The initial citizens' push for environmental preservation in Pasco County called for the county and other agencies to acquire and manage sensitive land.
Buying property and installing a barbed-wire fence to keep everybody out won't hack it.
But the funding source chosen for Pasco's ELAMP, Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, includes no dollars for management. The voter-approved penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase is for capital expenses only and is projected to provide $36.3-million over 10 years for land acquisition.
It's a great start but won't meet the entire needs of the program. Fortunately, Pasco just found its first money to manage conservation land from an unlikely source: M/I Homes paid a $200,000 fine for discharging 2.75 acres of fill into a wetland and man-made lake at the Ballantree development east of the Suncoast Parkway.
It is a positive precedent established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which assessed the fine and forwarded it to the county.
Jennifer Seney of Pascowildlife Inc., the group helping to organize the county program, labeled it a serendipitous moment. The corps was looking to put the money back into the affected community at the same time the ELAMP effort was coming together.
Seney credited Eric Summa, enforcement chief for the corps, for making the arrangement happen. Summa is familiar with Pasco County and was one of the early advocates of the failed effort to establish a three-county wildlife corridor linking Booker Creek Preserve to Starkey Wilderness Park.
"Is it it going to happen again? I believe the answer is yes," Seney predicted. "Is it going to happen often? Probably not."
That is key. At some point, the county will need to address the cost of managing preserved land beyond punitive assessments on developers.
Last year, a county task force identified 6,200 acres considered critical for linking existing preserves like Starkey Wilderness Park, Cross Bar Well Field and Cypress Swamp. The task force estimated the county would need $6.9-million annually to meet its goal, or 88 percent more than what is available through Penny for Pasco. Partnering with other agencies is likely to stretch Pasco's dollars further.
Still undecided is how to manage the conservation land and at what cost. The task force estimated annual operation costs could be $8 to $10 per acre. Management chores include controlled burns and clearing invasive growth. The cost is higher if the land is used for recreational purposes.
The penalty from M/I won't be used for government salaries, but rather will finance wetlands work. It's a welcome start to the future management of environmentally sensitive land around Pasco County. But the public shouldn't expect aggressive developers to foot the entire bill.
