these aquatic resources.

FWC's Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration (AHCR) Section has the responsibility of restoring, enhancing and managing many of these publicly owned aquatic resources. To achieve this, AHCR has established multi-disciplinary teams throughout the state to help identify and prioritize aquatic resources that have been negatively impacted. Teams are comprised of individuals from governmental and non-governmental entities, conservation groups, stakeholders, and partners who have a vested interest in how these public aquatic resources are managed.
Coral Reef Conservation Program
Southeast Florida's reefs support a rich and diverse assemblage of stony corals, octocorals, macroalgae, sponges and fishes. They span from the northern border of Biscayne National Park in Miami-Dade County to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County. The Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) coordinates research and monitoring, develops management strategies and promotes partnerships to protect the coral reefs, hardbottom communities and associated reef resources of southeast Florida.

Through its role in supporting Florida's membership on the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and the U.S. All Islands Committee, the CRCP leads the implementation of the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative and contributes to the National Action Plan to conserve coral reefs. The Coral Reef Conservation Program is also charged with coordinating response to vessel groundings and anchor damage incidents in southeast Florida, and developing strategies to prevent coral reef injuries.
Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program
The Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program (MRRP) is a statewide effort to educate the public on the consequences of monofilament line left in the environment, to encourage recycling through a network of line recycling bins and drop-off locations, and to promote volunteer cleanup events.
Seagrasses
Florida’s seagrass beds are vital marine ecosystems, providing food, habitat and nursery areas for numerous species, shellfish, manatees and sea turtles. Research staff provides resource managers with data necessary to make effective decisions about the preservation, management and restoration of seagrass communities.
Sport Fish Restoration
Do you buy fishing gear? Fuel up your boat? Purchase a fishing license? Every time you do, you help improve your fishing experience by supporting the Sport Fish Restoration Program (SFR).

SFR is a national program managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that collects revenue from purchases of fishing-related items such as motorboat fuels and fishing gear and creates recreational sport fishing enhancement projects throughout the nation.

Each state’s share is based 60% on its number of paid licensed anglers and 40% on its land and water area.

Critical Wildlife Areas
Critical Wildlife Areas are established by the FWC under the Florida Administrative Code to provide needed conservation at locations that support significant concentrations of wildlife. CWAs are discrete sites, such as mangrove islands or sandbars, where species gather daily or seasonally for essential activities, such as breeding, feeding or resting. The FWC establishes CWAs at sites where there is already documentation of human disturbances interfering with these activities.
Habitat Restoration Projects
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is the lead manager of more than 1.4 million acres within Florida’s Wildlife Management Area System, which includes Wildlife Management Areas (WMA), Wildlife and Environmental Areas (WEA), Public Waterfowl Areas, Public small Game Areas, and Public Use Areas. While FWC emphasizes natural community management on the lands it manages, there are significant acres in the WMA system that previous landowners altered prior to State acquisition and may require significant restoration. There are three primary aspects to habitat restoration on FWC managed lands: hydrologic restoration, natural community restoration, and invasive plant species control.
Objective Based Vegetation Management
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) oversees more than 5.8 million acres of land established as wildlife management areas or wildlife and environmental areas.

The FWC works in partnership with other governmental or private landowners on the majority of the lands (cooperative areas) and is the landowner or lead managing agency on the remainder (lead areas). These lands, managed for both conservation and recreation, are more rugged than parks and have fewer developed amenities.
Safe Harbor: Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Program
The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) has been a federally protected endangered species since 1970 and is federally listed as endangered in Florida.

Florida hosts approximately 25 percent of the nation's red-cockaded woodpecker population, with an estimated 1,100 active family groups. Many of Florida's populations are carefully managed on public lands, the largest of which are Apalachicola National Forest and Eglin Air Force Base. FWC estimates 55-85 active groups reside on private lands, with the largest concentrations in the south-central and southern portions of the state.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers are found throughout Florida.
Safe Harbor Program
Florida's Safe Harbor program is a voluntary conservation incentive plan for private landowners who want to manage their lands to provide habitat for imperiled species. In 2007, under Florida's Wildlife Action Plan, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) initiated a Safe Harbor type program for state-listed species other than the red-cockaded woodpecker, which is already covered under this program. The federal Safe Harbor program was created in 1995 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a conservation tool to help protect threatened and endangered wildlife on private lands. Its purpose is to provide private landowners with assurances that they will not be penalized by endangered species laws, when they manage their land to conserve listed species.
Upland Plant Management
The Upland Invasive Exotic Plant Management Program conducts invasive plant removal on public conservation lands throughout the state, as required by Florida Statute (F.S. 369.252).

Invasive plant removal projects are recommended by a network of eleven Regional Invasive Plant Working Groups, comprised of local land managers who are interested in or responsible for maintaining and restoring federal, state, and local government conservation land. The program hires private vegetation management contractors to do the work.

Mobile Apps

The Florida Trail Guide is also an app! Teaming up with Atlas Guides – who produce apps for the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Colorado Trail, John Muir Trail, the Camino De Santiago, and more – we’ve taken the contents of our guidebook, added interactivity that’s impossible inside a book, presented it on a accurate map of the Florida Trail, and made it an interactive experience for planning your hikes. The Apple version magic is courtesy of Ryan Linn, otherwise known to the trail community as Guthook, who built a solid interface for app-based trail information, Guthook Guides. On the Android side, tech whiz Alice Bodnar wrangles Atlas Guides. You’ll find both versions under their respective app stores as Guthook Guides.