Native Habitat Inventory Final Report 2004 - St. Lucie County

Identification of Lands Preserved Since 1992 and the Acres and Types of Natural
Communities in Each Preserve
In 2002 there are 93,385 acres of potentially natural area in St. Lucie County and 19,417
acres (21%) are already in public ownership or conservation easements. Thus, approximately
5% of the county (19,417 of 391,000 acres) is in conservation ownership (including
easements).
Methods
Existing natural areas (as of 2002) protected through public or private conservation
ownership or easements were identified using a combination of the St. Lucie County
Environmentally Sensitive Lands layer, the FNAI Managed Area layer, and the SFWMD
Save Our Rivers layer. This provided the acreages of individual conservation areas as well
as countywide (Table 10).
Results and Discussion
In 2002 there is public ownership or conservation easement on 21% of the potentially natural
areas in the County but not all habitat types are equally protected. In comparison to what is
still natural, some habitats are quite well protected and others are not.
One measure of how well protected a specific habitat type is, can be done by comparing the
amount that is available with the amount that is preserved for that habitat type. Habitat types
that have very little acreage preserved compared to what is available would be considered
underrepresented in public ownership. Those that have a lot of acreage preserved compared
to what is available would be considered well represented.
For example, in 2002 there are 18,986 acres of Flatwoods available in the County and 2,038
acres are conserved. The 18,986 acres constitute 20% of the County’s current natural areas
and the 2,038 acres conserved constitute 11 % of the currently conserved areas. Thus
Flatwoods are underrepresented in County ownership by nearly 50%.
There are 28 FLUCCS categories that are significantly underrepresented in conservation
ownership (by 48% or more) and should be the focus of additional acquisition. The
remaining FLUCCS categories are well represented in public ownership (Table 11).
However, being well represented does not mean that additional acquisition in not desirable.
Some of these well represented habitat types (i.e., Coastal Scrub, Maritime Hammock, and
Sand Pine) are so imperiled or the species within them are so endangered that they should
continue to be acquired.
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