She’s not a developer, business leader or government

official, but Ellen Lindblad stands on the front lines of Lee County’s smart

growth efforts. As the executive director for the CREW (Corkscrew Regional

Ecosystem Watershed) Land and Water Trust, Lindblad has the same mission as

other advocates of smart growth—to shape how the region grows while ensuring economicstyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> vitality, community character and

protection of natural resources.

Although her job is to acquire environmentally sensitive

land that is in jeopardy because of development, Lindblad believes that growth

will continue. “We don’t want to turn growth away, we want to keep it from

choking the area so people will still want to come here,” she explains.

CREW—the organization that protects the Corkscrew watershed,

which is comprised of 60,000 acres that straddle Lee and Collier counties—was

formed in 1989 in response to a drought. Wells were running dry and nothing was

coming out of taps in Bonita Springs.

Lands like the Corkscrew watershed are critical to the

region’s hydrology. The marshes hold waters during the rainy season, providing

natural flood control. They filter out pollutants, then drain water back into

the underground aquifers, from which we get our most affordable water. The more

the aquifers are drawn down, the deeper we must go for water—saltier water that

requires more treatment.

Around the same time as the drought, the South Florida Water

Management District found that several properties in eastern Lee and Collier

counties, which were still undeveloped, were part of a much larger picture—a

watershed that was still pretty much intact. The local population explosion was

pushing development to the north and west in Lee and Collier counties,

particularly along the coast. Not many builders were yet interested in the wet,

marshy areas farther east. Local leaders realized that the watershed needed to

be protected as one system, Lindblad says.

CREW Trust was formed to find public and private partners

who would buy and protect the Corkscrew watershed. Funding for land acquisition

came from Lee County, Big Cypress Basin in Collier County, the water management

district as well as state and federal monies. Others have become involved since

then, and about 25,000 acres have been acquired.

Nearly 15,000 of those acres have been purchased during

Lindblad’s tenure, estimates Lee County commissioner Ray Judah. “Ellen has

shown phenomenal leadership,” says Judah, who appointed Lindblad last year to

Lee County’s new smart growth committee.

Before taking the helm of CREW in 1992, Lindblad worked for

Lee County as a land acquisition agent. She and her husband moved to Southwest

Florida in 1986 from Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys, where she worked at

Newfound Harbor Marine Institute and had also worked as a real estate closer in

Key West.

A petite, energetic woman, Lindblad conveys conviction about

the land she’s protecting. “The visionary aspect of CREW was it started when

there was not much pressure or growth. It would have been easy for

commissioners to say ‘There’s nothing out there,’” she says. Instead, county

leaders helped start the acquisition process. Various public and private

entities own the protected lands, and the water management district maintains

them. Among the tracts the CREW Trust is now targeting is a north-south

corridor known as Camp Keais Strand that would link to Florida Panther National

Wildlife Refuge.

Smart growth could have a major impact on CREW Trust, and a

good one, Lindblad believes.

To many, the question of growth pits pro-growth developers

and businesses against no-growth environmental advocates. But Lindblad sees

those lines softening. Although there will always be extremists on either side,

she says, most acknowledge that growth will continue and that it must have some

direction and controls to make it sustainable. The challenge is finding the

balance that will keep the economy, environment and communities healthy, she

says. Achieving such a balance involves a spectrum of issues from open spaces

and water supplies to easing transportation.

Lindblad has protected environmentally sensitive land,

critical water supplies and habitat for wildlife such as Florida panthers and

black bears, Judah says. She’s also formed and promoted educational programs.

Her expertise in land acquisition and environmental studies helped her

establish a rapport with the South Florida Water Management District and county

officials. Lindblad currently is teaming up with the Conservancy of Southwest

Florida to lay the groundwork for a program in Collier County that would be

similar to Conservation 2020 in Lee County, in which voters agreed to a tax to

buy conservation lands.

As large tracts of lands for development become scarcer and

as growing population strains water resources, the pressures on the Corkscrew

Regional Ecosystem Watershed have increased. Because market demands and cost

efficiencies lead developers to target undeveloped lands rather than parcels in

existing communities, they’re now looking east of Interstate 75, where CREW

lands lie, Lindblad says.

One of the biggest challenges is the proposed extension of

County Road 951 as a north-south artery, possibly through environmentally

sensitive lands, although Lindblad believes that a good solution acceptable to

all sides is possible. She’s also watching additional development around

Florida Gulf Coast University, which was built on environmentally sensitive

lands amid controversy.

Organizations like CREW give Southwest Florida an edge over

other regions, Lindblad believes. For example, Florida’s east coast didn’t have

a chance to provide water connections and wildlife corridors before growth hit.

“I see CREW as being our future Central Park,” she says. “To have a large area

of green space in Southwest Florida that you don’t have on the east

coast—that’s going to keep us unique.”