March 19, 2024

Celebrating the establishment of the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area

Last week, the Department of the Interior announced the establishment of the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area. The conservation community celebrated the newest unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System by gathering at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge where Secretary Deb Haaland made the announcement alongside Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams.

The conservation area covers a total of four million acres, connecting crucial wildlife corridors, enhancing outdoor recreation access to the public and climate resiliency in southwest Florida. Conservation areas are national wildlife refuges that consist primarily or entirely of conservation easements on private lands in cooperation with landowners.

Read more about the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Photo of Blue Head Ranch by George McKenzie Jr. for Wildpath

1,285 acre conservation easement in Highlands County now permanently protected

The Lightsey Family Ranch, a 1,285 acre conservation easement in Highlands County and within the Florida Wildlife Corridor recently closed and is now permanently protected!

Thank you to the landowners, Lee & Tracy Lightsey, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Conservation Florida for coming together to make this easement possible.

The ranch is part of the Blue Head Ranch Florida Forever Project and located within the Fisheating Creek watershed. The property protects water quality and provides connected habitat essential for the recovery of endangered species such as the Florida panther.

Learn more about each property becoming protected in the Florida Wildlife Corridor from our website.

Planning to Protect the Florida Wildlife Corridor free online seminar

To share workable planning strategies, the University of Florida's Center for Landscape Conservation Planning and 1000 Friends of Florida are partnering on a free series of four two-hour online webinars to outline strategies to support “corridor-compatible communities".

Register for the webinar here.