Public lands; arthropod control.

(1) It is declared to be in the best interests of the state that certain environmentally sensitive and biologically highly productive public lands owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof where arthropods incubate, hatch, or occur so as to constitute a public health or nuisance problem may be subject to arthropod control measures. Such measures shall be approved by the department and performed by the local arthropod control agency consistent with a public lands control plan as described in subsection (2). The methods employed shall be the minimum necessary and economically feasible to abate a public health or nuisance problem and impose the least hazard to fish, wildlife, and other natural resources protected or managed in such areas.

(2)(a) The department shall adopt rules to specify procedures for development and promulgation of a public lands control plan. Such rules shall require that all land management agencies identify environmentally sensitive and biologically highly productive public lands under their control which shall be subject to a public lands control plan. Such public lands shall be identified to the department and the local arthropod control agency along with a description of the purpose for which the lands are managed. All public lands not identified by a land management agency as environmentally sensitive or biologically highly productive shall be subject to the local arthropod control agency’s general work plan.

(b) The local arthropod control agency shall propose a public lands control plan to the land management agency and the department which shall become effective upon mutual agreement of the land management agency and the arthropod control agency.

(c) If the land management agency and the local arthropod control agency are unable to agree on a public lands control plan, the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control may recommend a control plan to the department, which shall propose a recommended public lands control plan. If the land management agency and the local arthropod control agency fail to agree to such recommended public lands control plan within 30 days of the rendering of such plan, either agency may petition the Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission to determine whether the proposed control plan employs methods which are the minimum necessary and economically feasible to abate a public health or nuisance problem and which impose the least hazard to fish, wildlife, and other natural resources protected or managed in such areas. Unless both parties waive their right to a hearing, the Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission shall direct a hearing officer to hold a hearing within the jurisdiction of the local arthropod control agency pursuant to the provisions of ss. 120.569 and 120.57 and submit a recommended order. The commission shall, within 60 days of receipt of the recommended order, issue a final order adopting a public lands control plan. Consistent with s. 120.57(1)(l), the commission may adopt or modify the proposed control plan. The commission shall adopt rules on the conduct of appeals before the commission.

(d) If the adopted public lands control plan provides that the local arthropod control agency shall perform no arthropod control on designated parcels of publicly owned property within the local arthropod control agency’s jurisdiction, the local arthropod control agency shall be deemed to be relieved of responsibility for arthropod control on that parcel for the effective period of the adopted public lands control plan.

(e) Until a public lands control plan pertaining to lands identified by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund as environmentally sensitive and biologically highly productive is adopted, arthropod control activities shall be conducted on such lands only with the consent of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund.