Florida Forever comes up short in budget deal.
In a blow to conservation groups, the state’s top environmental land-buying program, Florida Forever, was set at $17.4 million Sunday night in budget negotiations between the House and Senate.
The move comes just months after Florida voters approved Amendment 1, dedicating a portion of state tax money to conservation programs. Activists had earlier sought as much at $170 million for Florida Forever.
Even Gov. Rick Scott, not usually a powerful ally of environmental groups, had recommended $100 million.
Senate Budget Chief Tom Lee, R-Brandon, defended the Florida Forever spending as part of $55 million on a variety of land programs, which include $20 million for longstanding work on the Kissimmee River in Central Florida.
Another $81.8 million was set aside in the budget Sunday for Everglades Restoration. Lee said the decision by lawmakers not to issue bonds for land purchases and school construction has limited the amount of dollars available.
“We did the best we could with the resources that we had available this session,” Lee said.
Lee urged activists to take a longer view of environmental spending, saying they should look at the “implementation of Amendment 1 as a snapshot.” But he acknowledged many would be “underwhelmed…with components of this.”
Florida Forever had $12.5 million to spend in the state budget set to expire June 30.
An overwhelming 75 percent of voters supported Amendment 1 – with a state-leading 85 percent backing it in Palm Beach County.
The ballot proposal grew out of years of frustration among environmentalists over Scott and the Legislature’s willingness to reduce funding for Florida Forever, the state’s key conservation land-buying program.
Now, even after Amendment 1, the dollars still came up short in Sunday night’s dealmaking between Lee and his House counterpart, Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes.
“It’s an insult to the 4.2 million voters who helped pass Amendment 1,” said Aliki Moncrief, who helped lead Florida’s Water and Land Legacy campaign the pushed the measure last fall.
Efforts to preserve Florida’s freshwater springs fared better, drawing $47.5 million — $32 million in new state money. The level of funding is close to what Scott has sought for water quality and conservation projects at some of Florida’s 700 known springs.
Scott and the state’s Republican-led Legislature have been generally reluctant to recommend stricter pollution standards sought by environmentalists, citing the potential cost to businesses still digging out of the recession.
Springs, concentrated mostly in Central and North Florida, are particularly vulnerable to pollutants, with such landmark sites as Silver Springs, Wakulla Springs and Fanning Springs all experiencing spikes in recent years in the level of nutrients and algae in the water.
