Jul 1, 2022 - News

Breaking down the Florida Wildlife Corridor

An aerial view of Alico Devil's Garden at sunset.

Alico Devil's Garden. Photo courtesy of Carlton Ward Jr./Florida Wild

This week marks a year since the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law.

  • The law incentivized the preservation of a wild, green, vascular web stretching from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp, securing access to habitats for wide-ranging and roaming wildlife, including the endangered Florida panther.

A year later: Here's a look at the corridor, by the numbers:

  • 18 million acres identified in the corridor
  • 9.6 million acres of protected land pre-Wildlife Corridor Act
  • 8.1 million acres unprotected
  • 36,445 acres protected since the act became law
  • 14 land parcels conserved
  • 1,300 rivers and streams in and around the corridor
  • 75 state parks in the corridor
  • 32 state forests in the corridor
  • 567 imperiled plants in and around the corridor
  • 131 imperiled animals in and around the corridor, including the gopher tortoise, manatee, burrowing owl and swallow-tailed kite
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