Saving space for animals in Florida: State sets aside 20,000 acres for wildlife corridor

Several large tracts of land in Florida have been set aside for conservation in critical wildlife habitat zones in Hardee, Hendry, Indian River, Leon, Okeechobee and Santa Rosa counties.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet approved Florida Forever land acquisitions and conservation easements that will protect 20,000 acres of Florida’s fragile natural environments.

Almost all the acres are within the newly designated Florida Wildlife Corridor, which is designed to protect the Florida panther, black bear and gopher tortoises.

Many wildlife habitats range along the length of Florida’s 450-mile peninsula, which has become segmented by urban development and highway borders. The role of The Florida Wildlife Corridor is to connect these habitats through conservation land and protect the state’s water resources.

With a thousand people moving to Florida each day, it is increasingly important to save a physical pathway for the movement of animals from the Florida Bay to Georgia and Alabama.

The newly acquired land will be managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

One of the land parcels the governor and Cabinet agreed to acquire is a conservation easement over 6,665 acres within the Kissimmee-St. Johns River Florida Forever project. This area is important for the Florida grasshopper sparrow, sandhill crane, mottled duck, wood stork, crested caracara and other imperiled wildlife species.

The North Florida Land Trust was instrumental in helping secure an earlier purchase to expand the wildlife corridor in 2020 that included areas around Camp Blanding. It includes a stretch of land called the O2O, from the Osceola National Forest to the Ocala National Forest, which sets aside 3,562 acres of conservation easement. The property is home to at least 45 reptile and amphibian species, including gopher tortoises and the largest population of spotted turtles in Florida.