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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYAT THE CONSERVANCYCOMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS TO COMPLEX ISSUES
Tby Nick Penniman
he first three Life in Naples articles on the
Conservancy of Southwest Florida have
covered wildlife care and rehabilitation,
education and science. This final piece is about and guided by two experienced and capable women: Nicole Johnson who
the best known and most public part of the Conservancy’s
work: environmental policy.
Beginning in 1964 with a petition signed by thousands
of citizens, elaborately unrolled before Collier County
Commissioners, which stopped the “road to nowhere” – a
highway planned for the barrier islands between Naples
and Marco Island – the Conservancy began a long and
storied tradition of advocating for smart growth policies
to preserve the natural world. These policy choices over
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DENNIS GOODMAN
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fifty years, the battles fought, and the eventual outcomes, are all set forth in
my book: Nature’s Steward: A History of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
Today’s Conservancy policy department is staffed by six expert specialists,
heads the Growth Management and Planning division with Jennifer Hecker
who leads the Natural Resource Policy division.
As Collier County’s population explodes, growth will move east into
lands that have traditionally been devoted to agriculture. County government
has wisely formed a review committee to advise commissioners, but the
Conservancy’s role has never been more important. Doubly so because when
Governor Scott took office one of his first acts was to eradicate forty years
of carefully constructed bi-partisan land use planning and regulation at the
state and regional levels, pushing responsibility down to Florida’s counties .
The Conservancy believes that growth and the preservation of natural spaces,
particularly fresh water recharge of our aquifers, can be managed with smart
growth policies.
Since 90 per cent of Florida’s drinking water comes from those aquifers,
water policy goes beyond just the surface of the land, and when mining, oil
drilling, rampant destruction of wetlands, and urban runoff are left unchecked,
the system is imperiled. Conservancy leadership seeks to insure that water
is clean, equitably distributed and capable of sustaining our natural habitat,
wildlife, recreational opportunities and a rapidly growing population.
A great example of how policy arises from sound science, is the biennial
Estuaries’ Report Card, which grades water quality of inlets and bays from
Charlotte Harbor down to the Ten Thousand Islands in an attempt to educate
both citizens and our policy makers about progress (or more notably lack
thereof ) in cleaning up our coastal waters.
While growth management and water availability are long-term issues,
there is a more immediate threat that concerns Conservancy policy makers
and many citizens living in Collier County: hydraulic fracking and enhanced
Life in Naples | March 2016