The Board of Trustees (BOT), acting through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, is required to conduct land management reviews of select conservation, preservation and recreation lands titled to the BOT, including State Forests managed by the Florida Forest Service.
Section 259.036, Florida Statutes (F.S), requires the Board of Trustees (BOT), acting through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, to conduct land management reviews of select conservation, preservation and recreation lands titled to the BOT, including State Forests managed by the Florida Forest Service.
The team assesses whether those lands are being managed for the purposes for which they were acquired, and whether they are being managed in accordance with their adopted management plans.
The 2003 Florida Legislature amended Section 259.036, F.S., to require that all conservation lands greater than 1,000 acres in size be reviewed at least every five years. The properties reviewed are selected from a database of BOT lands based on the following factors: size of the property, land management plan due dates, managing agency, previous land management review date, and geographic location.
Regional review team members are selected in accordance with legislation to include representatives of the following:
Participating state agencies, soil and water conservation districts, local governments, and conservation groups have had continual input into the development and ongoing evolution of the review process.