Development and conservation in South Florida: Integrating ecological and economic values for decision support

There are intense development pressures in the agricultural lands outside of the Urban Development Boundary in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Decisions whether to allow development, to preserve current lands uses, or to restore historical habitats are being made and will continue to be made in the foreseeable future. These decisions are expected to have significant effects on both local and regional ecological values, as well as future local and regional economic values. The U.S. Geological Survey, partnering with the U.S. Park Service and researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Pennsylvania, has developed a prototype for a web-enabled geospatial information tool (the South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model, EPM) that assesses the ecological and economic values at stake in these upcoming decisions. The EPM integrates information relevant to ecological criteria, including biodiversity potential, focus and threatened & endangered species protection, rare and unique habitats protection, water quality buffer potential, measures of desirable landscape patterns and habitat contiguity, and habitat restoration potential, with information relevant to economic land value and development patterns. While the underlying models will continue to be refined, users are currently able to explore different land use/land cover scenarios, including restoration and development scenarios, and modify parameters of the ecological value and economic value models to test assumptions and explore tradeoffs between priorities. An important potential future use of the tool is for communicating DOI interests and priorities in ecologically sensitive areas that face development pressure.