Heritage - Healthy Ecosystems

Eco IconWe are blessed along the Nature Coast with a vibrant and amazing diversity and mosaic of wildlife and wild places. The richness of life here, ecosystems teeming with biodiversity and a rich and abundant web of life makes this place a natural wonder for all of America. This is one of Florida's last, best places.

Making Room For all

The Nature Coast is the Florida Black Bear as it ambles along secret pathways known only to it and its kin. The Nature Coast is the gentle manatee grazing in a field of seagrass with its calf. The Nature Coast is the swallowtail kite soaring over the pines. The Nature Coast is a place where perhaps in the deepest wildest corners of the region a Ivory-Billed Woodpecker or two still might take flight over the swamp. Wildlife in the Nature Coast, from the small insects to the large Black Bears, is a reminder of a Florida that once was, and still could be again if we have the grace and wisdom to protect it.

Zamora Santa Fe Limpkins, a species of special concern, are found in freshwater marshes and swamps and along lakes, streams, and rivers where apple snails are common. Breeding sites may be abandoned if the food supply runs low or if there is human disturbance.

Threats ranging from overdevelopment to habitat loss and fragmentation threaten the wildlife of the Nature Coast. It is imperative that we speed up public lands acquisition in the Nature Coast and then in turn manage our public lands for the protection and benefit of wildlife. We can't afford to lose one more inch of habitat to bulldozers, dredges, poor permits, nuclear plants, mines, or roads to nowhere. The Nature Coast could well be the place that state and federal agencies relocate Florida Panthers that are pushed out of southwest Florida due to growth. If Florida Red Wolves ever make a comeback in Florida after their population is increased via captive breeding programs it could be in the Nature Coast. The Nature Coast, both Chassahowitzka and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuges, is essential to the recovery of Whooping Cranes in America. This is the place where we can take a stand for wildlife of today, and of tomorrow.

Resources

  • Resource One
  • Resource Two [PDF]
  • Resource Three (fourth paragraph down)