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In 2001, approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District increased the total mitigation acreage of Big Cypress Mitigation Bank to 2,577 acres of environmentally sensitive lands restored to their natural wetland condition. The site has been designated as a “regionally significant asset" by the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council. The Bank joins the US Big Cypress National preserve and has been classified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a Priority One Panther Habitat, emphasizing its importance to the highly endangered Florida Panther. Recently a young female panther was reintroduced into the wild on the bank site by members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
To date, Big Cypress has planted over 500,000 hydric pine trees and 300,000 cypress trees as part of its master restoration plan. Of the 1,600 + credits permitted, a total of just over 400 freshwater wetland mitigation credits has been earned and released.
Big Cypress Mitigation Bank is the product of restoring 4 square miles of citrus grove to its natural state after 50 years of intensive agricultural activity. The project is in an area utilized by 16 of 18 rare species according to “Closing the gaps in Florida’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation System” (Ref:: Cox, J., R. Kautz, M. MacLaughlin, and T. Gilbert. 1994.)
Restoration of the Big Cypress site provides critical habitat for endangered wildlife, including Florida Panther, Everglades Snail Kite, Wood Stork, Florida Black Bear, American Alligator, Swallow-Tailed Kite, and various other species of wading birds.
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