FLORIDA WILDLIFE CORRIDOR PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
The Wildlife Corridor PES – FL program would provide financial compensation to landowners to maintain their land in an undeveloped state to provide one or more of three ecosystem services specified for this effort: ​
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Landowners would receive annual payments for the duration of a 10-year contract, subject to compliance and monitoring requirements.
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Despite record amounts of funding from the Florida Legislature to acquire lands within the Corridor, properties may remain on the acquisition list for nearly a decade, and landowners frequently cannot afford the lengthy delay. The proposed PES program can help protect lands from development and buy additional time to protect these lands in perpetuity and maintain ecosystem services that may otherwise be lost.
Eligible Applicants
SIZE OF PROPERTY
Large landowners and small landowners can participate, but eligibility will depend on location in Wildlife Corridor Opportunity Areas and funding availability.
ENTITY TYPE
Private landowners with agricultural working lands or other land uses that maintain land in open space within the boundaries of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
EXPECTED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
The ecosystem services of focus include habitat connectivity, water quality, and aquifer recharge.
Ecosystem services will be quantified using metrics obtained through the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN) GIS database.
LAND USE AND MANAGEMENT
Maintaining working agricultural lands as open space and not selling lands to residential or commercial development uses.
Application Requirements
Landowners who wish to apply will be required to complete a program application and provide the following pieces of information:
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Location and total acreage of parcel(s) the applicant is seeking to enroll
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Crops grown or other major land use of the parcel(s)
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Future plans for the property
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Participation in other PES or cost share programs
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Any active or pending permits
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A map that delineates all parcel(s) the applicant wishes to enroll in the PES program
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Contact information
Payments
Payments will be calculated based on existing data, which estimates ecosystem services based on the location of the property in the Corridor and the current land use. Contact us for the schedule of current payment amounts.
Application and draft contract documents coming soon.
About the PES Program
Florida Wildlife Corridor teamed with The Balmoral Group to develop the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) framework. The team used UF-produced data to identify locations within the Corridor where specific ecosystem services have been identified, and the level (high, medium, low) of ecosystem services in an area. This determination is based on things like soil type, proximity to wetlands, fragmentation of the landscape, etc. The objective is to clearly quantify ecosystem services in a transparent fashion, to align with goals beyond habitat conservation, that can widen the pool of potential funders.
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The program allows diverse landowners access to funding streams that promote the long-term accessibility of wildlife corridors. The framework integrates the opportunity cost of alternative transactions (namely, development) and is one of a series of voluntary conservation measures, along with rural conservation easements and outright purchase for permanent conservation. PES provides another tool in the toolbox to save parcels most at risk of incompatible land use change.
