On February 17, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced that it had secured the largest conservation easement in the history of its Forever Florida program, permanently protecting 61,525 acres of working forestland within the Ocala-to-Osceola Wildlife Corridor. This easement closes the final major gap in a nearly 100-mile, 1.6M-acre network of public and private conservation lands.
The property, acquired from a large timberland company, includes forested wetlands, floodplain forests, basin swamps, and headwaters, supporting water quality, flood protection and aquifer recharge across three major river basins. It also provides permanent habitat connectivity for wide-ranging imperiled species, including the bald eagle, red-cockaded woodpecker, and eastern indigo snake.
This easement coincides with the 25th anniversary of DEP’s Florida Forever program, one of the largest public land acquisition programs in the United States. Since the program’s inception, DEP has protected more than a million acres of land for conservation and recreational use.
