Nearly 20,000 protected acres added to Florida Wildlife Corridor

The Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved funding for the permanent conservation of 19,897 more acres in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, including one parcel nearby: Horse Creek Ranch in DeSoto County.

• The land was conserved using funds from the Florida Forever program and the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.

Background: State officials and conservationists are trying to conserve land within the corridor's green network of wilderness that snakes the length of the state, which also includes pastures, citrus groves and working ranch lands.

Details: Horse Creek Ranch in the Peace River Valley contains mesic hammock, bottomland forest, scrubby flatwoods, and blackwater streams, among other natural features.

• Two parcels — Wolfe Creek Forest, and St. Joe Timberland, near Tate's Hell State Forest — will become public lands, expanding adjacent state forests.