Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Florida Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund Restoration Strategy Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund Prepared with assistance from Abt Associates January 2018 Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ V Glossary of Terms and Acronyms ......................................................................................VI Executive Summary .............................................................................................................VII 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation—Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund Background .......................1 1.1.1 GEBF Funding Priorities ...............................................................................................................................1 1.2 Restoration Strategy ..................................................................................................................................................2 1.2.1 Geography ........................................................................................................................................................3 1.2.2 Watershed Approach .....................................................................................................................................3 1.3 Stakeholder and Partner Engagement ..................................................................................................................4 2. Identification of Restoration Needs in Florida ............................................................5 2.1 Plan Compilation .......................................................................................................................................................5 2.2 Plan Analysis ...............................................................................................................................................................5 2.2.1 Step 1: Identify plan information ................................................................................................................6 2.2.2 Step 2: Assign values to plans ......................................................................................................................6 2.2.3 Step 3: Review actions in plans ................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.4 Step 4: Group actions into restoration needs ......................................................................................... 7 2.2.5 Step 5: Determine restoration need occurrence ....................................................................................11 2.2.6 Step 6: Calculate restoration need scores ................................................................................................11 2.2.7 Step 7: Develop rankings ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.3 Results: GEBF Restoration Needs in Florida GOM Watersheds .................................................................. 12 2.3.1 GEBF restoration needs in the Perdido watershed ............................................................................. 14 2.3.2 GEBF restoration needs in the Pensacola watershed ......................................................................... 15 2.3.3 GEBF restoration needs in the Choctawhatchee – St. Andrews watershed ................................. 17 2.3.4 GEBF restoration needs in the Apalachicola – Chipola watershed ................................................. 18 2.3.5 GEBF restoration needs in the Ochlockonee – St. Marks watershed ............................................ 20 2.3.6 GEBF restoration needs in the Suwannee watershed ......................................................................... 21 2.3.7 GEBF restoration needs in the Springs Coast watershed ..................................................................23 2.3.8 GEBF restoration needs in the Tampa Bay watershed .......................................................................23 FLORIDA GEBF RESTORATION STRATEGY I Table of Contents (cont’d) 2.3.9 GEBF restoration needs in the Sarasota Bay – Peace River – Myakka River watershed ........... 24 2.3.10 GEBF restoration needs in the Charlotte Harbor watershed .......................................................... 24 2.3.11 GEBF restoration needs in the Everglades West Coast watershed .................................................25 2.3.12 GEBF restoration needs in the Everglades watershed .......................................................................25 2.3.13 GEBF restoration needs in the Florida Keys watershed ....................................................................26 2.3.14 GEBF restoration needs GOM-wide .......................................................................................................26 2.4 Sensitivity Analysis ..................................................................................................................................................27 3. Identification of Potential Actions ............................................................................... 28 3.1 Potential Action List Development ......................................................................................................................28 3.2 Potential Action Lists ..............................................................................................................................................29 4. Next Steps ........................................................................................................................... 31 References .............................................................................................................................. 33 APPENDIX A: GEBF Funded Projects in Florida (2013–2017) ........................ 34 APPENDIX B: Plan List ........................................................................................................ 35 APPENDIX C: Potential Action Lists ................................................................................ 63 II FLORIDA GEBF RESTORATION STRATEGY List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Florida outlining the geographic regions of the Florida GEBF Restoration Strategy ........... 2 Figure 2: Map of Florida showing the 13 coastal watersheds that are the focus of the Florida GEBF Restoration Strategy. ................................................................................................................ 3 Figure 3: FP #1 (restore and maintain coastal habitats) restoration needs with simplified examples of GEBF-relevant plan actions.. ....................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 4: FP #2 (restore and maintain coastal bays and estuaries) restoration needs with simplified examples of GEBF-relevant plan actions ....................................................................................................... 9 Figure 5: FP #3 (replenish and protect living resources) restoration needs with simplified examples of GEBF-relevant plan actions ........................................................................................................................ 10 Figure 6: Results of the FP #1 analysis for the Perdido watershed .......................................................................... 14 Figure 7: Results of the FP #2 analysis for the Perdido watershed. ......................................................................... 14 Figure 8: Results of the FP #3 analysis for the Perdido watershed. ......................................................................... 15 Figure 9: Results of the FP #1 analysis for the Pensacola watershed ...................................................................... 15 Figure 10: Results of the FP #2 analysis for the Pensacola watershed. ..................................................................... 16 Figure 11: Results of the FP #3 analysis for the Pensacola watershed. ..................................................................... 16 Figure 12: Results of the FP #1 analysis for the Choctawhatchee – St. Andrews watershed ............................... 17 Figure 13: Results of the FP #2 analysis for the Choctawhatchee – St. Andrews watershed. ............................. 17 Figure 14: Results of the FP #3 analysis for the Choctawhatchee – St. Andrews watershed. ............................. 18 Figure 15: Results of the FP #1 analysis for the Apalachicola – Chipola watershed .............................................. 18 Figure 16: Results of the FP #2 analysis for the Apalachicola – Chipola watershed ............................................. 19 Figure 17: Results of the FP #3 analysis for the Apalachicola – Chipola watershed ............................................. 19 Figure 18: Results of the FP #1 analysis for the Ochlockonee – St. Marks watershed .......................................... 20 Figure 19: Results of the FP #2 analysis for the Ochlockonee – St. Marks watershed .......................................... 20 Figure 20: Results of the FP #3 analysis for the Ochlockonee