Alex Pries

Watermelon Pond Conservation Cooperative: Using Public-private Partnerships and Leveraging Technical and Financial Resources to Achieve Florida's Wildlife Legacy Initiative Goals

As part of the nation-wide state wildlife grants effort, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) created Florida's Wildlife Legacy Initiative to serve the agency's commitment to conserve all native wildlife and their habitats. The Initiative identified sandhill and scrub habitat as the highest priority terrestrial habitats based upon current threats such as development and altered fire regime. Following goals set by the Initiative, we identified an area of remnant sandhill and scrub habitat in southwest Alachua County and northeast Levy County, known as Watermelon Pond...