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 & Private Lands |
Summary of the February 18, 1997 Landowners Workshop
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| Attendance | Presentations | Landowner Reactions | Comments Directed to Issues Not Addressed in the Conceptual Plan | Comments Directed to Issues Addressed in the Conceptual Plan |
The February 18, 1997 meeting of private landowners with more than 100 acres of Priority 1 or 2 panther habitat in Collier, Hendry and Lee counties, Florida, drew owners and owner representatives of over 600,000 acres of habitat.
Forty-one people attended the workshop; 35 of whom were landowners or landowners representatives. Only two of the major private landowners -- Lykes and Hilliard Brothers -- did not attend (although Hilliard had called to say that someone would attend).
The vegetable, citrus, cattle and sugar industries all were represented. Officials of Gulf Citrus Growers, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the University of Florida’s Southwest Florida Research and Education Center and the Hendry County Cooperative Extension Service all attended and supported the event.
Members of the Phase 1 Landowner Working Group took the lead in presenting the results of the project to their neighbors. The workshop opened with welcoming remarks by Dallas Townsend, Hendry County Extension Service Director and one of the members of the Phase 1 Landowner Working Group.
The video, Panthers & Private Lands: A Cooperative Approach, which describes Phase 1 of the Project and the "Conceptual Plan" proposed by the Landowner Working Group, was shown.
Craig Evans, President of Florida Stewardship Foundation and Project Facilitator for Phase 1, gave a brief overview of Phase 1, described the mission and goals of Florida Stewardship Foundation (which was created in large part to carry the Conceptual Plan and similar projects forward), thanked the funders whose support had made it possible to launch Phase 2 of the project and explained the objectives of Phase 2.
Landowner Working Group member Tom Jones, of Barron Collier Company, Silver Strand Division, explained the Conceptual Plan and philosophy behind the plan. He responded to questions from the audience before joining a panel discussion with Landowner Working Group members Ed English, Joe Pearce, Dallas Townsend, Ron Hamel and Glenn Simpson to highlight portions of the Conceptual Plan.
Landowners attending the workshop were asked to respond to all of the presentations and the panel discussion. Tom Jones and Dallas Townsend took turns in facilitating the discussion.
Landowner reactions to the Conceptual Plan were very positive. Based upon the level of questions and comments, it appeared that the audience was very well informed prior to the workshop and had read the Phase 1 report (which was reprinted with the Phase 2 grant from Florida Advisory Council on Environmental Education and mailed to all private landowners in Collier, Hendry and Lee counties with 100 or more acres of land containing priority panther habitat).
The group was supportive and appreciative of the efforts made to date and endorsed the recommendations described in "Next Steps" on pages 37 and 38 of A Landowners’ Strategy for Protecting Florida Panther Habitat on Private Lands in South Florida: A Project Report. All persons present endorsed:
Comments Directed to Issues Not Addressed in the Conceptual Plan
Only one issue was raised that was not addressed in the Conceptual Plan: consideration for relief from taxes at the state and local level. In particular, strong sentiment was expressed against the recent Agricultural Privilege Tax that was enacted as part of the Everglades Forever Act.
This tax is assessed on land that is perceived to drain into the Everglades system. The tax in the C-139 Basin (virtually all of Hendry County) in many cases exceeds the income from properties that are maintained in low-intensity agricultural uses -- which forces a landowner to eliminate these low-intensity uses and their non-invasive stewardship practices in favor of higher intensity uses to increase the land’s income and ability to cover the tax. Gone are the low intensity uses of grazing one cow per three acres and the farming practices that leave hedgerows and native cover between fields.
Dallas Townsend pointed out that "For the 165,000 acres in the C-139 Basin, the impact of the Agricultural Privilege Tax is to add $30 to the cost of each brood cow." At a current market price of less that $400 per brood cow, this additional 7.5% cost may put the farmer in a loss position. Bubba Mills noted that "If you don’t address that [the Agricultural Privilege Tax] there are a lot of us who won’t be here to worry about the panther."
Other opinions were expressed that relief from sales taxes and other annual taxes would help as an annual income incentive and would increase the farmers’ bottom line. Income and estate tax relief are valuable tools, but application of these tax relief efforts might not occur on an annual basis.
Comments Directed to Issues Addressed in the Conceptual Plan
Discussion touched on the biology (and gene pool) of the animal subspecies to be protected by the habitat protection efforts. While this issue was recognized as important, it was not deemed relevant to the large picture of the effect of regulations that are imposed on private property as the result of government action. It was noted that, no matter what happens with the Florida panther, there always will be aspects of private property that government will seek to govern, protect or maintain in a certain manner through regulation. The Conceptual Plan addresses the entire spectrum of government’s efforts to protect habitat and/or wildlife on private property.
Some landowners questioned why it was incumbent upon the landowners to hammer out a Conceptual Plan for the government. The idea was expressed that the government has the obligation to find an acceptable method of protecting important resources without infringing upon Constitutional rights. The group again agreed that this was an important point, but reminded the speaker that the government’s last attempt to resolve the panther issue had resulted in a plan that was not discussed with or shown to the landowners who were to be most affected by the plan until after it had been published. In fact, this plan was so offensive to landowners that they decided to take steps on their own to put forth a workable solution for all parties.
It was pointed out that the sales data used in the Phase 1 project report, A Landowners’ Strategy for Protecting Florida Panther Habitat on Private Lands in South Florida, was based in part upon sales that occurred prior to designation of the property as Priority 1 panther habitat -- and, as a result, the value of this property has decreased. This revealed a vexing irony: that the market economy often devalues the very features on private land that society and government most value and seek to protect. This comment underscored the social, economic and political issues involved in this project. But, as was pointed out by another member of the audience, it was not relevant to taxation issues, because a property with an agricultural exemption is taxed on its agricultural value, not its market value.
Strong warnings were made to keep the program simple and to not inadvertently over-regulate the 25-year leases proposed in the Conceptual Plan with invasive monitoring and data gathering requirements. Bernie Lester of Alico, Inc. said one problem with most government incentive and less-than-fee programs is that "[the programs] come with just as much regulatory baggage as we have now. If I'm going to get that much regulatory baggage, I might as well stay where I am now and fight the battle as best I can. If an agency is satisfied with the way we are doing things, as they say they are [because Florida panthers are successfully using our lands], and they want to encourage us to keep doing it, then they have to buy off on that without a lot of additional monitoring, testing or other requirements."
The overall sentiment of the landowner workshop may well be summed up by a comment by Calvin Lloyd that: "We have problems and environmentalists have problems. We need to get together to solve each other’s problems."
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