The Florida Wildlife-Friendly Toolbox

Planning & Management Tools

A variety of planning and land management tools are addressed below that may be useful to communities and landowners to shape a  landscape to support the natural wildlife legacy.

Leon County - Sec. 10-1429. Conservation subdivision.

Conservation subdivision design is encouraged to advance environmental resource protection or restoration by analyzing the development parcel so as to locate and coordinate appropriate areas for development and conservation. Such development shall permanently aside preservation features and canopy road protection zones and, to the greatest extent practicable, other functional open space and sensitive natural resources.

Hillsborough County Upland Habitat Protection - LDRs

 

Using Conservation Subdivisions for Wildlife and Habitat

Conservation subdivisions are a useful alternative to traditional subdivisions that are both ecologically and economically beneficial. Not only are conservation subdivisions aesthetically pleasing, but they also serve to preserve sensitive lands for an areas’ biodiversity and ecological functions.

Using the Rural Lands Stewardship Program for the Protection of Wildlife and Habitat

As one of the fastest growing states in the nation, Florida faces some unique difficulties in keeping pace with its growing population. With our ever increasing population, we are placing increasingly more development pressures on land that was once devoted to agriculture, open space, and other rural land uses. In order to protect our rural areas from loss of habitat, agriculture, and the rural character, stakeholders have developed an innovative land use strategy that can assist local government to responsibly accommodate growth while protecting wildlife habitat, agriculture, and the rural way of life.

City of Tampa's Upland Habitat Protection Ordinance

City of Tampa's Upland Habitat Protection Ordinance

Conservation Easements

 

Sector Plans

The Sector Plan process was established as an alternative to the Development of Regional Impact (DRI) process, pursuant to Section 163.3245, F.S. Sector plans approved through comprehensive plan amendments will be initiated by the local government in agreement with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA).

Developments of Regional Impact (DRI)

The DRI provides a useful tool to work towards inclusion of wildlife and habitat conservation and integration objectives as human development of the landscape proceeds. In addition to addressing particular listed species concerns, use of the DRI process fosters maintaining or enhancing the variety, connectedness and size of vegetation and water related features (wildlife habitats) where the greater the variety, size and connectedness of habitat areas, the more useful and sustained they will be to wildlife. It provided the vehicle to: · plan externally, · plan internally and, · include long-term management actions and responsibilities.

Upland Habitat Protection Ordinances

An Upland Habitat Protection Ordinance is to set forth regulations for the protection of high quality xeric and mesic natural plant communities and wildlife habitat which remain in the jurisdiction, and for the protection of remaining large contiguous environmentally sensitive areas, in order to retain habitat diversity and wildlife corridors and to maintain the quality of life in the juurisdiction and protect the health, safety, welfare and general well being of the citizens of the jurisdiction.

Habitat Conservation Plans

Habitat conservation plans (HCPs), are agreements that private landowners develop to manage endangered species on their property.