Florida Senate - 2025                            (NP)    SR 1892
       
       
        
       By Senator Brodeur
       
       
       
       
       
       10-03494-25                                           20251892__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution affirming the importance of the Florida
    3         Wildlife Corridor and its significant environmental,
    4         cultural, economic, and tourism value as a unique
    5         natural resource and recognizing April 22, 2025, as
    6         “Florida Wildlife Corridor Day.”
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, the campaign to establish the Florida Wildlife
    9  Corridor began 15 years ago, and supporters saw their vision
   10  become reality with passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act
   11  of 2021, and
   12         WHEREAS, the Florida Wildlife Corridor establishes a
   13  geographic area of more than 18 million acres of land, of which
   14  10 million acres are public conservation lands that could be
   15  permanently disconnected from each other without the additional
   16  conservation of nearly 8 million acres of opportunity areas
   17  connecting them, and
   18         WHEREAS, Florida’s population has grown from 21.8 million
   19  when the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed to more than
   20  23.4 million today, resulting in urban and suburban sprawl
   21  consuming rural and natural land within and adjacent to the
   22  corridor, and
   23         WHEREAS, the nearly 8 million acres of opportunity areas
   24  still needing protection consist largely of working ranches,
   25  farms, and forests, the majority of which can be protected
   26  through conservation easements with willing landowners, thereby
   27  supporting the state’s agricultural economy and contributing to
   28  the long-term food security of Florida and the nation, and
   29         WHEREAS, the Legislature has appropriated significant
   30  funding for the state’s conservation programs, providing
   31  incentive for conservation and sustainable development while
   32  preserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of
   33  this state’s economy and quality of life, and
   34         WHEREAS, since July 2021, more than 300,000 acres of land
   35  in the Florida Wildlife Corridor have been approved for
   36  protection by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet, including
   37  Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, who made the
   38  corridor a priority during his term as Senate President, with
   39  funding appropriated by the Legislature from the Department of
   40  Environmental Protection’s Florida Forever Program and the
   41  Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and
   42  Family Lands Protection Program, and
   43         WHEREAS, a number of federal and local programs have
   44  increased their investment in Florida conservation, following
   45  the lead of the state in prioritizing the framework of the
   46  Florida Wildlife Corridor, and
   47         WHEREAS, these programs share the state’s goal of
   48  protecting an additional 600,000 acres in the Florida Wildlife
   49  Corridor by 2030, balancing this commitment to urgent
   50  conservation with the demand for development to accommodate the
   51  more than 2 million new residents projected to move to this
   52  state within the next 5 years, and
   53         WHEREAS, public access to the Florida Wildlife Corridor was
   54  greatly expanded in 2023 with the Legislature passing, and
   55  Governor DeSantis signing, legislation that connects the
   56  corridor to the Florida Greenways and Trails System and the
   57  Florida Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Network, as well as
   58  additional pathways to heritage small towns throughout this
   59  state, and
   60         WHEREAS, with the state’s funding commitment in recent
   61  years to such projects, the Department of Environmental
   62  Protection and the Department of Transportation have coordinated
   63  the establishment of multiuse trails, including investment in
   64  the planning, design, and construction of the SUN Trail Network
   65  and the campaign to recognize various communities as “Trail
   66  Towns,” in conjunction with Visit Florida’s promotion of trail
   67  based tourism, and
   68         WHEREAS, connecting trails with the Florida Wildlife
   69  Corridor creates a means to preserve many natural areas and
   70  provides expanded access for Floridians and visitors to hike,
   71  run, and bike between trail destinations and see firsthand this
   72  state’s unique natural habitat and picturesque small towns, and
   73         WHEREAS, the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides strong
   74  protection of other tourism and recreation destinations, such as
   75  spring vents, rivers, estuaries, and wetlands, which are home to
   76  fisheries, carbon sequestration, nutrient capture and cycling,
   77  groundwater recharge critical to water supply, and water
   78  storage, and
   79         WHEREAS, the Florida Wildlife Corridor is a nature-based
   80  solution that supports the state’s resilience against
   81  strengthening storms and provides billions of dollars’ worth of
   82  flood hazard protection by keeping the 10 million acres of the
   83  state’s floodplains located within the corridor undeveloped,
   84  NOW, THEREFORE,
   85  
   86  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   87  
   88         That the Senate affirms the importance of the Florida
   89  Wildlife Corridor and its significant environmental, cultural,
   90  economic, and tourism value as a unique natural resource and
   91  recognizes April 22, 2025, as “Florida Wildlife Corridor Day.”