CLOSING THE GAPS IN FLORIDA’S WILDLIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION SYSTEM Recommendations to meet minimum conservation goals for declining wildlife species and rare plant and animal communities. James Cox, Randy Kautz, Maureen MacLaughlin, and Terry Gilbert Office of Environmental Services Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission 620 South Meridian Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600 1994 CLOSING THE GAPS IN FLORIDA’S WILDLIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION SYSTEM Recommendations to meet minimum conservation goals for declining wildlife species and rare plant and animal communities. James Cox, Randy Kautz, Maureen MacLaughlin, and Terry Gilbert Office of Environmental Services Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission 620 South Meridian Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600 1994 CLOSING THE GAPS IN FLORIDA’S WILDLIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION SYSTEM i FOREWORD will diminish greatly. Just as we now blame past generations for the extinction of the passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, When Spanish anchors first dropped into Florida waters and ivory-billed woodpecker, future Floridians will ultimately nearly 500 years ago, Florida was essentially one large nature hold our generation responsible for the manner in which preserve that also supported a population of about 1,000,000 we conserve the species and natural resources that we inherit- native Americans. Wildlife at this time roamed freely across ed. Perhaps the greatest insult we could ever bear would be 35 million acres in search of food, shelter, and water, while to document the problems that threaten some of Florida’s individual human settlements covered less area than most rarest plants and animals, propose solutions to these modern-day parking lots (and certainly occurred with less problems, and then fail to act with proper speed and resolve. regularity). The state’s road system in pre-Columbian times consisted of narrow foot paths that were used by panthers, bobcats, and black bears as frequently as by native ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Americans, and the few human edifices present quickly gave way to a surrounding landscape consisting of tall, majestic Many individuals contributed their valuable time towards trees, most hundreds of years old, and extensive open prairies the completion of this report. Ken Haddad and Gail and marshes. McAuley, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Today, many species of wildlife are caught in a state of assisted in procuring the Landsat imagery used to create a siege as the habitats needed to sustain wildlife populations statewide map of land cover. The quality of the land-cover rapidly disappear. In just the last 50 years more than 8 mil- map developed from Landsat imagery and used in most lion acres of forest and wetland habitats (about 24% of the analyses was the result of the dedicated efforts of Greg State) were cleared to accommodate an expanding human Mauldin, Jessie Day, Khaleda Hatim, Doug Holman, and population. This area is 16-times larger than our state’s other personnel currently or formerly employed by the largest national forest and exceeds the total land area found Florida Department of Transportation. Lance Ham piloted south of approximately Port Charlotte. As Florida’s human the helicopter used during the land-cover classification work population continues to grow towards an estimated 16 million and was always willing to go the extra mile needed to com- residents by the year 2000, increasing demands will be placed plete the analyses within the brief time allowed. Mark on our remaining natural systems, and wildlife populations Kopeny assisted in the construction of range maps used in will be forced into smaller and smaller areas as a result. our abbreviated “gap analysis” (described in Section 6.3.4). If wildlife populations are to persist in the face of such We also owe thanks to staff of the Florida Natural Areas sweeping changes, we must conserve a base of habitat that is Inventory and Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish capable of sustaining wildlife populations far into the future. Commission who helped to develop and maintain important This habitat base should consist of preservation areas that databases describing the occurrence of rare species and natur- are publicly owned and managed primarily for natural al communities throughout Florida. We are especially grate- conditions, but it must also include private lands where spe- ful to Dr. Allen Egbert and Colonel Robert Brantly for their cial land-use agreements are arranged that allow natural support for this project from beginning to end. resources to be conserved without sacrificing all private uses Extremely helpful comments on earlier drafts of this of the land. report were provided by a courageous group that persevered Florida has succeeded in protecting many habitat areas through a somewhat byzantine structure and a mountain of through ambitious land acquisition and land-use planning infelicitous prose. We appreciate the constructive comments efforts, but large gaps still exist in the statewide system of and guidance provided by Brian Barnett, Jim Beever, Jim wildlife conservation lands. For example, no existing conser- Brady, Mike Delany, Kim Dryden, Diane Eggeman, John vation area is large enough to support a viable population of Fitzpatrick, Phil Frank, Jeff Gore, Paul Gray, Brad Hartman, Florida panthers or Audubon’s crested caracaras. Tom Logan, Dave Maehr, Ken Meyer, Brian Millsap, Paul Furthermore, the habitat base provided to other rare species Moler, Frank Montalbano, Steve Nesbitt, Katy NeSmith, by existing conservation areas is dangerously small, and Larry Perrin, Mary Ann Poole, Doug Runde, Beth Stys, and some species (e.g., Florida black bear, American swallow- John Wooding. tailed kite, and short-tailed hawk) may be extirpated unless Finally, Sharon Arnold, Amber Ayers, and John Stys we enlarge the land base that can be managed on behalf of provided invaluable assistance by helping to prepare the wildlife. The gaps in the statewide system of wildlife numerous figures, cumbersome tables, and lengthy text for conservation areas identified in this report must be closed if final publication. This report is a product of Florida’s we are to maintain these and other rare species as part of the Nongame Wildlife Program. Florida landscape. Although closing the gaps requires perseverance, money, education, and political and community support from today’s generation of decision makers, the results of these and other planning efforts will be most important to future generations. This fact might cause members of the current generation to feel no sense of urgency. However, the next decade repre- sents a critical turning point in efforts to conserve habitat for several rare species. If we fail to act now, the chances of suc- cessfully maintaining species such as Florida panther, Audubon’s crested caracara, Florida black bear, and others ii FLORIDA GAME AND FRESH WATER FISH COMMISSION TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD . .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . .i TABLE OF CONTENTS . .ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . .1 ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW . .2 SECTION 1. SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM . .3 SECTION 1.1. COMPONENTS AND VALUE OF FLORIDA’S BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY . .3 SECTION 1.2. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE LOSS OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY . .4 SECTION 2. PROJECT ABSTRACT AND BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF REPORT SECTIONS . .7 SECTION 2.1. OBJECTIVES AND GENERAL APPROACH . .7 SECTION 2.2. OVERVIEW OF DATA SETS . .7 SECTION 2.3. POPULATION VIABILITY ANALYSIS . .7 SECTION 2.4. FOCAL SPECIES ANALYSIS AND DESIGNATION OF STRATEGIC HABITAT CONSERVATION AREAS . .8 SECTION 2.5. REGIONAL MAPS OF HOT SPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY . .9 SECTION 2.6. USES OF PROJECT MAPS . .9 SECTION 2.7. AVAILABILITY OF PROJECT MAPS . .9 SECTION 3. DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS DATA SETS . .11 SECTION 3.1. A STATEWIDE LAND-COVER MAP . .11 SECTION 3.2. A STATEWIDE MAP OF CONSERVATION LANDS . .11 SECTION 3.3. OTHER GEOGRAPHIC DATA SETS . .16 SECTION 4. DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION ON WILDLIFE SPECIES . .19 SECTION 4.1. SELECTION OF SPECIES FOR ANALYSIS . .19 SECTION 4.2. DEVELOPMENT OF DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION . .20 SECTION 5. ASSESSING POPULATION VIABILITY . .23 SECTION 5.1. ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY . .23 SECTION 5.2. INBREEDING AND INBREEDING DEPRESSION . .29 SECTION 5.3. GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHING MINIMUM LEVELS OF SECURITY . .31 SECTION 6. IDENTIFICATION OF GAPS IN FLORIDA’S WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SYSTEM . .33 SECTION 6.1.THEORY PERTINENT TO THE IDENTIFICATION AND DESIGN OF CONSERVATION AREAS . .33 SECTION 6.2. ANALYSES OF INDIVIDUAL FOCAL SPECIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIES CONSERVATION PLANS . ..