Conservation in Action

By Rodger Williams | Ft Meyers Florida Weekly 

Reflecting on what he’d helped create starting about 2010, the feted environmental photographer Carlton Ward Jr. once made a simple connection between the past and the future in describing the unique, 1,000-mile-long Florida Wildlife Corridor.

At the time, he was celebrating the extraordinary 20,000- acre Archbold Biological Station in central Florida — half working cattle ranch and half research station, itself a part of the corridor.

“Geographically speaking, Archbold is an island in time,” Ward told Florida Weekly. “It’s at once a remnant of this most ancient Florida, and at the same time a place of hope for protecting and reconnecting other remnants of Florida throughout the state.”

That reconnection — the Florida Wildlife Corridor — has become a rare, if not unique, icon representing the way things should work when people see a common and essential goal and seek it together, according to politicians and environmentalists alike.

“The Florida Wildlife Corridor has been such a game-changer because it’s captured the imagination and enthusiasm of almost all Floridians — the people and the politicians of both parties,” said Julie Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida. “It characterizes land conservation in a narrative that inspires people and helps them quickly understand the importance and vision of what Florida has been working towards for decades.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conservation photographer Carlton Ward, above, and Archbold’s Joe Guthrie traveled 1,000 miles of the Florida Wildlife Corridor through high and dry or swamp and soaked, defining a future with remnants of the wild past.

There is a long and enviable history of land conservation in the Sunshine State, and the corridor may represent the cumulative best of that precedent, its apologists say.

Using federal, state and local public lands — along with private ranches and farmland where owners sell development rights to the government but keep their land to raise cows or crops in perpetuity — the Florida Wildlife Corridor aims eventually to secure almost 18 million acres of contiguous public and private lands with conservation protections, from Florida Bay in the south to the Florida Alabama border in the northwestern Panhandle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a combination of wild natural lands and agricultural lands, both public and private, the Florida Wildlife Corridor is a unique example of bipartisan commitment to Florida’s future. Almost any of the more than 4,000 native species of wildlife may be found along its route. ROGER WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

So far, said Traci Deen, president and CEO of Conservation Florida, “about 10 million acres is already protected, and the corridor is both a natural and an agricultural landscape. We could not have an impactful Wildlife Corridor without agricultural land.

“Not only does it benefit the wide-roaming species like the Florida panther and black bear, which 100% need a safe way to traverse the state, but beyond that, these lands contribute to the health of our drinking water, our rivers and lakes, our freshwater aquifers — everything that supports ecotourism and our local economies. And when you look at agricultural landscapes, they’re also feeding America. So, it plays many important roles.”

Florida ranks as one of the most biodiverse regions of North America, home to 4,368 animal species and 3,038 species of vascular plants, according to the Nature Conservancy. The corridor, with lands selected based on science and the data that indicates their value, protects and connects most of those while also protecting Florida’s water, wildlife and agriculture, Deen noted.

“Land conservation affects every single Floridian,” she added. “If you love our beaches, our springs, if you drink our water, if you breathe our air, if you enjoy scenic landscapes when you drive, if you eat fresh-from-Florida food, then you care about conservation.”

That’s been proven true not just for taxpayers and voters but for politicians.

Historic approval

“This is embraced by politicians, as well,” Deen said. “Over the years, we’ve really commended the Legislature and the Cabinet — the governor, the commissioner of agriculture, our attorney general and our chief financial officer with both the House of Representatives and the Florida Senate. They’ve all been extremely supportive of funding land conservation.”

If the scope of such praise seems unprecedented, there appears to be good reason for it.

Just last month, at the state level, said Wraithmell, “they accelerated land acquisition. The governor and Cabinet approved a huge, multi-site purchase, the biggest one-time approval in history.”

They used the Florida Forever program, which is designed to buy natural (not agricultural) lands, to acquire $317 million worth of natural resources, as detailed in an announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office.

“Through the Florida Forever Program, $111 million will secure 24,113 acres of critical lands, including seven key acquisitions that will connect vital conservation areas, with five located within the Florida Wildlife Corridor,” officials announced. “Additionally, $206 million was approved to preserve over 62,000 acres of Florida farms and ranches through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.”

Among the purchases are the following:

• 12,243 acres in the Bear Creek Forest in Bay County, which will create the newest state forest;

• 5,910 acres as a conservation easement within the Coastal Headwaters Longleaf Forest in Santa Rosa County;

• 2,483 acres along the Upper Shoal River in Walton County;

• 1,335 acres within the Volusia Conservation Corridor in Volusia County;

• 1,265 acres within the Northeast Florida Timberlands and Watershed Reserve in Duval County;

• 765 acres in the Green Swamp, along with another 113 acres along Catfish Creek, both in Polk County.

The idea for the corridor came about in large part because of a single black bear, recalled Archbold’s large animal biologist, Joe Guthrie, who has walked, kayaked, bicycled and ridden horseback the entire 1,000-mile corridor with Carlton Ward — more than once.

“One bear led to the first expedition Carlton and I did in 2012,” he told Florida Weekly. “And it remained a theme across several of those long expeditions since 2012 — another 1,000 miles in 2015, and several expeditions of a week in length in 2018 and 2019, with a youth expedition in 2020.”

The bear was male, collared and tracked as M-34.

Bear budget

According to a map display at Archbold, it traveled “more than 500 miles from May through July in 2010. Crossing conservation lands and agricultural areas, he headed north from Sebring to I-4, back south down the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee, west toward Fort Myers, then back east close to Archbold.”

Data from the bear’s collar showed the scientists and trackers where conservation protections could help secure traveling routes or underpasses and decrease the risk of road mortality — wildlife corridors that would also assist such animals as bobcats, otters, panthers and deer.

In short, Guthrie said at the time, “these animals are capable of showing us the path ahead.”

It will be a path laid out in part with money, suggested Deen. The Legislature has funded the Rural and Family Land Program and Florida Forever at an encouraging $100 million a year each of the last two years — both support and add to the effectiveness of the corridor. And elected leaders passed a law requiring that level of funding at a minimum each year.

That will help prevent development on agricultural lands, either with easements, or by buying land outright, she said — but it may not be enough.

“In 2025, we would like to see the Rural and Family Land Program and Florida Forever funded at a significant level again,” said Deen. “We need the large numbers. Passage of those laws are indicators that our legislature is committed to continuing to fund the program significantly. That’s what we need if we’re going to try and keep pace with growth in our state.”

To do it, she said, “I would like to see each program funded at over $250 million.” ¦

Conservation in Action - Fort Myers Florida Weekly