By Amber Crooks, Senior Environmental Policy Advisor, Conservancy of Southwest Florida
On May 21, 2025, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted to forward new Florida black bear hunt rules with the anticipation of a hunt later this year. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida was one of 170 speakers who spoke about the proposed Florida black bear hunt. We raised questions, both in our written comments and in front of the Commissioners, that addressed three major areas of concern for the Conservancy:
- The need to focus agency efforts on human-bear conflict reduction, which is achieved through managing trash and other food attractants.
- Concerns of how a hunt in the South Unit (which includes Lee, Collier, and Hendry counties) could diminish the dispersal of Florida black bears into the severely-imperiled South-Central bear unit (just northward in Glades and Highlands counties), which is at risk of local extinction.
- Making a reasonable request for FWC’s hunt decision to wait on pending bear population estimate research, which will be complete soon. Good management decisions are based on good and timely data.
The FWC Commissioners are anticipated to make a final decision at their next meeting held on August 13-14, 2025 in Havana, Florida. Commissioners can request changes to the proposed hunt rules, which may necessitate additional meetings.
The Conservancy will continue to advocate for our Florida black bears, particularly in light of the subpopulation which is dwindling within the Fisheating Creek and Lake Wales ecosystem. Read more about our work here.