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 Jennifer Seney |
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Long-time environmental activists, Seney and Davis purchased a home on four acres that backs up to a 6,000-acre wellfield. "The wildlife here is incredible," she says. "You wouldn't believe the animals I see in my front yard." Still, Pasco County is a "hole in the doughnut" of the region's wildlife preservation efforts. "Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk and Hernando all have land preservation and habitat protection plans. There's nothing like that here." It's not for lack of trying. Pasco County's 1989 comprehensive plan called for the creation of a habitat protection plan, but it never happened. A group of citizens - including Seney and two members of the county's citizen's advisory committee - sued. The result was an agreement that called for a series of new regulations written on a strict timeline, as well as a county funded study of the need for habitat protection. In the meantime, Seney helped establish an educational campaign at www.pascowildlife.com and a political action committee called eLAMP - standing for Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program. One of eLAMP's first efforts was hiring a professional pollster to determine what voters think. They came back with good news and with bad news. "More than 45% of voters support doing something immediately," Seney said. "But another 25% just said 'huh?' - they didn't understand the issues or the solutions and it would have taken a million-dollar campaign to reach them." Rather than push on alone, Seney chose to work with a task force created as a result of the county's study on habitat protection and charged with designing an environmental lands program for Pasco. It held its first meeting in October and is expected to make recommendations to the county commission by Dec. 31, 2003. Even so, the best-case scenario calls for the county commission placing a referendum on the ballot in November 2004 with funds becoming available a year later. "One member asked if there was going to be anything worth saving left by then. I believe there will still be something left, but we need to move as fast as possible." Educating voters - and county officials - will be key to the success of a referendum. "People don't understand the links between land preservation and water resources, or that the cost of serving growth is typically more than it brings in," she says. Open lands and wetlands allow groundwater resources to recharge, but covering them with homes, roads and parking lots doesn't allow rainwater to sink in. Seney cites a study that shows billions of gallons of water lost every year because development increases runoff and decreases the amount of water available to trickle down into aquifers. Environmental acquisitions also would expand Pasco's recreational opportunities, she adds. "I think it's criminal to buy land with public dollars, then fence it off and lock the gates. We need to plan for a range of passive uses, including trails for walking, biking and horses, and access for canoes or kayaks." Next on the drawing board is a day-long seminar scheduled for January 15 that brings experts from across the state to talk about how land management programs work in other areas. "We don't want to re-invent the wheel so we'll bring experts in from other areas," she said. "Collier County, for instance, just passed an environmental land acquisition program, so we'll invite them to talk about how they did it. Alachua County's program is just two years old - they brought a manager in from Miami-Dade who has done an incredible job on a tiny budget." She is also reaching out to voters with updated websites and a traveling slide show that details why a land acquisition program is vital to protecting natural resources. "Education is everything," she says. "Otherwise getting the referendum passed will be like turning a ship around in the Tampa Bay shipping channel - there's no way to do it without getting towed out backwards." For more information, visit www.pascowildlife.com or www.pascoelamp.com. |
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Jennifer Seney and her husband, Jesse Davis, came to Pasco County in 1995 so they could spend more time on their sailboat. It hasn't worked out that way.