A new project is bringing awareness, as well as technical and financial assistance to landowners in 11 counties across Florida’s Big Bend region .
The collaboration between Tall Timbers and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation aims to create a wider connection of private conserved lands and properties implementing conservation stewardship practices to ensure a swath of natural and rural working lands are managed and retained across the state.
“This is an exciting time for conservation in the state of Florida. Now more than ever, people are seeing the value in stewarding their land and, through their meaningful work, are creating lasting connections all across the Florida Wildlife Corridor,” said Tall Timbers Land Conservancy Director Shane Wellendorf. “The Big Bend is a key component of the Corridor’s statewide network of rural working and wild lands. Tall Timbers’ partnership with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation will help bring resources to private landowners in the region to help conserve and benefit the plants, wildlife, and people who call it home.”
Since 2010, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation has worked to connect critical but vulnerable landscapes across the entire state to serve as conservation corridors for wildlife while also assisting landowners in stewarding the landscape.
The 11 counties of the Big Bend Wildlife Corridor, including Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Gadsden, Wakulla, Liberty, Franklin, Taylor, Jackson, Calhoun, and Gulf counties, stretches across 2.815 million acres, covering about 56% of the region.
Through a grant from the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, Tall Timbers and Florida State University’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning prioritized the conservation value of individual land parcels within the Wildlife Corridor based on their vulnerability to development and the potential for high conservation value.
Using that information, Tall Timbers is embarking on a project to connect with Big Bend landowners within the Corridor to match them with technical support and funding to enhance stewardship practices on working and wild lands.
Practices such as prescribed fire, wildlife habitat management, tree planting and forest stand improvement enhance and support private agricultural and working lands to ensure the long-term survival of many wildlife species, while providing life support systems for our Big Bend communities, protecting our water resources and sustaining Florida’s rural way of life.
The Big Bend region is part of the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor, a statewide network of nearly 18 million acres of which 9.6 million acres are already permanently protected. Another 8.1 million acres statewide of opportunity areas remain, nearly all on private lands. A goal of this project is to help landowners learn about conservation easements and funding opportunities for conservation.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation works with partners across the state who have intimate knowledge of their region to identify and help bring awareness and resources to areas that face the most pressing threats.
“Ultimately, conserving a connected Corridor depends on local knowledge and action. The Corridor Foundation recognizes that organizations like Tall Timbers that have decades of experience building relationships, understanding the landscape and doing conservation have already been working on the Corridor,” said the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s Chief Conservation Officer Jason Lauritsen.
Lauritsen pointed out that the Big Bend’s private working lands are situated as a vital connection between the Florida peninsula and Georgia and Alabama.
Maintaining the ability of landowners to continue ranching and growing timber and agricultural crops across entire swaths like the Big Bend while also focusing on conservation is a key step preserving such a unique ecosystem.
“Approximately 77% of the area of the Florida Wildlife Corridor that has no permanent conservation protections is made up of working lands. Timber operations and ranches are highly compatible land uses that connect our network of parks and preserves,” Lauritsen said. “They are essential parts of our local economy and vital for U.S. production of food and fiber. If we are going to save the Corridor, it will be because we found ways to keep compatible working lands in operation, thriving between and alongside our treasured wilderness.”
Tall Timbers’ work in the Corridor has supported private landowners to create a network of more than 49,000 acres of permanently protected conservation lands utilizing conservation easements. Tall Timbers is excited to connect with landowners throughout the Big Bend interested in conservation and good land stewardship on their rural working lands and natural areas.
Our work with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation through this project will help expand those networks and build a lasting conservation legacy that spans the entire state.
Find out if you’re in the Corridor and see if we can help you with your conservation goals.
