The Tortoise and the Expressway: The Governance of Circulation and the Conflict over the Appropriation of Residential and Conservation Properties by the Osceola Parkway Extension

• Other Authors: Jones, Caitlin Erin (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Geography; Wildlife conservation; Transportation > Planning
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Fall_Jones_fsu_0071N_15598

Using the case of the Osceola Parkway Extension in Orange and Osceola Counties, this research examines how the legal geographies of expressway development and property rights claims intersect with gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) conservation efforts in Central Florida. Proposed and existing road infrastructure projects, such as the proposed Osceola Parkway Extension, continue to fragment gopher tortoise habitat in Florida. The Central Florida Expressway Authority rationalizes the road as a necessity, justifying appropriation of land for the parkway extension’s development. Thus, determining the route of the Osceola Parkway Extension has become the focus of road governance. The majority of the proposed road alignments for the extension transect Split Oak Forest and Wildlife Management Area, threatening the security of both the gopher tortoise population and gopher tortoise mitigation property within the forest. However, while the Central Florida Expressway Authority has jurisdiction over the governance of the road, it does not own the land needed to build it. This creates a relation between road governance and competing property rights, which then poses the question: what property rights must be ceded for right-of-way acquisition? Competing property rights holders have become enmeshed in the road governance process, as environmentalists seeking to protect conservation easements conflict with residential property owners. Thus, the mobilization of competing property rights claims structure the dialogue around road infrastructure encroachment onto conservation lands. How the competing values of suburban family homes and conservation easements, and the human and animal lives they support, are balanced will ultimately shape the road’s alignment. This suggests that legal and political conservation strategies need to be understood in dialogue with the governing rationalities of expressway and suburban development that continue to constitute enduring threats to the gopher tortoise and their local environments. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. === 2019 === November 8, 2019. === Circulation, Conservation, Expressway, Gopher Tortoise, Governance, Property === Includes bibliographical references. === Tyler McCreary, Professor Directing Thesis; Mabel Gergan, Committee Member; Ronald E. Doel, Committee Member.