http://www.fws.gov/dingdarling/

Nearly 25 million people visited state park and trail properties in fiscal 2011, according to attendance figures recently compiled by the Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Park Service. State parks received about 700,000 more visitors in the last year than in the previous year, totaling more than 21.1 million visitors. Additionally, more than 3.8 million people visited state trails, which are now part of the Florida Park Service.

"From coast to coast, the Florida Park Service offers nature-based recreation and environmental resource protection at its best," said Department Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. "As one of my priorities at the Department, I want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to fall in love with Florida's environment. We encourage Floridians and visitors to invite friends and family to get outdoors and enjoy our award-winning state parks and trails."

The top-visited state trail was the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail with 1,702,037 visitors. Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin welcomed more visitors than any other state park in Florida for the sixth year in a row with 1,089,588 visitors. Rounding out the top 10 visited state parks are:

- Gasparilla Island State Park, Boca Grande - 872,917 visitors.

- St. Andrews State Park, Panama City Beach - 860,657 visitors.

- Lovers Key State Park, Fort Myers Beach - 812,864 visitors.

- John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo - 725,619 visitors.

- Anastasia State Park, St. Augustine - 631,716 visitors.

- Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne - 614,282 visitors.

- Sebastian Inlet State Park, Melbourne Beach - 594,188 visitors.

- Stump Pass Beach State Park, Englewood - 588,300 visitors.

- Bahia Honda State Park, Big Pine Key - 557,785 visitors.

"Florida State Parks and Trails are affordable, safe places for families and friends to enjoy and learn about Florida's diverse natural resources," said Florida Park Service Director Donald Forgione. "More and more Floridians and visitors from all over the world are looking to state parks and trails for activities and adventures for all interests. From fishing and canoeing, hiking and touring a historic landmark, our 171 park properties have it all and so much more, any time of the year."

The visitation numbers are as follows:

- Florida's 160 state parks - 21,132,361 visitors.

- Florida's 11 state trails - 3,850,818 visitors.

- Total 171 Florida Park Service properties - 24,983,179 visitors.

To encourage others to experience...the Real Florida, the Florida Park Service and VISIT FLORIDA invite Floridians to share with out-of-town families and friends the nature-based recreation opportunities offered by the Florida Park Service. VISIT FLORIDA produced video vignettes for the web, highlighting 10 of Florida's diverse state parks, from Northwest Florida to the Keys to the Atlantic Coast, as seen through the eyes of Florida visitors. The Florida Park Service also launched a new web page highlighting some of the most unique and fun activities in state parks. The Get a little park on ya! website offers 50 fun things to do this summer in state parks.

The Nature Conservancy supports the safe and ecologically appropriate use of fire Florida, where almost 70 percent of the state's 9 million acres of conservation land depends on fire to maintain its diversity of plant and animal life.

Long ago, when Florida was free of roads and houses, fire was a normal occurrence. Bolts of lightning would start a wildfire that meandered along, stopping at rivers or wetlands. Many native plants and animals still require regular fire for survival - just as they need rain and sunshine.

However, human development has interrupted this natural pattern. Some conservation lands may not have burned for decades. So The Nature Conservancy's Florida Fire Team performs prescribed fires (also called controlled burns) to help keep nature in better balance.

Fire helps keep non-native, invasive species in check and natural areas from becoming overgrown. And, regular prescribed fire may reduce the intensity of a wildfire by reducing fuel loads such as dead limbs and leaves.

Prescribed fire is conducted by a team of highly skilled and experienced professionals. A "burn boss" organizes and supervises the event around a written plan and schedule. Strict safety procedures ensure the safety of the crew, nearby residents and private property, and conditions such as weather, wind and drought factors must be just right.

Some staff will light a line of fire using drip torches. Others drive trucks carrying supplies and water to be used as a control agent. ATVs and even helicopters or trained horses may be on site, along with specialized tools.

Florida Fire Manager Zach Prusak has many stories about some of the Conservancy's most flamboyant characters and fascinating work.

Thousands of Florida's key animal species depend upon fire. These include:

• reptiles: gopher tortoise and indigo snake
• mammals: Florida mouse and Florida panther
• birds: Florida scrub-jay, red-cockaded woodpecker and burrowing owl

During a fire, as many as 40 species take refuge in gopher tortoise burrows. These wide, cool burrows average 15 feet long and 6 ½ feet deep. Other species escape danger in their own way.

After a controlled burn, a blackened field quickly revives with new, green life. Pitcher plants, many orchids, cutthroat and wiregrasses are among key species that thrive upon fire. Indeed, hundreds of Florida's plant species would be lost without it. See a slideshow.

Longleaf pine is the perfect example. Its life cycle begins when fire prepares the soil for a pine seed to germinate by clearing the ground and turning leaves, dropped pine needles and sticks into fertilizer. For years a young seedling looks like a fuzzy pipe cleaner, its bud protected by tight needles while it grows a deep taproot. A second fire frees the bud and a tree quickly shoots high into the sky, above the fire line. Fire literally stimulates the next generation of this fabulous tree.

A longleaf pine forest is one of the most endangered systems in North America; only 2 percent of a once-magnificent southeastern United States forest remains. Prescribed fire keeps the system alive. See a video about why we burn in North America.

The Conservancy owns approximately 61,000 acres of Florida conservation land, much of which needs fire. In 2010, the Florida Fire Team burned 7,478 acres of these sites, including:

• pine rocklands within the Florida Keys
• pine flatwoods at The Disney Wilderness Preserve
• sandhill habitat at Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve
• scrub habitat at the Tiger Creek Preserve

Conservancy teams also assist conservation partners who may lack experience or crews. In 2010, they helped tackle challenging projects on 133,551 acres, from base camps at:

• Tiger Creek Preserve on the Lake Wales Ridge, protecting ancient scrub habitat;
• Ordway-Swisher Biological Station outside Gainesville, focusing on northeast Florida;
• Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve; and
• the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership, focusing on the Panhandle.

1. More professionals are needed to provide more prescribed fire. The Conservancy employs the best trainers available to groom fire leaders, using classroom work and hot-'n-dirty field experience.
2. Support for fire from Florida's policy leaders is inconsistent. So the Conservancy works with agency directors and legislators to promote fire's benefits and improve management.
3. Some Florida residents - especially newcomers - are afraid of fire or concerned about smoke, and government and media representatives may be, as well. The Conservancy gives public presentations, informs the media and creates brochures and pamphlets.

The Nature Conservancyis the only nonprofit organization that is a National Wildfire Coordinating Group partner, able to collaborate on controlled burns with federal, state and local agencies. The Conservancy also cooperates with other groups in Florida and the Caribbean.

Prescribed fire is a valuable tool to help preserve the diversity of life on Earth - now and for future generations. Have we kindled your interest?

WASHINGTON - Everglades restoration, the mom-and-apple-pie of Florida presidential politics, for many years has provided a lush backdrop for candidates to showcase their stewardship of the environment.

This year President Barack Obama and his promoters are claiming bragging rights for pouring hundreds of millions of federal dollars into Florida's sprawling marsh, a cause that could give his campaign an edge in the biggest swing state.

Republicans will not concede the issue, however. Spokesman Jeff Bechdel says Republican challenger Mitt Romney is committed to ensuring that the feds and Florida "work together to successfully complete restoration efforts in a fiscally responsible manner."

All this political posturing is bound to give Everglades restoration a boost, especially in an election year.

Taking advantage of the political momentum, environmentalists are looking ahead and pressing Congress to authorize plans for spending many more millions of dollars on the next big phase of restoration, including new reservoirs and a water-treatment preserve in western Broward County.

"There's not that much time left this year in Congress, but this is important enough that we will work hard to move it forward," said Julie Hill-Gabriel, Audubon Florida's director of Everglades Policy. "We have all these projects ready to go, but we will end up wasting money just waiting. Even if the bill does not pass, at the least it sends a message to folks in Congress that we need to move forward with these projects."

The Obama administration and Congress have been quite generous to projects already under way from the Kissimmee Valley to the Tamiami Trail, bringing $1.5 billion since 2009 to restore a more natural water flow, protect habitat and store water supplies for a growing population.

But the next wave of projects depends on congressional approval of a nationwide bill known as the Water Resources Development Act. Controversies over spending well beyond the Everglades have held up renewal of another WRDA since 2007, leaving many plans on hold.

To try to avoid delays, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, introduced a bill just before the August congressional recess to authorize spending on four Everglades projects already planned and ready for construction:

--Broward County Water Preserve Areas, to build two reservoirs and a wetlands buffer to capture and store rainwater in treatment marshes to reduce phosphorous and other pollutants from entering the Everglades.

--C-111 Spreader Canal, to spread water in wide sheets instead of channeling it into Florida Bay through a massive canal once planned to transport rockets.

--Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands, to restore freshwater flows into the bay and prevent saltwater intrusion, which would help re-establish shrimp and other shellfish.

--Caloosahatchee reservoir, to retain fresh water near the southwest Florida coast rather than send it out to sea and help protect rare and endangered species.

Obama promised to back restoration efforts when he campaigned in Florida in 2008, and he and Congress have followed through with funding for the 'Glades even while trying to scale back federal spending elsewhere.

"The president has every reason to remind people of what he's done for the Everglades. He has made it a priority for his administration," said Eric Draper, executive director of Florida Audubon.

An Obama spokesman would not disclose plans or tactics but said the president will campaign on his accomplishments, including Everglades restoration. Environmentalists expect him to show up in or near the 'Glades, which would follow a long tradition.

In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton pledged to restore a natural waterflow to save the shrinking River of Grass. Republican challenger Bob Dole took a helicopter tour over the land of gators and crocodiles. Not coincidentally, Congress that year tucked $300 million of Everglades money into a farm bill.

"That was clearly the result of presidential politics," Draper said. "Likewise in 2000, the Everglades contributed to Al Gore's defeat."

At that time, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader drew votes from environmentalists who criticized Democratic candidate Gore for refusing to oppose plans for a regional airport at Homestead. Critics feared a major airport expansion would encroach on the Everglades.

The airport was never built, and Gore lost to RepublicanGeorge W. Bushby 537 votes in Florida.

"I don't know what Romney does with the Everglades this year if his platform is to have less government," Draper said. "Well, Everglades restoration is the government. You can't restore it without government intervention."

The Everglades nevertheless are a powerful environmental symbol for both parties. Even critics say restoration plans provide an excellent political prop.

"It's sold as Everglades restoration to save the environment. The reality is something else," said George Gonzalez, a political scientist at the University of Miami, who thinks these projects mainly provide water storage to allow urban growth. "But coming down here to the Everglades represents a great photo-op, and candidates can stress their environmental credentials. It's a lot easier to talk about the Everglades than about global warming, where there's total failure."

Others see the politicking as a welcome balm of bipartisanship during a contentious time.

"It brings both sides together," said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive of the Everglades Foundation and former chief of staff to former Gov. Charlie Crist. "It's an opportunity, and we need to take advantage of it."

Wgibson@Tribune.com, 202-824-8256

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