Florida Cabinet approves 2012-2013 conservation land purchase work plan

By Bruce Ritchie

The Cabinet on Tuesday [Dec. 11] approved a fiscal year 2012-13 work plan for conservation land purchases with 21 projects involving conservation around military bases and springs and other water features.

As the Cabinet approved the plan without comment, environmentalists were urging state leaders to support new spending for land acquisition and to move more aggressively towards new land purchases.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, under the Florida Forever program, purchased an average of 72,787 acres per year from 2002-03 until 2009-10. But DEP has purchased only 32,610 acres in the three fiscal years since Gov. Rick Scott took office as the Legislature cut funding for the program.

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