Path of the Panther

My observations were that many times the land placed into CE was unusable wetlands anyway or at least was not financially feasible to develop. My impression was that Publicly owned (Government that is) land down there was always pretty useless commercially and submerged a good deal of the year.
The Colliers traded a huge tract of wetlands that were of little or no use to them -some of which became FL Panther National Wildlife Refuge (sketched out on the hood of my buggy) for I think it was ~ 20 acres in Phoenix Az that was the site of an Indian School iirc.

 

There were panthers there even then - big part of reason it was swapped.
Think I’ve mentioned this here before but (imo) the last stand of the panther was also the location of the last stand of the Seminoles and for the same reasons. Neither needed/required/preferred the swamp to live in but it made them damned hard to get at.

 

Path of the Panther book out yesterday.Got mine. For those that love natural Florida, the photos by Carlton Ward and others are phenomenal and the essays I've read are very good. Essays by people who live close to the earth - such as ranchers and Native Americans are very good. Beautiful book.

 

A question I used to get asked - a lot for bears and panthers. Short answer: as wide as you can get it. And there is no real empirical defensible (in court) answer. Panthers are adaptable - they probably have the widest distribution of any large cat - from the tip of S. America up to the northern Rockies. They have done well in GG Estates in eastern Collier County because most of the 2.5-3.5 acre lots are contiguous and heavily wooded and many have hobby livestock and many are vacant - even though the habitat is fragmented by residential roads every 1/4 mile. It Depends on habitat type, parcel type, degree of fragmentation, roads and traffic loads, prey base among other things.
If very dense habitat (particularly shrub layer) is dominant the corridor/travelway can be functional when more narrow whereas something more open with homes or other fragmentation, it would necessarily need to be wider. A narrower corridor/walkway that is contiguous is probably more valuable than a wider fragmented one. If there is some geographic/habitat feature (cypress strand or creek or mountain range) included in a proposed corridor, it and surrounding habitat should be emphasized in the conservation planning. Larger fragments of habitat are more valuable than the same acreage broken into smaller parcels.

I should stop jabbering. I understand that what we call panther habitat is also known as real estate in Florida and it is expensive. From a conservation planning perspective a 50 foot wide travel way would be ridiculous to propose and a 1/4 mile wide travel way would be inarguable. The developer is likely to have a different perspective.

 

Let the AG fields grow- maybe plant some mixed upland trees and That would get my approval. I like it

 

Mitigation can be a lot to juggle - particularly addressing several species of concern that may have competing habitat needs and no codified minimum standards for reference and in the end its pretty much left up to opinions of the reviewers who may never have visited the site.

 

Some good conservation news. Lands were conserved that increase the integrity of the Florida Conservation Corridor. Back in the 80s I followed panther tracks across the Lightsey ranch included in this effort. Special place. And kudos to DeSantis for his help in this.

Thousands of acres preserved under U.S., Florida land conservation programs
On Monday, Conservation Florida, in partnership with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Lightsey family, purchased a conservation easement to 527 acres within the Florida Wildlife Corridor that are on XL Ranch Lightsey Cove.

“XL Ranch Lightsey Cove is a slice of Old Florida, and its protection is vital to the Northern Everglades,” said Adam Bass, Vice President of Conservation at Conservation Florida. “Thanks to strong partnerships, this property will remain undeveloped forever.”

DeSantis and the Cabinet approved for conservation, with those Florida Forever plans, a set of more than 18,000 acres of working agricultural land at a cost of more than $57.6 million. Two of the more notable projects involve 3,496 acres at Cow Creek Ranch in St. Lucie County, and 1,945 acres in Walton County to protect a unique longleaf pine timber operation and provide a buffer for Natural Bridge Creek.

 

I can understand your thoughts on that and why it might be upsetting. Panthers have expanded their range in FL , are in places the panther guys aren't aware of, and can travel considerable distances - one male traveled from Immokalee to west-central Ga - where he was shot dead. But sightings aren't really evidence. If I put a pin in a map in every place someone saw a panther, the entire state of FL would be covered and I'm not kidding. Hell, where I live now in western NC, people see them - especially those big ol' black un's that scream at night - somehow they avoid being run over on the highway though.
I've answered those sighting calls and investigated hundreds of them in FL. The list of things that weren't panthers include many, many things - things animate and inanimate, things large and small. Carpets, goats, deer, a dead black Labrador retriever that a FHP officer called in and was standing over, Capybaras, otters, lots of bobcats, a few bears, and so many house cats and dogs. Every now and then it was a panther. Sightings just aren't reliable - they are very cool to the observer but It takes physical evidence - tracks, scat, or deer killed and eviscerated in a particular fashion. But even then people try to fake it with photoshop or making their own tracks - unfortunately for them they were all right front foot tracks or in another case tracks were made by a "pet" being walked around the site of a proposed housing development that was unwanted. I'm sure the skepticism you encountered was off-putting but it was hard won. Would be happy to look at any evidence you have - if you swear to its provenance.