ABSTRACT
The state of Florida has a long history of public policies and public investments aimed at land conservation and the control of development, combining to promote what are now called smart growth outcomes (McLeod, this volume; Chapin, Connerly, and Higgins, 2007; Higgins and Paradise, 2007). While these efforts have not always yielded the desired outcomes, the state has a track record of commitment to both conservation and growth management (Pelham, 2007). Further, Florida has been a national leader and true innovator in these areas, designing and implementing a range of policies and programs that planners and environmental advocates from other states look at with envy. For example, along with Oregon and Hawaii, Florida was an early adopter of statewide growth management in the 1970s, requiring local governments to develop comprehensive plans and trying to link these plans to development outcomes. In the area of land conservation, Florida established the nation’s largest publicly-funded land acquisition program, Preservation 2000 and subsequently Florida Forever, allocating to date over $6 billion in state revenues to purchase environmentally or culturally important landscapes and preserve them from urbanization.
