Saving our wild Florida is imperative to keeping what we love about the Nature Coast – coastal estuaries, wide open spaces, parks, preserves, farms and ranches – alive and available for us to enjoy now while conserving these lands for our children and grandchildren.

As NatureCoaster’s publisher, I am passionate about connecting you with the beauty and energy of our forests, springs, fields and dreams through the written word and images. I hope that this will inspire you to get out and experience the magic of being in nature for yourself.

While many of our readers, contributors, and partners work toward this goal, one organization stands out as a leader in the cause: the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation.

It all started with a Biologist and a Bear

At the onset of the breeding season in May 2010, a two-year-old male Florida black bear known as M34 began his journey from the south-central Florida oak scrub, across swamps, pine forests, and palmetto thickets in search of a mate, amidst central Florida’s development.

M34’s nearly 500-mile roundtrip made Joe Guthrie notice. Joe is a wildlife biologist who caught and tagged the young bear in 2009. Joe wondered how wildlife could move through the myriad of roads, fences, and other human development that fragmented the little bear’s environment.

A Conservationist, Photographer, and Filmmaker Joined the Movement

In 2012, Joe joined Mallory Lykes-Dimmitt, a conservationist, Carlton Ward, a photographer, and Elam Stoltzfus, a filmmaker for a four-person expedition to experience a 100-day, 1000-mile journey that wildlife would need to traverse to get from the Everglades to Georgia’s Okefenokee swamp. This journey was shared by millions in the film, “The Florida Wildlife Corridor: Everglades to Okeefenokee.

Two years later, a second film was made called, “The Forgotten Coast: Return to Wild Florida,” with the same premise of experiencing the challenges of traversing wild lands while skirting human development. This film highlighted Florida’s west coast, including our Nature Coast.

The films were shown in parks, at community gatherings, and eventually, they were aired on WTBS, Tampa’s Public television channel, and then nationally on public television. You can watch them on YouTube any time, and the fantastic visuals along with the simple message resonated with audiences.

More films were made. Some were under two minutes, some twenty minutes, but all contained the same message, “We have an important mission and you can be a part of it.” The goal of encouraging people to get out and use the corridor became a part of the messaging.

NatureCoaster Assists in a Small Florida Wildlife Corridor Film

In 2017, I worked with the Florida Wildlife Corridor on a very short film about the tiny black bear population that is isolated in the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge.

The film was created to help communicate to our legislators about the importance of funding critical linkages to open space. I thought I would be writing and it turned out I was assisting in connecting the organization with local organizations who would be able to help in locations and such.

I also manned the table at the film’s screening at the Valerie Theatre in Inverness when a volunteer didn’t show up as expected.

It wasn’t a high-paying or glamorous gig, but I learned so much about how groups can work together to influence those who have the power to make change. I learned about how little things influence big decisions, and I learned how our Nature Coast community unites behind a cause.

Art is Valuable in Communication

Another reason I believe the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation has made such progress is its recognition of the value of art in communication. A mural campaign has been initiated, with two of those connecting murals in our local communities: Crystal River and Brooksville. “The murals help to connect us with the Corridor,” explains Mallory Lykes-Dimmitt, the Foundation’s CEO.

2021 Brings The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act

Several years later, after decades of work from conservationists, scientists, politicians, and many others, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law following unanimous bipartisan support by the Florida legislature on June 29, 2021. This act provided funding for the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, which held its first summit in September of 2022.

Representatives from several land trusts, conservation organizations, the Florida Department of Transportation, legislators, scientists, ranchers, and data scientists gathered to chart a path forward.

One of the things that I have really admired about the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation is its attitude that everyone, including businesses, governments, scientists, developers, ranchers and farmers, and community groups want to be part of the solution. This has encouraged large-scale solutions with buy-ins from diverse groups, making a stronger conservation movement.

By Working Together, We Can Find Solutions

I was invited to the first Florida Wildlife Corridor Summit in Orlando in 2022. At this inaugural event, I rubbed elbows with a diverse group of nature lovers committed to working together to manage Florida’s massive development activity to preserve contiguous green space for our State’s diverse flora and fauna – and humans – to not only survive but thrive.

Multi-generational ranchers, subdivision designers and developers, cinematographers, and artists joined land trust and nature preserve managers, conservationists, biologists, map makers, State legislators, and me. What did we all have in common? A desire to preserve a contiguous tract of 18 million acres of Florida land to provide a safe corridor for our keystone species, like panthers and black bears, and for our lesser known, but just as valuable species like the Florida leafwing butterfly to thrive.

It is this organization’s attitude that everyone wants to help that I believe has made them so successful. At times, they seemed to be stepping on other conservation organizations in Florida, but this was not their goal.

As of 2019, there were 25 active conservation land trusts, local and regional, in the State of Florida. Each is doing a valuable service by protecting their local lands from development. Still, there is a lot of human development between the conserved lands, which is where wildlife often dies while attempting to move from one protected area to another.

Over time, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation worked hard to become a unifying organization, championing each land trust’s success vocally, and giving Florida’s conservation movement a place to show what we can do to the whole world!

According to the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, we are a little over halfway there.

About the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation partners with organizations and individuals nearly as diverse as the wildlife it aims to protect. By cultivating awareness and action through film, photography, painting, drawing, mapping, storytelling, and expeditions the Florida Corridor Wildlife Foundation works to attain its mission of permanently connecting, protecting, and restoring the 18 million acres that make up this magical and mystical path through Florida.

Our State’s long-term economic prosperity and quality of life depend on a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. Using a science-based approach, on-the-ground knowledge of the Corridor, and the support of thousands of followers throughout the state and nation, this organization works to identify and elevate the most pressing threats and opportunities facing the Corridor.

I strongly encourage you to get involved.

To learn more, visit floridawildlifecorridor.org or follow the organization on Facebook and Instagram.