Federal grant of $25 million aims to protect rare habitat on Lake Wales Ridge

New from the Lakeland Ledger's Gary White: Federal grant of $25 million aims to protect rare habitat on Lake Wales Ridge

An injection of federal money could bolster the protection of rare habitat in eastern Polk County.

Wildlands Conservation Inc., a nonprofit based in Tampa, has received a $25 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the Lake Wales Ridge Ecosystem Regional Conservation Partnership Program. That initiative covers seven counties, though the largest sections of the ridge, a remnant of Florida’s ancient spine, are in Polk and Highlands counties.

The grant comes through the Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program and is one of 92 funded projects totaling $1.5 billion nationwide, Wildlands Conservation said in a news release.

Polk County’s Environmental Lands Program pledged $7.5 million, combining with several other entities in offering a combined $25 million to match the federal grant, a requirement for the program. Other partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state’s Florida Forever Program and Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, Bok Tower Gardens, the Green Horizon Land Trust and the Department of Defense, which operates Avon Park Air Force Range.

"Collaboration is key to leveraging funding for conservation of important natural resources," said Gaye Sharpe, director of Polk County’s Division of Parks and Natural Resources. "The Lake Wales Ridge has always been a high priority for implementing balanced protection of these unique resources. We are excited to be a contributing partner in strategizing and focusing on continuing to fill in the gaps along the Ridge. This will make our local Environmental Lands Program even stronger and more effective with these types of partnerships."

The Lake Wales Ridge Ecosystem Regional Conservation Partnership Program will deploy the five-year funding program to purchase conservation easements and protect environmentally sensitive lands, said David Sumpter, executive director of Wildlands Conservation.

The Lake Wales Ridge, which extends about 100 miles northwest from Highlands County to Marion County, is a relict dune system, reflecting a period some two million years ago when water covered the rest of the peninsula — a former “sandbar,” as Sumpter called it. The Ridge is typified by sandy, dry habitats that harbor a distinctive array of plants and animals.

“And so, you've got all these plants and animals that evolved and are adapted to only those specific conditions, and they're nowhere else on the planet,” Sumpter said, “from sand skinks to bluetail mole skinks to about 100 species of plants and invertebrates. That’s why it's important. It’s incredibly rare and unique from a global perspective, not just from a Polk County perspective or Florida perspective.”

Other imperiled inhabitants of scrub land include the Florida scrub jay, gopher tortoises and Eastern indigo snakes.

“We’re hoping that we can restore some of it back to what it was,” Sumpter said of the habitat.