Why It Matters: Encompassing roughly 179,000 acres, the Big Cypress National Preserve (BCNP) is a critical piece of public land that provides access for many sportsmen and women in south Florida. Establishing Wilderness designations within the BCNP would have negatively impacted science-based management practices to improve wildlife habitat as well as access to quality hunting and fishing opportunities for sportsmen and women.
Highlights:
- On November 7, the National Park Service (NPS) released their final Backcountry Access Plan for the BCNP, which adopts the CSF-preferred Alternative 4.
- Alternative 4 reopens over 100 miles of trails for off road vehicles (ORVs) while also dropping the proposed 147,000-acre Wilderness designation that was proposed in the initial Backcountry Access Plan.
- Earlier this year, Florida Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chairs Representative Danny Alvarez, Senator Jim Boyd, and Senator Jason Brodeur sent a letter to the Florida Congressional Delegation on Capitol Hill opposing Congressionally designated Wilderness within the BCNP. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), alongside many other in state and national conservation partners, has been actively engaged , and submitted comments, in ensuring enhanced access to the BCNP while also opposing any Wilderness designations.
The letter from the Caucus Co-Chairs opposing Wilderness designations within the BCNP stated: “Without the use of ORVs within the BCNP, natural resource managers would not be able to maintain or improve habitat through practices such as prescribed burning, invasive plant and animal control, and more, leading to habitat degradation over time. Habitat loss not only impacts game species and the opportunities they provide hunters, but it also impacts non-game species. A hands-off approach to management within the BCNP is counterproductive to implementing sound conservation practices and negatively impacts resource management and access and opportunity for Florida’s sportsmen and women.”
CSF applauds the NPS for recognizing the importance of enhancing public access in an incredibly important place for hunters and anglers in the Sunshine State who, in 2023 alone, generated over $90 million in conservation funding through the “user pays – public benefits” structure of the American System of Conservation Funding.
