About Us
OUR CAMPAIGN
Save Our Pine Rocklands is a campaign to protect, restore, and reestablish critically endangered pine rockland ecosystems in South Florida. Our goal is to create a comprehensive conservation framework that fosters local, state, and federal cooperation to restore, manage, and protect pine rocklands for future generations.
To reach our goal, our efforts are focused on the remaining fragments of pine rocklands in urban Miami-Dade County, which are more secure from rising sea levels driven by climate change but still under imminent threat from development in environmentally sensitive areas and insufficient resources dedicated to management.
We believe that securing and maintaining pine rocklands in urban Miami-Dade County offers many important benefits, including:
- Endangered species recovery: Pine rocklands support 23 species protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, along with many other imperiled species. Protecting and restoring pine rocklands would help these species recover, with the goal of securing them to the point where they no longer require the protections of the Endangered Species Act.
- Urban storm and heat resiliency: Reforesting native pine rocklands aligns with Miami-Dade County’s goal of creating robust, resilient, and equitable tree cover across the county, provides storm resiliency, and counteracts the “urban heat-island” effect created by large areas of concrete and asphalt.
- Immersive education opportunities: Maintaining pine rocklands preserves unique opportunities for Miami’s students to visit green spaces in their own communities where they can learn about endangered species.
- Community recreation: Pine rocklands can and do serve as places for recreation and rest for Miamians.
- Sustainable tourism: With more investment in raising their profile, pine rocklands can serve as an attraction for sustainable ecotourism because of their rarity and uniqueness, drawing in visitors who will patronize local businesses.
- Cultural and natural legacy: Pine rocklands are part of our natural legacy and hold significance for Florida’s Native people.
