Florida to bridge together broken habitat with wildlife corridors

Much of Florida's wildlife habitat has been fractured by development. A new bill promises to help stitch some of it back together.

Mary Katherine Moore

Much of Florida’s wildlife habitat has been fractured by development. A new bill promises to help stitch some of it back together.

This April, Environment Florida celebrated the unanimous passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which earmarks $300 million for “wildlife corridors.” The corridors offer a lifeline to wildlife, including the fewer than 130 endangered Florida panthers. Through overpasses, lowered fences and strips of connective land, wildlife corridors provide access to whole habitats and repair some of the damage done to wildlife by the division and fragmentation of critical lands.

“When an animal’s home is sliced in half, it loses access to food and breeding grounds,” said Conservation Campaign Advocate Alex Peterson. “Development has left wildlife with broken homes, but if we stitch habitats back together, we can do a lot more to protect our most vulnerable species.”

Environment Florida now calls on Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign the bill, which would take effect in July, into law.

Read more about the bill.

Learn more about our Save America’s Wildlife campaign.

Photo: Wildlife corridors will protect the surviving Florida panther, keeping them from becoming isolated and inbred. Credit: Everglades NPS via Flickr, Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Mary Katherine Moore