ELC Wins Keys Habitat Case
On September 26 2007, a victory for protection of the Florida Keys’ Tropical Hardwood Hammocks and the plants and animals that depend on them for survival was won when the Florida Department of Community Affairs invalidated dozens of the maps and several key provisions of the “Tier System” adopted by Monroe County to protect native upland habitat. The Department’s Final Order followed our litigation victory in a case heard by an administrative law judge who ruled in favor of our clients, Florida Keys’ Citizens Coalition and Last Stand, after a two week long trial held earlier this year. The Department adopted in its totality the Law Judge’s Recommended Order which found that the County’s system of classifying lands based on their habitat value under-protected many areas due to an over-emphasis on a size requirement that arbitrary wrote off “small” hammocks in the Keys. Finding the testimony of our experts, as well as the admissions of the State and County experts persuasive, the Law Judge ruled that the nature of the small islands in the Keys, and the scarcity and unique nature of Tropical Hardwood Hammocks made even “small”, functioning hammocks important to protect. As a result, the Order invalidated dozens of the tier maps and several parts of the rules that implemented the Tier System, and requires that they be re-adopted and improved based on its rulings. Monroe County has decided not to appeal the Department’s Order. The Recommended and Final Orders are attached for your viewing
here and here. It is our hope that the Tier Maps and System will now be improved to the extent needed to protect the long term functioning of this very imperiled ecosystem.