6:30pm: Refreshments
7-8pm: Speaker, Q&A
Python Management in the Florida Everglades
The invasive Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) population continues to persist and expand within the Everglades and surrounding natural areas causing precipitous declines in native wildlife populations. Limited control options led agencies to seek innovative methods to increase removal efforts. In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began a collaboration to develop independent, but parallel, incentivized python removal programs. The objectives of both programs are to deploy experienced python removal experts to specific areas and compensate them for conducting surveys, while collecting search effort data and humanely removing as many pythons as possible from public lands. These programs have resulted in the removal of over 20,000 Burmese pythons, placing them among the most successful management strategies available in terms of both removals and cost effectiveness. While the contractor programs alone may not be a sufficient control tool for Burmese pythons across the Everglades landscape, they are positioned to be an important component of the broader long-term solution.
This presentation will provide an overview of the Everglades python invasion, the efforts to contain it, along with the advantages and limitations of the contractor approach with a focus on SFWMD’s Python Elimination Program.
About the Speaker:
Mike Kirkland is the Lead Invasive Animal Biologist for the South Florida Water Management District with an area of responsibility covering 16 counties. He is the principal developer and manager of the Python Elimination Program, which is the most successful management strategy in the history of python invasion. Mike is a convening member and contributing author to the Florida Python Control Plan, contract manager for the University of Florida’s Everglades Invasive Reptile and Amphibian Monitoring Program, Steering Committee Member of the Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, and Panel Member for the FWC Nonnative Fish and Wildlife Technical Assistant Group (TAG). Mike has been working on Everglades restoration projects for the last 20 years, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a Minor in Chemistry, and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Policy and Management, where he graduated at the top of his class (summa cum laude).
