NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
OPEN SPACE PRESERVATION
When the privately owned Babcock Ranch, a critical landscape connection between Charlotte Harbor and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, became
vulnerable to urban development in 2004, the community's concern increased. The 91,361-acre property provides essential wildlife habitat, and houses
one of the area's largest natural water storage tracts. Naturally, concerns were voiced about the need to preserve the integrity of this important stretch of
coastal land—so the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) stepped in to facilitate a solution.
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program
The CHNEP presented $5,000 in
seed money and a staff member
to establish the Babcock Preser-
vation Partnership, a grassroots
initiative that raised funds and
organized a coalition of stake-
holders that could influence the
acquisition and management of
the property. The effort was a
remarkable success that even-
tually led the state and Lee
County to purchase and preserve
80 percent of the Ranch with
ambitious efforts still in progress
to ensure the remaining acreage
remains intact.
To make it happen, a core group
of stakeholders—including local
hunting, sporting and environ-
mental groups, realtors, the wa-
ter management district, private
businesses, educators, citizens,
and students—stepped in to do-
nate time and resources to the
effort. Chico's, the women's
clothing retailer headquartered
in Florida, got on board with a
donation that enabled the group
to hire another staff member to
run the partnership and launched
an advertising campaign that
used the Ranch as its model-
shoot location.
The newspaper in Lee County
underwrote the design and pro-
duction of 5,000 educational
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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pamphlets for use during out-
reach events and direct mailings.
Reporters, editors and an edito-
rial cartoonist also worked to
keep the story alive. A local res-
ident also contacted family friend
Jim Fowler, the well-known nat-
uralist and TV host, who donated
his time as spokesman for the
effort. Lee County offered its he-
licopter and pilot to capture
Fowler on video flying over the
Ranch and explaining the impor-
tance of preserving the property.
The messages aired regularly on
local cable and radio stations-
free of charge.
In addition, Lee County and a lo-
cal restaurant, the Blue Pepper,
underwrote the costs of two bus-
loads of activists to travel to the
state capital to testify at the
state's Conservation Lands Com-
mittee hearing in support of pur-
chasing the Ranch. Elected state
officials were called, sent letters,
e-mailed, and visited to demon-
strate the broad-based support
for legislation to authorize the
expenditure of state dollars to
purchase the Ranch.
With over a quarter-million of lo-
cal fundraising dollars and the
support of the governor and oth-
er elected officials in securing
state and Federal funding,
73,000 acres were purchased
by the State of Florida and Lee
County in 2006. This acquisition
permanently protects water
quality and quantity, provides
habitat and preserves open
space for generations to come,
and demonstrates the strength
of the NEP approach to facilitat-
ing cooperation among diverse
stakeholders in order to protect
and preserve the watershed.
Visit www.chnep.org to learn
more about this and other
CHNEP efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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