Greenways Program
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CTF's Greenways Program addresses the need to enhance and protect greenways and wildlife corridors for wildlife habitat protection, biological diversity, water quality, and light recreational use. Our approach to protecting land is based on the recommendations of the Greenways Commission, which produced a report identifying potential corridors as part of the Florida Statewide Greenways Planning Project. We work to protect land through less-than-fee (conservation easements) and full fee acquisition. We also provide technical assistance and public outreach materials to agencies and organizations within the Greenways. We work with partners including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Department of Defense, The Nature Conservancy, University of Florida, Florida Forever, Alachua County Forever, The Conservation Fund, and FDEP/OGT. |
 The Florida Ecological Greenways Network ...is a web of proposed greenways that would link critically important lands across the state, providing landscape-scaled corridors for wildlife. Existing conservation lands are shown in the map to the left, with the highest priority land acqusitions highlighted in red and succeeding levels of prioroty acquisition lands in pale green. Some of these lands are nominated for state aquisition under Florida Forever legislation. (Map: Tom S. Hoctor, PhD) |
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 The "O2O Corridor" ...is a proposed greenway connecting the Ocala and Osceola national forests, and it is shown in dark green in the map to the right. CTF advocates for land acquisition to make O2O a reality. The Florida National Scenic Trail is included in the O2O project and it will eventually connect with the Lake City to Lake Butler Trail. Horseback riding, fishing, hunting, hiking and bird-watching are some of the many recreational activities that could occur within the greenway. It would also serve as a wildlife corridor, even connecting fragmented black bear populations. (Map: Tom S. Hoctor, PhD) |
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| The "Florida Wildlife Corridor" encompasses a wide swath of privately and publicly owned land running the entire length of the state -- from the Osceola National Forest at the Florida state line to the Everglades and Florida Bay. Many of Florida's increasingly rare species including the Florida panther, Florida black bear, Florida scrub-jay, caracara, gopher tortoise, indigo snake and swallow-tailed kite depend upon lands within the Florida Wildlife Corridor for their continued survival. More than 400 species of birds have been documented in Florida and these habitats provide important resting and feeding stops during migratory flights to and from South and Central America. Native habitat found in the Florida Wildlife Corridor has global implications for the survival of many migratory bird species. Goals include protecting critical parcels by working with private landowners to find the best conservation solution. O2O is part of a large complex of existing and proposed conservation lands that could result in a conservation network that encompasses an ecological network from the Wekiva River basin north of Orlando to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which represents a distance of almost 200 miles and well over 1 million acres of connected lands. | |||
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