Anyone wishing to work on these issues contact members of the committee.
The BCAS Conservation Committee consists of Neil Lamb, Lisa and Ed Keppner, and Candis Harbison (and others who are willing to help on various issues). They have been busy, as you can see from this list of some of their activities:
Highways----Several new highways are proposed for construction as this area develops, and all new roads are accompanied by environmental destruction. In an effort to keep this destruction to a minimum, BCAS monitors and comments on these projects. Neil Lamb sent letters and made a statement at public meeting on the so-called "Gulf Coast Parkway", citing provisions of the Comprehensive Plan and the need for preserving wetland buffers and wildlife crossings.
ALL MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND MEETINGS AND WRITE LETTERS AND EXPRESS THEIR PERSONAL CONSERVATION-RELATED OPINIONS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE NAME OF BCAS MUST BE
APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT OR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Bay County Audubon Society wins Audubon of Florida Best
Chapter Conservation Project Award at the Audubon Assembly in
St. Petersburg, October 2004
The comprehensive project entitled An Inventory of Conservation Easements in Bay County, Florida by members Neil J. Lamb, PhD, and Edwin J. Keppner, PhD, is a precedent setting compilation of all known, recorded conservation easements in the county. These parcels of land are preserved in perpetuity as natural, wildlife habitat to compensate for wetlands impacted by development projects. Over 121 conservation easements totaling more than 3,160 acres were discovered, visited, photographed, inventoried, and mapped with a geographical imaging system to provided a management tool for interested officials and citizens. Funded by a grant from the St. Joe Community Foundation, this project may well establish a framework that will expand to other counties and perhaps generate a standard for future management of these lands. Bay County Audubon Society received a grant to inventory the conservation easements held by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Bay County. The inventory involved a search of a number of Bay County databases, and the information for each easement is located in a table and as Information Points on maps for GIS users.
Visits were made too many of the conservation easements, and ground level photographs were taken. The inventory contains 121 easements held by the two agencies, ranging from 0.023 acres to 721.11 acres in size. Observations were made regarding relation of the easements to each other, to existing public land, and to the proposed West Bay Preservation Area and Regional General Permit area. A number of violations of the easements were observed during field visits. The authors make recommendations to enhance the use of conservation easements of preserving wetlands and wildlife habitats within the St. Andrew Bay ecosystem in general and Bay County specifically.
The inventory in available on CD-ROM. A grant is needed for the publication of hard copies.
Audubon of Florida recognized this inventory as the Audubon Chapter Project of the Year. For any additional information, contact Neil Lamb at (850)265-0646 or Ed Keppner at (850)769-6247.
