Description: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission originally identified strategic habitat conservation areas (SHCA) in the Commission report, "Closing the Gaps in Florida's Wildlife Habitat Conservation System" (Cox et al. 1994). The goal of the SHCA is to identify the minimum amount of land needed in Florida to ensure long-term survival of key components to Florida's biological diversity. The 2009 SHCAs, developed by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), identify areas of habitat on private lands that are essential to sustain a minimum viable population for focal species of terrestrial vertebrates that are not adequately protected on existing conservation lands. In 2020, FNAI worked with FWC to update the SHCAs based on more recent habitat models developed by FWC since 2009, including the addition of potential habitat within existing conservation lands for all 62 focal species. The 2020 SHCAs include habitat data for 62 terrestrial vertebrate species and are prioritized into five priority classes based on rarity (FNAI State and Global ranks).This version of SHCA keeps the same species list as the previous (2009) update, but uses the latest habitat models produced by FWC as of 2020. Species are prioritized based on Global and State rarity ranks as has been done previously. This data layer was compiled by Florida Natural Areas Inventory for use in the Florida Forever Conservation Needs Assessment and the 2021 Florida Ecological Greenways Network Update.For information on development of the SHCAs please refer to: Recommendations for Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas | FWCFor information on the 2020 update to SHCAs please refer to: Strategic Habitat Cons Areas FF FFCNA | Florida Natural Areas Inventory
Service Item Id: 0a31ecbb40354d07b2f3541226d0a791
Copyright Text: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI)