Native Habitat Inventory Final Report 2004 - St. Lucie County

Executive Summary
The overall objective of this project is “to meet the St. Lucie County Comprehensive Plan
requirements that certain inventories and evaluations of the County’s existing natural
conditions be conducted to implement programs that are intended to preserve and protect
those resources. To assist the County in meeting its goals for the preservation of native
upland and wetland habitat, the full range of these natural communities within St. Lucie
County must be identified. This study will be utilized to evaluate the success of the
County’s environmental programs and policies and to assist the County’s Land
Acquisition Selection Committee in selecting the highest priority sites for preservation.”
This county-wide native habitat inventory updates the 1992 inventory (KBN 1992) and
identifies changes in native habitat. It will be used to assist the County’s Land
Acquisition Selection Committee in selecting the highest priority sites for preservation
via the Environmentally Sensitive Lands (ESL) Program.
The St. Lucie County ESL Program was established in 1991 pursuant to County
Comprehensive Plan directives requiring an increase in the acreage of native upland
habitat preserved in St. Lucie County. The ESL Program was designed to further several
policies related to the protection of the County's natural resources while fulfilling the
following habitat preservation requirements set forth in the Conservation Element of the
County's Comprehensive Plan. The goals of the Environmentally Significant Lands
Program are:
• Preservation of native upland habitat
• Preserve unique ecological communities
• Protect endangered and threatened species
• Safeguard drinking water quality
• Enhance natural flood protection
• Improve passive resource-based recreation opportunities
The first three goals are addressed in this project.
The County’s Comprehensive Plan has specific targets for natural area protection, for
example, by 1995 increase native habitat preservation by at least ten (10%) percent. The
long-term goal is to preserve 25% of the 1991 native upland habitat acreage, or about an
additional 12,500 acres.
The specific objectives of this study are:
• To evaluate and quantify losses in native habitat since 1992.
• To identify publicly-owned conservation lands within the county, and inventory
and quantify the natural communities on these properties.
• To identify and prioritize lands for preservation through on-site inventories and a
geographic information systems (GIS) based analysis. On-site inventories will
quantify, map, classify, and qualitatively assess the natural communities present.
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