Much to Report
The Florida Beaches HCP website has been dormant for nearly a year, but development of the HCP itself has been progressing by leaps and bounds. There is much to report, so I will do my best to summarize everything neatly.
First of all, please have a look around the website. Due to a contractual lapse that took quite a bit of sorting out, we were unable to modify it for a while. However, we're back in action with all of our subcontractors and the website has now been refreshed. As you will see on the home page, we have now crafted a Mission Statement, Biological Goal and Biological Objectives. These were completed with the help of our now formed and fully functional Steering Committee. More on that later though. Additionally, you will find a link to our printable outreach brochure on the FAQ page as well as several new documents on the Documents page.
The Beaches HCP program has undergone a bit of restructuring in the last year. The working group remains in place and continues to form the backbone of the HCP development process. However, we have a new lead consulting firm, Coastal Technology Corporation, and we are so far thrilled with the work they have done on the project. Ecological Associates, Inc. and URS have not left us though, and now provide integral support to the HCP process through a subcontract with Coastal Tech. We were recently awarded a fourth year of grant funding by the USFWS, and our plan is to continue with the current working group structure for the duration of the project.
One very exciting development has been the formation of our Steering Committee, who have now met three times, and will continue to meet each quarter in order to provide critical guidance and oversight to the HCP process. (Minutes from each of these meetings can be found on the "Meetings" page of the website.) The Secretary of DEP reviewed the proposal that was drafted as a result of our exploratory meeting last year, made a few excellent suggestions to round out our list of nominees, and approved our proposed committee structure. The resulting committee consists of representatives from the following organizations; FWC (chair of committee), FDEP, DCA, The Florida Association of Counties, the Florida League of Cities, Lee County Tourism Development Council, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, The Audubon Society, Caribbean Conservation Corporation, and Humiston and Moore Engineering Firm. The Steering Committee came very quickly up to speed on all of the important background information needed to begin working on the HCP, and have already begun to dive in to some of the critical issues that we need to resolve as we move forward with the project.
This brings me to my next update, which concerns the development of a new form of document for the Beaches HCP. As the working group moves forward with HCP development, difficult questions periodically arise, which require the guidance of the Steering Committee. We have developed a "critical issues template" that we now use to summarize important matters for their consideration. We have three of these documents so far and presented all of them to the Steering Committee for consideration. (They can be found on the "Documents" page of the website.) They address three important questions that will impact future development of the HCP: What should be the term of the incidental take permit; should certain beaches that are not traditionally regulated under the CCCL program be included in the HCP; and should non-federally listed, at-risk species be included in the HCP? The Steering Committee will very likely have a preliminary vote on these issues at their next quarterly meeting in September. (Final votes on these and similar issues will not come until much later in the process.)
There are many more moving parts to the Beaches HCP project, and all of them are grinding along at a healthy pace. Please check back for more updates on our project and access to outreach materials and newly created documents. Thank you for visiting.
Posted on 06/29/2010 by Mike Esser
Back on Track
It has been several quiet months on the Beaches HCP home front. At my last reporting, the results of a very productive brainstorming meeting had been summarized into a proposal for the secretary of DEP. Unfortunately the timing was poor, and Florida's legislative session intervened. This year was a particularly challenging one in the legislature for many state agencies, not least DEP. The Secretary needed to give his full attention to legislative proceedings during this time, and the Beaches HCP was moved to the back burner temporarily.
It has not been an unproductive period, however. While committee development had to be somewhat delayed, the working group used the down time effectively to draft and refine several of the briefing documents that I mentioned in my last post. These will be available to aid members of the future Steering Committee in making important decisions about the development of the HCP. They are also available to the public for purposes of general education about the HCP process and the Florida Beaches HCP in specific. The first few of these documents are now available for download on the Documents page. More such documents will follow in the coming months, so keep checking back.
Now that the legislative session is safely behind us, the Steering Committee proposal will once again be put on track for consideration by Secretary Sole. In addition, the working group has begun delving in earnest into the myriad data that will need to be compiled and analyzed in order to form the scientific backbone of the Beaches HCP. We are fortunate to have access to a wealth of resources in the form of many experts in the fields of biology, ecology, coastal geomorphology, coastal engineering and more. Many of these folks, both within government and without, have expressed the desire and willingness to help the working group develop a scientifically robust HCP. Some of these experts will hopefully form the core of the project's next important committee, the Scientific Committee. I'm looking forward to bringing that group together and working with them at length in the coming months as the HCP development process begins to gather momentum.
We will continue to update the website as documents are published, committees are formed, and as issues arise. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions or comments.
Posted on 06/10/2009 by Lyle Hatchett
Last edited on 06/10/2009 by Lyle Hatchett
EXPLORATORY MEETING
On January 29, 2009, FWC hosted the Steering Committee exploratory meeting that I mentioned in my last post. It was attended by representatives from several state agencies, major stakeholders, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and other interested parties. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a Steering Committee, consider what its structure and function might be and hopefully nominate individuals with the willingness and ability to serve on it.
The discussion at the meeting turned out to be very interesting and resulted in some really fruitful brainstorming. We led off with two presentations, given by staff of URS. The first one was a summary of the ESA with an emphasis on HCP development, which provides the legal foundation for why FDEP is seeking to develop an HCP. The next one was a summary of the CCCL Permitting Program at FDEP, which is the program to which the HCP will be tied. (For more info on these subjects, see the FAQ page.) The goal of these two presentations was to ensure that everyone had a clear understanding of the parameters that would define the development of the HCP, thus improving their ability to consider their options for the Steering Committee. (As an aside, these presentations were based upon briefing documents that have been developed by URS as resources for the eventual Steering Committee and for the public. These documents and many other briefing documents that are in the pipeline will all be made available on the website in the coming months.)
These presentations were a good place to start, as they helped the group identify many issues that will indeed be of concern to the Steering Committee. Discussion also highlighted the need for some working parameters to be defined before Steering Committee nominations could be made. The group then engaged in a bit of free-form brainstorming to come up with some expectations of how this committee would ultimately operate. This included, among many other things, identifying all the potential "positions" that would need to be filled in order to have a well rounded committee. This led very readily to a discussion of possible individuals to fill the slots, and soon a list of potential Steering Committee members was formed.
Not all of the positions received a nomination during the meeting, nor was each and every responsibility or principle of the Steering Committee decided. However, a very good "straw man" was developed, and based on that the working group has developed a report for the Secretary of DEP to review. How the creation of the Steering Committee will proceed from this point will soon be determined, and we will continue to update the website with details of the next steps in the process.
Posted on 03/02/2009 by Kat Diersen
Last edited on 03/03/2009 by Bill Beers
Inaugural Post
Greetings and thank you for visiting the Florida Beaches HCP Website! The development of this site has been a labor of love and is the product of long collaboration between staff at FDEP, FWC and our very able consulting firm, URS. It is my hope that this site will function as a clearing house of information for all things related to the HCP. From casual observer to actively engaged stakeholder, all interested parties should be able to come here for any information they need. Updates and meeting announcements will be posted here, as will every document and report that is generated in the course of the HCP planning process.
It is of utmost concern to staff working on the HCP that this process be completely open and transparent, and that every opportunity for engagement be given to all potential stakeholders. This website is but one tool that we will employ in order to ensure that we are successful in that goal. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or input using the link below or to get in touch with us directly by using the information that can be found on the contacts page.
Now for a quick announcement. As you can see on the Meetings page, a meeting of state agency representatives and other major stakeholders is taking place on January 29, 2009. It is my hope that this meeting will result in the nomination of a steering committee that will both guide and govern the HCP process. The sheer size and scope of the project before us necessitates that such a committee be appointed. This group will be representative of the many constituent voices that will influence and be influenced by the HCP. Minutes from this first exploratory meeting will be posted on the site.
Finally, this website is still very new and somewhat under construction. If you notice anything that could use improving, please send us some feedback. We will continually work to make this site easy to navigate and its content easy to understand. Thanks again for visiting and check back often for updates.
Posted on 01/14/2009 by Kat Diersen