FLORIDA NATIVE SPECIES
Florida is home to a remarkable array of endemic species—plants and animals found nowhere else in the world—such as the Florida scrub jay, Florida panther, and Florida loosestrife. These species rely on specific habitats unique to Florida’s landscape, along with expansive areas migratory areas to roam and breed. Saving land protects native plants and animals by safeguarding the places they need to survive.
As forests, wetlands, and grasslands are cleared or degraded, countless species lose the habitat they need. Many are already at risk of extinction; in fact, Florida’s State Wildlife Action Plan identifies 690 Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Protecting, enhancing, and restoring land is essential to support biodiversity and ensure that imperiled species have a future.
LANDSCAPE-SCALE CONSERVATION
While every acre conserved may provide shelter, food, and breeding areas, our strategy focuses on landscape-scale conservation through the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Large, connected landscapes are functional landscapes. They support natural processes like storage of rainfall and floodwaters, and they permit the implementation of rejuvenating prescribed fires. Within the context of wildlife habitat, connected landscapes mean that wildlife can move through the landscape, enabling them to locate genetically unrelated breeding partners, to gather scattered resources to complete complex life cycles, to flee localized disasters, and to respond to changing climatic conditions.
Within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, we also work to enhance and restore degraded lands, in order to optimize wildlife habitat. Practices such as prescribed fire and reforestation transform degraded landscapes into quality wildlife habitat. Additional emphasis is placed on preserving and restoring imperiled habitat patches within the wider corridor, for rare species such as Florida scrub jay.
