Q&A on Future of Fla. Wildlife TAMPA (WUSF) - If Florida continues to grow at its current pace, our population is projected to double to 36 million people in the next 50 years. The amount of urbanized land is also expected to double - a paving over of seven million acres.

A new report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission looks at how continued development could fragment the habitat for the state's population of black bears, gopher tortoises - and a host of creatures that are found nowhere else. WUSF's Steve Newborn interviews Tom Eason, the commission's conservation initiatives coordinator, who hopes the report is a way of fending off an environmental catastrophe.

The report can be found at: http://www.myfwc.com/wildlife2060/ © Copyright 2009, WUSF