The Wildlife Forecast

Here's the first installment of my column "The Wildlife Forecast." I write this column for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Today’s wildlife forecast: Overcast with patches of sun

Did you hear the one about two panthers hanging around the watering hole in the Everglades? One says to the other one, “Did you notice it’s getting warmer around here?”

“We better go north soon, but how are we gonna cross I-4?” the other panther asked. “We’ll melt waiting for traffic to clear.”

This fantasy account contains some pertinent reality. Wildlife does have the ability to adapt to changes in the environment; the climate is on a warming trend; I-4 does provide an impediment to wildlife moving north.

And Florida is facing an accelerated changing environment with human population growth and rising temperatures.

But it is not all doom and gloom. A few months ago, I witnessed Florida wildlife’s glimmer of hope in the forest at a gathering of the nation’s top scientists – experts in both wildlife management and climate change. As a nonscientist amid such an array of minds, I caught the passion for doing something now to aid wildlife’s adaptation.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) asked these folks to attend “Florida’s Wildlife: On the front line of climate change” in Orlando this past October. They gathered not to bemoan the possible effects of climate change, but to find answers that would help our precious and unique fauna.

“We are experts on wildlife, but not on climate change,” said Tim Breault, the FWC’s director of the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation.

Breault’s admonition came with the addendum, “We are asking the experts to come to us so we can gather all the information we need to move into the future as the protector and manager of Florida’s wildlife.”

And indeed those experts came. They came from state agencies such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts; they came from federal agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey; they came from national organizations such as the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation; they came from universities and the private sector.

The resumes of those in attendance only added to the importance of the event: Ph.D.s, wildlife managers, professors and Nobel Prize laureates all shared in the summit’s discussions along with students, volunteers and FWC staff from all levels.

The predictions that were presented, such as South Florida’s increased drying trend, may sound dire on the surface, but there is hope. I saw it shouted throughout the halls and salons and ballrooms of the hotel where the summit was held.

During the second day of breakout sessions, led by the FWC’s top experts, the passion fueling the participants became obvious. Large sheets of paper began appearing on the walls of the workshop rooms, and recorders wrote comments furiously on the paper as participants yelled out the concerns and challenges.

Moderators struggled positively to preserve order so all the voices could be heard. The discussions spilled over to the luncheon in one of the hotel’s ballrooms. The day’s session had to be firmly ended by the facilitators so all the information could be compiled into cohesive, action-oriented lists.

Breault’s wish came true. The experts came and shared their knowledge, and the FWC now leads the way in the country as an example of a wildlife agency that has begun to take action rather than waiting to react to what might come next.

As the climate warms, wildlife will move north to seek cooler climates. But impediments to wildlife travel in this state will be a hindrance. The wide ribbon of asphalt and concrete of I-4 stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, north of Orlando, right across the state to the Gulf of Mexico.

The FWC and its partners must work now to create corridors that will aid the safe passage of wildlife needing to travel north.

The summit generated a tremendous amount of information for the FWC to develop a blueprint. The FWC’s Executive Director, Kenneth Haddad, recently appointed an internal Climate Change Oversight Team, which will oversee all climate-change-related activities at the FWC.

Each month I’ll report in The Wildlife Forecast on the FWC and its partners, keeping you abreast of federal, state and local programs and legislation on climate change and its impacts on wildlife.

With allies such as the ones who huddled together in Orlando at the FWC’s summit, The Wildlife Forecast for this month feels confident in predicting that Florida’s wildlife has some sunshine in the future, despite the stormy weather on the way.

Contact Patricia Behnke at pat.behnke@MyFWC.com.