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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