August 30, 2002

SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT PROPOSED
MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR LAND-BUYING PARTNERSHIP IN ORANGE COUNTY

South Florida Water Management District

http://www.sfwmd.gov/newsr/3_newsrel.html#land_cf

To "leave a meaningful legacy to the people of Florida, particularly Orange
County," South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Henry
Dean proposed the creation of a land-buying partnership uniting the
District, Orange County, St. Johns River Water Management District and the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

"For the first year, I am prepared to recommend to my board that the South
Florida Water Management District earmark $10 million for this effort," Dean
said this week while presenting the District's 2003 proposed budget to the
Orange County Commission.

"That is music to our ears," replied Orange County Chairman Richard Crotty.
Crotty recently proposed a land acquisition program he calls Greenplace,
which would acquire environmentally sensitive land around lakes and rivers.

"One of the things that we have talked about in developing Greenplace is
partnering opportunities. There can be no more important statement we can
make to our children and grandchildren than to preserve the pristine lands
remaining within the 1,000 square miles of Orange County," Crotty said.

"This vision creates a long-lasting and comprehensive strategy for water
resource protection in Central Florida," said Harkley Thornton, the SFWMD
Governing Board member representing Orange County. "This plan protects
property rights, seeks land purchases from willing sellers, helps protect
lakes and rivers, and assists in the long-term effort to protect our
drinking water supplies."

Dean's vision foresees the partners developing a wish list of properties
that would help the county develop stormwater parks, protect wetlands,
expand outdoor recreation, set aside valuable groundwater recharge areas,
and create buffers for the county's lakes, streams and rivers.

Those protections, Dean said "will be long-lasting and meaningful and leave
an impression long after we're gone."

 # # #

http://www.sfwmd.gov/newsr/3_newsrel.html#land_cf