EDITORIAL: Wildlife corridor continues to make progress

By Staff Writer | Charlotte Sun 

It was 1999 when David Carr planted the seed for what people now hope will be a corridor from northern Florida to the Keys to provide a swath of land that will be safe and nurturing for Florida's wildlife.

Conservation Florida was founded that year by Carr as the Conservation Trust for Florida.

The vision was to grow a trust that would focus on protecting Florida's rural lands, which included farms, ranches and timber lands keeping them in their natural state to provide habitat for Florida's wildlife and preserve as much of the state in its native environment as possible.

That idea grew when Larry Harris and Reed Noss at the University of Florida in the 1980s brought about the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN) a conservation plan that provided the footprint for the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Dr. Tom Hoctor led an update of the FEGN in 2021 using a database to identify and prioritize a connected wildlife corridor, consisting of public and private conservation lands. Much of that land was purchased as a conservation easement that allows landowners to protect their lands from development long after they are gone.

We have long supported the idea of the corridor. It could be a last resort for saving wildlife like the Florida panther.

Mallory Dimmitt, CEO of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, recently emailed supporters to report some of the progress made in 2025 toward the long-term goal of a corridor the length of the state.

In her report she listed these highlights of the past year, thanking those whose donations and other support have helped pave the way for the corridor's eventual completion:

• 162,706 acres within and adjacent to the Florida Wildlife Corridor were approved for conservation through the Florida Forever and Rural and Family Lands Protection Programs. 
• Florida Wildlife Corridor Day was recognized at the State Capitol with our partners, marking the 15-year anniversary of the Corridor campaign.
• Convened local experts for four Mind the Gaps Workshops focused on urgent and vulnerable gaps in the Corridor: Flagler–Volusia–Lake, The Last Green Thread, Collier–Lee–Hendry, and Apalachee.
• United the Florida conservation community at the Corridor Connect 2025 Summit, hosted within The Last Green Thread at Disney's Coronado Springs.
• Hosted six exhibitions at our Wild Space Gallery showcasing art inspired by the natural world: Natural Selection; Class Act; Pond Apples & Sawgrass: Nature Reframed; 125 Years of Audubon in Florida; Blazing the Trail: From Strand to Slough; You Are Here/Jeff Ripple: Enduring Light.
• Brought six murals to life across the state: three in White Springs, one each in Lakeland and Monticello, and a traveling mural.
• Screened three documentaries at the Tampa Theatre in collaboration with Wildpath, highlighting Florida's wild landscapes and those protecting them.Grew the Corridor Foundation to 23 full-time staff members.
• Raised over $101,000 for advancing Corridor conservation on Giving Tuesday.
• Closed the year with the digital release of our seventh expedition film, "Patchwork Wild: Stitching the Last Strands" and announced our 2026 expedition taking place in the Apalachee region outside of Tallahassee.
  
  Progress reported by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation and the continued support by the state through its program to buy up conservation easements are bound to, some day soon, complete a statewide wildlife corridor we should be proud of.