complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
2010 LMUAC Biennial Report Executive Summary
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) came into existence on July 1, 1999, as the
result of a constitutional amendment proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission and
approved by Florida voters in the 1998 General Election. In 2009-10 FWC managed 5,682,067
acres established as Wildlife Management Areas, Wildlife and Environmental Areas, Public
Waterfowl Areas, Public Use Areas, Fish Management Areas or Public Small Game Hunting Areas.
FWC has lead management responsibility for 39 managed areas totaling 1,407,510 acres, and the
balance of this land base (4,274,557 acres) is state, water management district, federal and
private lands in FWC’s management area system.
The following is a compilation of accomplishments that the FWC has achieved during this
two year reporting period.
• Of the 1,407,510 acres managed by FWC, approximately 1,108,389 acres are maintained
with prescribed fire. During this reporting period FWC prescribe burned state-wide 232,555
acres.
• FWC has 106,280 acres in need of restoration. At the end of the reporting period there were
44,185 acres that had been restored or had restoration efforts underway. Timber harvest for
restoration purposes totaled 8,362 acres.
• Beginning with the 2009-10 fiscal year, FWC used traffic counters on all accessible areas to
obtain visitation data. The average visitation rate for all areas reporting data ranged from
3,618 visitors per day to 18 visitors per day with and overall average of 227 visitors per day.
• Hydrology restoration assessments have been completed on 18 FWC managed areas. These
assessments have identified about 992,518 acres (this includes the 671,831 acre Everglades
Wildlife Management Area) needing hydrology restoration. Restoration efforts were underway
or completed on all of those acres during the reporting period.
• On FWC managed areas we estimate that 145,476 acres are infested with invasive plant
species. During the reporting period, FWC conducted initial treatments or retreatments on
140,900 acres.
• During the reporting period, FWC maintained 431 facilities ranging from recreational camping
areas to maintenance facilities. A total of 1,724 miles of roads were maintained along with 426
miles of trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, etc.
• Thirty-seven areas reported a total of 772 known cultural or historical sites. Although most do
not require regular monitoring, FWC is working with Division of Historical Resources to identify
all sites that do need to be monitored.
• The number of imperiled plant and animal species on FWC managed areas ranged from 1 to
128 with an average per area of 23. Monitoring was conducted for most of these species during
the reporting period.
393