POINCIANA, Fla. – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially announced the signing of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act.
The Governor made the announcement at a press conference at the Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve, Monday morning.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, SB 976, was signed into law after receiving unanimous bi-partisan approval in the Florida House and Senate.
The legislation took effect on July 1.
The mission of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Coalition is “to champion a collaborative campaign to connect, protect, and restore the Florida Wildlife Corridor.”
Why the need for a Florida Wildlife Corridor?
After decades of research, it has been determined there is a great need for landscape-scale conservation approaches, specifically corridors, to address habitat loss and fragmentation across Florida.
To support these efforts, the Florida Leads budget will dedicate $300 million specifically to protect the Florida Wildlife Corridor. This funding is in addition to the $100 million that is allocated to the Florida Forever program.
“Today we celebrate another milestone of this year’s legislative session, which was a resounding success for Florida’s environment,” said DeSantis. “I thank the legislature for their support of this landmark legislation that will conserve critical natural ecosystems and working landscapes for the protection of Florida’s unique and diverse wildlife while preserving Florida’s green spaces for generations to come.”
According to the Florida Wildlife Corridor Coalition, they “seek to elevate the tremendous work of our many conservation partners, combining conservation science with compelling imagery and rich storytelling to inspire the protection of our treasured landscape to support sustainable ecosystems and economies.”
The Florida Wildlife Corridor encompasses 17.9 million acres – 10.1 million acres that are already protected, and 7.8 million acres of remaining opportunity areas that do not have conservation status.