Florida Forever Land Acquisition Work Plans

Overview

Section 373.199(7), Florida Statutes, requires the District to annually update the Florida Forever Work Plan. This plan, which is also presented as a separate chapter in the Consolidated Annual Report, contains information on projects eligible to receive funding under the Florida Forever Act and also reports on land management activities, lands surplused and the progress of funding, staffing and resource management of projects for which the District is responsible.

Florida Forever Program

In 1999, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Forever Act (section 259.105, F.S.) which has continued the state’s long-term commitment to environmental land acquisition, restoration of degraded natural areas, and high-quality outdoor recreation opportunities.

While previous programs focused almost exclusively on the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands, the Florida Forever program is somewhat different in that it authorizes the use of up to half of the program funding for certain types of capital improvement projects. Eligible uses of these funds include water resource development, stormwater management projects, water body restoration, recreation facilities, public access improvements, and removing invasive plants, among others. The remaining fifty percent must be spent on land acquisition.

Since the inception of the District’s land acquisition program, the goal has been to bring as much floodplain as possible of our major rivers and creeks under public ownership and protection. The Florida Forever Land Acquisition Program continues to increase the acres of wetland, floodplain and aquifer recharge areas acquired by the District. To date, over 224,783 acres have been protected for water resource purposes through the land acquisition efforts of the District either in fee simple or through conservation easements.