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After the Florida House moved a water bill through on Thursday – against some environmentalists wishes – lawmakers are now focusing on land. As Matt Galka tells us, legislators got an update of what’s available throughout the state.

Environmental groups have been preaching that Amendment 1 which passed last November was intended to allow the state to purchase and conserve lands. Lawmakers got an update from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection on what’s out there.

“We need to make sure that we have the information gathered together. Why go buy a bunch of ranch land that is in an area that’s a low priority for development when we can instead spend that money buying a priority spring?” said State Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Matt Caldwell.

The tug-of-war over what exactly the $750 million dollars of Amendment one money should be spent on will continue throughout session. And besides just land conservation, some are calling for money to be spent taking care of invasive species problems.

“We don’t manage the national park, we don’t manage the Big Cypress Preserve, we manage our lands which abut. There’s no doubt that we’ve got real problems, what’s the point of saving the Everglades if its taken over by pythons and other animals. There’s nothing left for anybody to enjoy at that point,” said Rep. Caldwell.

The DEP didn’t get into specifics about what should and shouldn’t be purchased with the money, but they said bottom line: it needs to be maintained

“We do want to make sure our state lands are managed properly. I believe there’s still some key parcells that we should acquire as well, and we need to manage our lands and make sure the public has access to those,” said Division of State Lands Director Kelley Boree.

Committee Chairman Matt Caldwell said he’d like to see a land bill in the same vein as the comprehensive water bill the House passed earlier this week.