Eric Sutton, Director
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600
850-488-3831
Mission: To ensure healthy
populations of all native species and their habitats on a statewide
basis.
Benefits
- Manages aquatic habitat for marine, estuarine and freshwater
systems to benefit the widest possible array of fish and
wildlife.
- Manages natural plant communities on public lands for diversity
of wildlife species while providing quality recreational
experiences.
- Acquires land to provide habitat for a diversity of
species.
- Provides scientific support and assistance for habitat-related
issues to private and public sector landowners, including local,
state and federal governments, to inform and influence land- and
water-use decisions affecting wildlife habitat management.
- Develops and implements species management plans that serve as
conservation blueprints for managing threatened species and
implements conservation programs that are designed to maintain
Florida's unique wildlife diversity.
- Coordinates nonnative species management and research to
protect native species in Florida, focusing on prevention, early
detection and rapid response to introductions of nonnatives.
- Implements conservation programs for manatees, Florida black
bears, Florida panthers and sea turtles to increase populations of
these imperiled species.
- Directs, regulates and funds the control of invasive plants on
public conservation lands and in public water bodies for the
protection of native plant and animal life, human health, safety,
recreation and property.
The Division of Habitat and Species Conservation (HSC)
integrates scientific data with applied habitat management to
maintain stable or increasing populations of fish and wildlife.
Integration efforts focus on the ecosystem or landscape scale to
provide the greatest benefits to the widest possible array of fish
and wildlife species. Accomplishing this mission requires
extensive collaboration and partnering with local, state and
federal agencies to maintain diverse and healthy fish and wildlife
populations for the benefit of all Floridians and visitors. Doing
so provides direct ecological, economic, aesthetic, scientific and
recreational benefits.
Habitat & Species Conservation
sections
Terrestrial
Habitat Conservation and Restoration
Florida has one of the nation's largest systems of state-managed
wildlife lands. The Wildlife Management Area program includes 5.8
million acres. Terrestrial Habitat Conservation and Restoration is
the FWC's lead manager on 1.4 million acres and coordinates
management on another 4.4 million acres. This section's activities
benefit plant and animal populations as it acquires land, develops
site-specific land-management plans, guides managers in sound
land-management practices and supports quality, wildlife-based
public use, including a variety of hunting opportunities on managed
lands. Additionally, the Terrestrial Habitat section restores
degraded plant and wildlife communities and acquires new land that
provides vital additions and linkages or conserves imperiled
wildlife.
Habitat management programs use prescribed burns on
fire-dependent plant communities, and chemical and mechanical
vegetation treatments to control exotic or invasive plant
infestations. These treatments restore ground cover and hydrologic
conditions on altered landscapes to conserve wildlife and enhance
critical habitat. The section develops and tests techniques to
recover high-risk populations. It monitors programs to detect
trends in the status and populations of imperiled species.
Aquatic Habitat Conservation and
Restoration
This section uses a multidisciplinary approach to develop and
implement comprehensive management programs to improve the
ecological health of freshwater, estuarine and marine habitats. Its
primary focus is identifying high priority water bodies and
implementing a variety of management treatments to maintain quality
habitat for wetland dependent fish and wildlife. Working with other
agencies and user groups, this section builds cooperative
relationships to address various issues affecting aquatic
resources, including nutrient enrichment, water use policy, and
protection of rare and imperiled fish and wildlife.
Habitat Conservation Scientific Services
Working with private and public sector landowners, this section
develops and helps implement comprehensive, habitat-based
management plans and incentive programs for landowners. Habitat
Conservation Scientific Services also provides managers of publicly
owned lands with technical assistance to implement land-use plans
that reduce negative impacts on fish and wildlife. This section
uses scientific data to review and comment on FWC-regulated
activities that may affect wildlife habitat.
Species Conservation Planning
Conserving Florida's native wildlife diversity is the mission of
this section. It develops and implements high-priority conservation
activities for native wildlife, with an emphasis on threatened
species. Partnerships with other governmental agencies (local,
state and federal), nongovernmental organizations and individuals
help achieve conservation goals for wildlife. This section manages
most of the state's threatened species and coordinates activities
relating to Florida's listing process and permitting of human
activities that may affect listed species. Examples of these
efforts included creating a rule for wildlife and airport safety,
working with stakeholders to finalize revised rules for managing
threatened species, and revising guidelines for gopher tortoise
permitting. In addition, this section continues development of
the Coastal Wildlife Conservation Initiative and a shorebird
partnership network called the Florida Shorebird Alliance.
Imperiled Species Management
This section is responsible for conservation of manatees, sea
turtles, panthers and black bears through implementation of federal
recovery plans and state management plans. Key tasks include
development of rules and regulations that provide needed
protections, providing technical assistance to local governments
and other state agencies for planning purposes and permit reviews,
and addressing human-wildlife conflicts. The section coordinates
with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute's researchers to
identify information needs that will assist in making management
decisions. The section also provides answers to numerous public
questions and requests and conducts a variety of outreach
activities to encourage the public to become watchful stewards over
Florida's threatened species.
Exotic Species Coordination
This section works with the FWC's Division of Law Enforcement's
Captive Wildlife staff to prevent nonnative species from harming
native fish, wildlife and marine plants. Together, they develop
science-based regulations to prevent the release and establishment
of nonnative species. Partnerships with other local, state and
federal groups seek to promote responsible pet ownership and
increase awareness of the problems of introduced species, while
also managing nonnative species present in Florida. This section's
database has 10,000 records of observations of nonnative species,
primarily introduced birds. New programs and regulations were
introduced to combat the invasion of the Burmese python in South
Florida.
Invasive Plant Management
This section is responsible for directing, coordinating and
funding two statewide programs controlling invasive upland plants
on public conservation lands and invasive aquatic plants in public
waterways. This section regulates, through a permitting program,
projects for control of aquatic plants that do not meet the
eligibility requirements for state funding. The FWC protects
Florida's native plant and wildlife diversity with controls to
manage invasive plants on public lands and waterways, dissemination
of information, public education efforts, contractual research, and
surveillance of plant communities on public lands and waterways.
This section's goal is to protect native fish and wildlife habitat
by reducing existing populations of invasive plants and preventing
new invasive plant populations from becoming established.
HSC budget summary
| Funding
Source |
FTE |
FTE
salaries |
Other
costs |
| IPCTF |
|
$2,195,388 |
$25,694,380 |
| FGTF |
|
$3,095,938 |
$17,531,244 |
| FPRMTF |
|
$225,581 |
$349,241 |
| GDTF |
|
$805 |
$562,437 |
| LATF |
|
$477,152 |
$3,237,739 |
| MRCTF |
|
$562,164 |
$275,409 |
| NWTF |
|
$1,703,266 |
$997,049 |
| STMTF |
|
$839,080 |
$522,712 |
| SGTF |
|
$5,579,717 |
$8,861,451 |
| CARLTF |
|
$5,482,981 |
$3,650,990 |
|
Total operating |
|
$20,162,072 |
$61,682,652 |
|
Fixed capital outlay |
$0 |
$0 |
| Lake
Restoration |
|
$0 |
$2,000,000 |
| Land
Acquisition |
|
$0 |
$1,000,000 |
|
Total budget |
354.0 |
$20,162,072 |
$64,682,652 |
Glossary of funding sources
Persons with Disabilities