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Guest AuthorMarch 31, 2015

Dear legislator: A number of years ago I was playing golf at Solivita, a community near Poinciana on the Polk County side of Osceola County. The area looked strangely familiar, especially the cypress swamps and pine woods between the holes. As I came up one fairway and looked into an oak hammock, I saw the […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 29, 2015

Words matter, or they should – at least for journalists. Not necessarily for politicians. Case in point: the Florida House leadership saying that it has $205 million in the proposed 2015-16 state budget for Florida Forever, the state’s land-buying program. Nope, not true. In fact, the House budget proposal doesn’t include a single dollar for […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 29, 2015

Words matter, or they should – at least for journalists. Not necessarily for politicians. Case in point: the Florida House leadership saying that it has $205 million in the proposed 2015-16 state budget for Florida Forever, the state’s land-buying program. Nope, not true. In fact, the House budget proposal doesn’t include a single dollar for […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 26, 2015

A proposed House committee bill being considered Thursday would require state park managers to allow “low-impact agriculture” on parks and allow adjacent landowners to acquire state land. The House State Affairs Committee, meeting at 1 p.m., will consider proposed committee bill SAC 15-02. In 2013, HB 33 by Rep. Jimmie T. Smith, a Republican from […]

Bruce RitchieFebruary 13, 2015

When you attend a House appropriations subcommittee where a chairman’s budget proposals are being unveiled, you might expect to hear some tough questions from Democrats and Republicans. And you might be disappointed, at least by the subcommittee that deals with environmental and agricultural spending. Most of the debate I hear in the House occurs only […]

Bruce RitchieFebruary 12, 2015

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When you attend a House appropriations subcommittee where a chairman’s budget proposals are being unveiled, you might expect to hear some tough questions from Democrats and Republicans. And you might be disappointed, at least by the subcommittee that deals with environmental and agricultural spending. Most of the debate I hear in the House occurs only […]

Bruce RitchieJanuary 13, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to spend nearly $13 million on two conservation land buys in Southwest Florida including one with implications for Amendment 1 spending. Amendment 1 is the water and land conservation funding initiative approved by 75 percent of voters in November. A Senate committee last week began wrangling […]

Bruce RitchieJanuary 8, 2015

Senate committee meetings without bills on the agenda rarely draw crowds, but the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation meeting on Wednesday was an exception. With more than $700 million in revenue at stake in the coming fiscal year from a broadly-worded conservation funding initiative, representatives of environmental groups, water utilities, developers, industry groups and […]

Guest AuthorMarch 4, 2014

Recently I was cycling with a friend from grade school, and let’s politely say our political views have been at odds since seventh grade. But she says that she’d be a Republican on most issues, except for the environment. I remarked how there are no greater conservationists than those folks who grow up camping, fishing, hunting […]

Tag: conservation
Image via Meg Weinberger.

Rick Dantzler: Dear legislator, where will Fla. kids learn to hunt and fish?

Bruce Ritchie: Is House giving Florida Forever $205 million? Nope

Bruce Ritchie: Is House giving Florida Forever $205 million? Nope

Rewind to 2013: House bill would allow adjacent landowners to acquire state land

Bruce Ritchie: Even if budget-writing is unfair, asking tough questions is key

Bruce Ritchie: Even if budget-writing is unfair, asking tough questions is key

Cabinet approves land-buying projects as Adam Putnam touts conservation alternative

Amendment 1 packs committee room as enviros outline spending recommendation

Henry Kelley: Conservatives are often the most ardent conservationists