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Conservation 20/20 |
A 1994 land use study found that only 10% of Lee County was set aside for conservation. In comparison, nearly 28% of the State of Florida is owned and managed as conservation lands and other south Florida counties have from 40% to 85% set aside for conservation. In 1995, a group of concerned citizens noted that the rate of development in Lee County had increased substantially and time was running short in order to preserve the undeveloped natural areas. These citizens took it upon themselves to take this cause to the local government and began lobbying for a county-based land acquisition program in order to protect these natural areas. The group of citizens lobbying for this cause called themselves “Conservation 20/20” to denote their vision of a future Lee County with large undeveloped areas of natural habitats. Lee County’s November 1996 referendum brought about the creation of the land acquisition and stewardship program and Conservation 20/20 (C20/20) was initiated in 1997. The C20/20 Program has four main objectives:
The C20/20 Program is administered primarily from two departments within Lee County. The County Lands Department supervises the acquisition of new lands into the program and the Parks & Recreation Department deals with the management, stewardship activities, recreation opportunities, and day-to-day running of the acquired conservation lands. To oversee the C20/20 Program the Lee County Board of County Commissioners created the Conservation 20/20 Land Acquisition and Stewardship Advisory Committee (CLASAC). CLASAC is a citizen advisory committee that meets every month (generally 2nd Thursday) to review C20/20 nominations, acquisitions, land stewardship plans & activities and general management. These meetings are open to the public and everyone is welcomed and encouraged to attend. For more information on C20/20 acquisitions please click here. |