The importance of the Wildlife Corridor
By Rodger Williams | Ft Meyers Florida Weekly
Environmentalist, surveyor, a veteran of the Coast Guard, champion of the Big Cypress who helped it be designated a national preserve, and longtime friend of the late Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Capt. Franklin Adams offers this concise analysis of the Florida Wildlife Corridor:
“The Florida Wildlife Corridor is a vitally important and needed effort to save and protect rapidly disappearing habitat that provides connectivity for wildlife throughout remaining wild Florida. In particular, large roaming critters like black bears and panthers. With the continuing construction and encroachment of highways and subdivisions, the opportunities to protect these needed habitat corridors is severely threatened.
“The Florida Legislature voted to provide the needed funding to help acquire habitat lands, including privately owned working farms and ranches, in 2021.
“Many of these farms and ranches when properly managed contain some of the best remaining habitat in Florida. These remaining rural lands can be acquired by outright purchase from willing sellers or by conservation easements placed on the lands. These conservation easements guarantee that the farmer or rancher can continue to farm or ranch while agreeing that no new disturbance to land or waters will occur.
“It is in the best interest of all of us that we ensure that the funding remains available to acquire and protect these areas. Otherwise, we will lose them and all the benefits that they provide to Floridians, along with the wildlife that depends on them.
“Here’s a little bit of corridor history: On Feb. 2, 2012, at the invitation of Carlton Ward Jr., I joined the Expedition trekkers in the Big Cypress for a day. It is Carlton who has been the driving force of the origin of the Florida Wildlife Corridor idea since 2010. The trekkers had run out of freshwater and so Carlton asked if I would bring five gallons out for them, which I gladly did. It rained on us, and it was a welcome cooling experience.”
Ward provided the photo taken that day. ¦
The importance of the Wildlife Corridor - Fort Myers Florida Weekly