Desantis Gov. Desantis defeats his party and protects $200 million for the wildlife corridor

Floridians support the preservation of the state’s wild and open spaces. That’s not just about talking about it. They voted to allocate taxes to the purchase and conservation of land in sensitive areas.

They understand that as the population grows, they risk overrunning by the four jockeys of Florida’s population boom: McMansion, a “mixed” retail complex, six-lane roads and Sprawl Island.

They understand the relationship between outdoors and quality of life. They want places to play, places to canoe, places to find manatees, places to hunt and catch largemouth bass. They like the idea that they have enough space for wildlife to roam and thrive. They also realize that there are not many ways to do it when it comes to the environment. Protect now or spend a lot of money to fix it later.

That makes sense. Florida is not Montana. It’s huge, but has fewer residents than Hillsboro County. To the west there are even more elbow rooms. In Florida, we are much tighter and packed with more people are expected to join the crowd. We know that we share limited public land with more and more residents. Needless to say, 140 million visitors come into the market every year. They don’t spend all their time at Disney.

Most Floridians understand that all. Unfortunately, our lawmakers sometimes forget.

For example, in 2014, voters overwhelmingly passed an amendment that would allocate $300 million a year to purchase and protect the land. Lawmakers largely ignored voters’ wishes and even spent taxpayer dollars fighting in court. Years later, they finally relented.

This year they returned to myopic methods, and were only allocated $18 million to the Florida Forever Preservation program. Florida’s “forever” costs more than that.

They also wanted to divert money from purchasing land in Florida’s wildlife corridor, the main habitat that stretches from the Everglades to Pensacola. The idea of ​​the corridor blossomed thanks to years of grassroots efforts. In 2021, the state officially recognized the geography of the corridor, including almost 18 million acres. More than half of the protected reserves, including state parks and forests.

Since 2021, the state has approved 317,000 acres in corridors or adjacent. That’s good news. But it leaves about 8 million acres that are still not protected. Protecting the land costs money.

Lawmakers tried to spend money on other things with the aim of purchasing land in the hallway. They sent the budget to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who swept $200 million from the hallway acquisition.

This week, Desantis used his veto to recover $200 million. That was the right move. Desantis has a mix of environmental records, but he was wise to defeat his party on this important issue.

To their achievements, lawmakers are included in a budget of approximately $250 million in the Rural and Family Land Conservation Program. For years, the state has kept farmers and ranchers farmers and paid to developers rather than selling them. The program will help keep farmers in business and protect open spaces that link corridors. However, there are not enough farmers who are attractive to not sell to developers. The state also needs to purchase the land.

Florida’s Wildlife Corridor is one of the hardest projects to pay long-term dividends. Preserving the land in this fashion will enhance the quality of our lives. Our children are grateful that the state had the foresight to protect our common land. But that doesn’t happen if the state can’t provide consistent leadership and funding. It is unlikely that the land will be cheaper in the future. Now is not the time to give up.

“We have beautiful conditions. Obviously a lot of people want to be here,” DeSantis said at the budget signing ceremony. “But do you have to balance it with trying to make sure the nation isn’t concrete?”

Yes, that’s right. And lawmakers should keep that in mind the next time they try to divert money for wildlife corridors.