Please voice support today for State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program

ACTION_ALERT.pdf    I18N YGP.SaveAll I18N YGP.SaveProgress I18N YGP.ViewAfterSave

Subject: Please voice support today for State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program
Importance: High

PLEASE FORWARD!

Greetings,

We are sending this call for help to our Florida lists of endangered species activists – the Florida Endangered Species Network, panther advocates, sea turtle advocates, and more –  in hopes that you will each contact your congressional representative today or tomorrow letting them know you want the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program to be funded rather than be eliminated by HR1, the budget Continuing Resolution.

The State Grants program provides essential funding for non-regulatory conservation action to protect imperiled species and their habitat. 

Please see the message below and the attached fact sheet for more information in order to make a quick call to your representative’s office and an example email you could use in composing your own.  The contact information for your representative can be found in the attachment or at www.house.gov.  If you have time to let us know you took action we would appreciate hearing from you.

If you would like more information please give me a call, Laurie Macdonald,  727-823-3888, lmacdonald@defenders.org as Defenders works closely with this important program both here in the state and at the national level, and urges you to voice your support.

FESN: Florida Forever Day

FFDayFlyer.pdf    I18N YGP.SaveAll I18N YGP.SaveProgress

Subject: Florida Forever Day

Greetings all,
Please see attached a flyer for Florida Forever Day on March 8, 2011.  We need your help getting out the word on this important event.  Please circulate this information widely and help us generate a great crowd!  This year we will have tabling by more than 20 organizations, guest speakers, a beautiful exhibit of LINC Florida Forever photographs, lunch, and live music!  This is the first day of the 2011 legislative session and a great opportunity to make sure Florida Forever is in the spotlight.  Please let me know if you need any additional information, and see you on March 8th!
-Holly Please consider the environment before printing this email

---

Holly Parker Davenport Government Relations Associate

2011 February Florida Panther Update

Panther Advocates,

Enjoy the February 2011 Florida Panther Update  

Update_0211_Final.pdf    I18N YGP.SaveAll I18N YGP.SaveProgress

From: Roxann Hanson [mailto:roxhanson@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 6:31 PM
To: Roxann Hanson
Subject: 2011 February Florida Panther Update

Hello!

Please find attached your copy of the 2011 February Florida Panther Update. 

We apologize for the gap in time since the last version was published in May of 2010.  As always, we ask that you please actively participate in this outreach effort by forwarding the newsletter to interested friends and colleagues and/or posting it to your agency’s website.  Also, feel free to publicly post or distribute printed copies of the Update. 

Anyone not on this direct mailing list who would like to receive these notices may do so through the email address listed below. 

Enjoy the February Panther Update and thank you for your interest and support!

Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge

c/o US Fish and Wildlife Service

Firefighters conduct controlled burn in 5,000 acres of Big Cypress

Panther Advocates, FYI

Public lands management actions to benefit panthers and other species.

Elizabeth

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/feb/03/firefighters-controlled-burn-big-cypress/

       

Firefighters conduct controlled burn in 5,000 acres of Big Cypress

By DAVID ALBERS

Naples Daily News

February 3, 2011 .

Wildland firefighters from the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park have spent three days conducting a controlled burn of roughly 5,000 of the 720,000 acres of the Big Cypress National Preserve in Eastern Collier County.

The recent winter weather with low afternoon humidity provided a window of opportunity for the firefighters for the project before the peak of Florida's wildfire season.

The prescribed burns replicate the natural process that wildfire plays in the area's ecosystem. Without the prescribed burns in the Everglades, underbrush becomes unnaturally thick, creating conditions that can cause unnaturally hot and chaotic wildfires that damage the environment and threaten man-made structures.

Photo by DAVID ALBERS // Buy this photo

Assistant engine captain Justin Phippen lights a controlled burn on Thursday afternoon along Turner River Road in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Eastern Collier County. In three days of the prescribed burning, the team of wildland firefighters has burned roughly 5,000 of the 720,000 acres of the preserve. The project is part of an ongoing effort to replicate the natural process that wildfire plays in the area's ecosystem. David Albers/Staff

Prescribed burning in the Big Cypress National Preserve

Wanna know what a Florida Panther looks like?? Don't know??

Say hello to Puma Concolor Coryi

Everglades Headwaters Scoping Meetings

Panther Advocates,

FYI

Please distribute and ask public to attend Everglades Headwaters Public Scoping Meetings:

---

New National Wildlife Refuge Proposed in Florida:
Public Scoping Meetings Announced to Discuss the Proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and a variety of public and private partners are advancing a collaborative approach to address landscape-scale land protection efforts to conserve wildlife and habitat in the greater Everglades landscape. This partnership is the Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative (Initiative).

“This initiative is aimed at preserving a rural working ranch landscape to protect and restore one of the great grassland and savanna landscapes of eastern North America. The partnerships being formed would protect and improve water quality north of Lake Okeechobee, restore wetlands, and connect existing conservation lands and important wildlife corridors to support the Everglades restoration effort." - U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

This partnership initiative would help conserve a rural working ranch landscape; protect and restore habitat; protect, improve, and restore water quality and wetlands benefiting residents and visitors in South Florida; and connect a matrix of existing conservation lands and important wildlife corridors, supporting Everglades restoration efforts. Three study areas have been defined within the greater Everglades landscape: (1) the Everglades headwaters area, (2) the Fisheating Creek area, and (3) the area around Florida Panther NWR and the Caloosahatchee River. The Service is currently focused on the first study area.
Proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area
The proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area is a proposed land conservation partnership between federal, Tribal, State, and local governments; ranchers and other landowners; non-governmental conservation organizations; area residents; and other stakeholders to protect, restore, and conserve approximately 150,000+ acres of environmentally important natural habitat and associated wildlife in portions of Polk, Osceola, Indian River, Okeechobee, and Highlands counties in Central Florida, within a larger 4.5 million-acre landscape that extends from the southern outskirts of the Orlando metro area south through the Kissimmee River Valley to Lake Okeechobee, and southwest to Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress Preserve. 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners would work with willing landowners to establish the proposed 150,000-acre Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area through several methods, including already-established conservation lands, fee simple purchases, conservation easements, leases, conservation and mitigation banks, lands set aside through habitat conservation plans, and/or cooperative agreements with landowners. The planning target is to work with partners and willing landowners to conserve approximately 50,000 acres in fee title acquisitions and 100,000 acres in less than fee title. The Service’s policy is to work with willing landowners. 
Four Public Scoping Meetings Scheduled
Four public scoping meetings have been scheduled in the area of the proposal to provide the public the opportunity to hear a presentation about the proposal and to ask questions and submit comments, ideas, and concerns. We invite all interested individuals, organizations, businesses, and agencies to join us at one or more of these meetings. Comments may also be submitted by email, mail, or fax (see the How to Submit Comments section below).

Date	Meeting Location	Address
1.26.2011 Wednesday 6:00-9:00 pm	Kissimmee Civic Center	201 East Dakin Ave Kissimmee, FL 34741
2.4.2011 Friday 6:00-9:00 pm	Sebring Civic Center	355 West Center Ave Sebring, FL 33870
2.9.2011 Wednesday 6:00-9:00 pm	Okeechobee High School	2800 Hwy 441 N Okeechobee, FL 34972
2.10.2011 Thursday 6:00-9:00 pm	Vero Beach High School Main Campus Cafeteria	1707 16th St Vero Beach, FL 32960

What is the Schedule for the Proposal?
We are in the early stages of the project and are requesting input from the public. After this public scoping phase, we will use the comments gathered to help us develop a Land Protection Plan and associated National Environmental Policy (NEPA) document. We will then return to the public to request comments on the document and the more detailed proposal. Four main planning phases are outlined for this proposal, as listed.

Planning Phase	Estimated Dates
Conduct Public Scoping Meetings	January-February 2011
Develop Draft Land Protection Plan and NEPA Document	March-May 2011
Request Public Review and Comment on Proposal	June 2011
Develop Final Plan	August-September 2011

How to Get More Information?
For more information on this proposal and to view a map of the study area, please visit:http://www.fws.gov/southeast/greatereverglades/.
For more information on the Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative and to view a map of all three study areas, please see the Fact Sheet at:http://www.fws.gov/southeast/greatereverglades/pdf/GreaterEvergladesFactsheet.pdf.
To view the recent press release from earlier this month, please visit:http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Announces-Initiative-to-Conserve-Working-Lands-and-Wildlife-Habitat-in-the-Everglades-Headwaters.cfm.
To get on the mailing list for the proposed Everglades Headwaters NWRCA, please fill out and scan/email back or mail in this form: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/greatereverglades/pdf/MailingListRequest.pdf.
How to Submit Comments?
To comment on the proposal,

please send email to: EvergladesHeadwatersProposal@fws.gov;
please send mail to: Everglades Headwaters Proposal, PO Box 2683, Titusville, FL 32781-2683; 
please fax to: 321.861.1276; and/or
please attend one of the public scoping meetings.

We request that scoping comments be received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by February 28, 2011 to ensure their consideration in the development of the Land Protection Plan and NEPA document that will outline the detailed proposal.
____________________
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 150 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses the more than 550 management units, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 37 wetland management districts, 70 national fish hatcheries, 65 fishery resource offices, and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
Cheri M Ehrhardt, AICP 
Natural Resource Planner
US Fish & Wildlife Service
PO Box 2683
Titusville, FL 32781-2683
Cheri_Ehrhardt@fws.gov
321.861.2368 office
321.593.2516 cell
321.861.8913 fax

Death of UCFP154

Panther Advocates,

A male panther has died in a territorial fight with another panther.

From: Onorato, Dave [mailto:Dave.Onorato@MyFWC.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 7:33 PM

All:

This report, required by Section 2(d) of the Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), is to provide you details regarding the death and handling of a Florida panther. 

The remains of an approximately 10-11 month old uncollared male panther, UCFP154, were collected on 21 January 2011 in an orange grove north of Sears Road in Hendry County. The cause of death was intraspecific aggression (ISA). The carcass is being held at the Naples field office until it can be transported to the FWC Wildlife Research Lab in Gainesville for a complete necropsy.  The remains will be archived at the FL Museum of Natural History. This is the 5^thpanther mortality for 2011.

This information is being provided as required by Section 2(d) of the Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).  It is not intended as a News Release.  All information should be considered “pending” until all necropsy results and tests are finalized.