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DAN DeWITTCorridors of land between tracts that are already protected from development are in line to receive their own new safeguards.
The Citrus and Croom tracts of the Withlacoochee State Forest are among the area's most secure hedges against development pressing north from Tampa Bay.
The gap between them, though, is mostly farms, some of it in the large parcels most attractive to builders of shopping centers and subdivisions.
Now, local governments are working with the state on a plan that might protect those vulnerable open spaces and create a bridge between the larger tracts of preserved land.
"We want to work with Hernando and possibly Citrus County on a cooperative project to close some of these gaps," said Tom Hoctor, a University of Florida researcher who has worked on a state project to identify the most environmentally sensitive of these connections in the state.
On the local level, the work started about a year ago, when Hernando decided to scrap its old approach to acquiring natural lands and adopt a new one.
Instead of using its limited funds to buy small parcels around the county, the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Committee focused on setting aside 2,700 acres stretching from the Citrus Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest, which are in turn joined to the Croom tract.
The idea was based on a well-established principal - that buying land to connect larger parcels is more beneficial to wildlife than isolated parcels. The County Commission approved the plan a month ago.
The same reasoning is behind a state plan with a much more ambitious goal: forming a bridge of natural land that would extend from the Green Swamp through the Annutteliga Hammock in northern Hernando to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge along the coast.
The state Office of Greenways and Trails has identified this as one of 10 "critical linkages," which are areas between larger tracts of conservation lands.
Though Greenways and Trails approved the project last year, Hernando County didn't find out about it until March, when Hoctor called the county.
It was welcome news, said Dawn Durham, Hernando's lead environmental planner. The project greatly improves the chances that the parcel the county identified will be populated by bears and woodpeckers rather than immigrants from Tampa.
Hernando County has $2.6-million in its environmentally sensitive lands fund, Durham said. The state has yet to make a firm commitment, but the critical linkages designation could allow the project - and possibly the county - to tap into the Florida Forever program, which has an annual budget of about $300,000.
"We have enough to start (the county acquisition project) but not necessarily enough to complete it," Durham said, "which is why we were glad to see the state's interested."
The state could also help stretch the county's funds by taking over the potentially costly job of negotiating the acquisition agreements, Durham said.
The county has adopted another strategy to get more out of its money.
In the past, the environmentally sensitive land program, which dates back to 1988, has purchased land outright. Now, for the first time, it will use conservation easements. The easements are a standard practice with some other public agencies, including the Southwest Florida Water Management District - better known as Swiftmud.
The county would not buy the land, but rather the landowner's right to alter it. For example, the farmland that covers most of the county's proposed acquisition, would continue to be used for agriculture, Durham said.
This could have the effect of staving off development at about half the cost of its purchase price, she said.
The process of identifying critical linkages started seven years ago, Hoctor said.
The areas were singled out not only for their value as habitat, but for their vulnerability to development - an area where Hernando County ranked particularly high.
"The way the county is exploding, they won't be happy until they've cut down every tree and cemented over every blade of grass," said Robert Marsh, a member of the county Environmentally Sensitive Lands Committee.
The state and county efforts will also mesh well with Swiftmud's ongoing project to acquire land in the Annutteliga Hammock in northern Hernando County which is designed to help link Chassahowitzka with the state forest.
The project's approval was welcome news, said Dawn Durham, Hernando's lead environmental planner. It greatly improves the chances that the parcel the county identified will be populated by bears and woodpeckers rather than immigrants from Tampa.
The main advantage of buying a corridor of land rather than isolated pockets is to allow wildlife to move from one area to another.
Eventually, Hoctor said, this may include significant numbers of black bear.
Various state agencies have discussed reintroducing the species to the Green Swamp. If that happens, and a usable corridor is established, this may help restore the current, tiny population that lives in and around the Chassahowitzka Refuge.
"If it stays fragmented," Hoctor said of the habitat, "there's a good chance those bears will disappear. That population is barely hanging on."