new Florida panther management plan

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http://www.news-press.com/article/20081 ... 18091/1075

from the ftmyers fl news-press

Plan to save panther revised
Goal of delisting a very tall order

by ryan lengerich • rlengerich@news-press.com • December 19, 2008

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• Read the panther recovery plan

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Florida wildlife officials know delisting the Florida panther from endangered status is a tough task. It may not happen in our lifetime.

That hasn’t stopped the agency from releasing a 216-page updated plan Thursday to save the approximately 100 panthers roaming south Florida.
he state needs to see three populations of 240 panthers sustained for 12 years. That would get the Puma subspecies off the list.

“These are extraordinarily ambitious numbers,” said Paul Souza, spokesman with the South Florida office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Consider there were 12 to 20 panthers in the 1970s and 30 years later about 100.
Thursday’s release is the third revision to the recovery plan. The original was written in 1981 with the first revision coming in 1987 and second in 1995.

Saving the panther means holding steady the current population and reintroducing it within the areas it once roamed, as well as outside south and south-central Florida. The final objective is public awareness and education.

The panther is restricted to 5 percent of its historic range and has one breeding population in south Florida.

Panther habitat is protected, with strict guidelines for development. A variety of federal, state and private incentives programs are available to assist private landowners and other individuals to protect and manage wildlife habitat, according to the report.

Ambitious plans to sustain the animals north of the Caloosahatchee River hinder on expanding the breeding population, Souza said. Simply put, that area needs females.

The complex problem is compounded by vast development in South Florida and booming population growth. The panthers need room to roam and run, but habitat kept shrinking.

The latest epidemic is panther death by vehicle. Twenty-three panthers have been killed by vehicles since January 2007.

Every panther death by car makes news. It means the Florida Department of Transportation is being asked more often to build wildlife crossings combined with fences.

Groups such as Fish and Wildlife take the lead in wildlife protection.

“DOT works very closely with our environmental partners,” said Debbie Tower, spokeswoman.

Lee County Smart Growth Director Wayne Daltry said as renewable fuels become more popular, Florida land owners are seeing rural lands as valuable.

Those lands are more compatible with panthers than urban development.

Protecting panther habitat is dire as development expands.

“The habitat they have now is the closest thing to wilderness in Florida,” Daltry said.