The Florida Panther Conservation Bank is the first “Approved and Certified” habitat compensation bank with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide habitat compensation for the endangered Florida panther. We assisted in the permitting effort for two banks (1,930± acre Phase I and 470± acre Phase II) that were designed to meet the conservation needs of the Florida panther, as well as other animal and plant species listed as threatened or endangered.
Our services included preparation of the bank agreement documents, a habitat management plan, monitoring plan, burn plan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Panther Habitat Unit Assessment, and bank service area map. Our staff conducted extensive coordination and negotiations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain approval of this bank. Other environmental services included vegetation/habitat mapping, listed species surveys, panther prey studies, and vegetation monitoring.
Long-term maintenance and management are currently being implemented, and financial assurances have been provided to ensure that the Bank will provide these ecological improvements in perpetuity. Also, we are conducting long-term vegetation monitoring to document restoration activities and the continued success of the Bank. In addition, continued panther prey population studies through distance sampling are being conducted by us to monitor and manage activities for the prey base population on the Bank.
