Greg Jubinsky
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 11:00-11:30
Florida’s approximately 14.5 million hectares is divided into 67 counties. Over 4 million hectares of Florida is set aside as public conservation lands, with some amount in almost every county. The current estimate of invasive exotic infestation on these lands is nearly 607,030 hectares. To address this serious and widely spread problem, the Upland Invasive Exotic Plant Management Program was developed and implemented in 1997 by the Bureau of Invasive Plant Management with the assistance of over 520 local, state, and federal public conservation land managers, nongovernment organization representatives, and private citizens. These co-operators, organized into eleven regional working groups, provide direction for the annual funding of upland weed control projects that address all Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Category I and II species. The program incorporates the concept of placed-based management, which allows for regionally diverse interests and concerns to implement flexible, innovative strategies, while maintaining state-wide consistency and accountability. To date, the program has expended approximately $60 million of state funding, matched with over $25 million in co-operator cost share, to achieve initial control of nearly 400,000 acres of weeds (involving over 100 weed species) on 400 public conservation areas. These efforts were accomplished through over 1,000 individual projects in cooperation with 5 federal, 11 state and regional, and 41 local government entities.
Keywords: INVASIVE, FLORIDA, PARTNERSHIP