SAFEGUARDING FLORIDA’S CULTURAL AND ECOLOGICAL HERITAGE

Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge sit at the heart of a vast living system: the Florida Everglades. This remarkable landscape is home to myriad species of flora and fauna and also stores approximately 36 million tonnes of carbon, playing a vital role in climate resilience. And beneath its flowing waters, sawgrass prairies, tangled mangroves and lily-covered sloughs, lies something both invisible and threatening: privately owned oil, gas and mineral rights, worth millions to those who see the land only in terms of what can be extracted. While the surface is protected as public land, what lies beneath remains exposed, with consequences that would far outweigh any profit.

Often referred to as the Green Heart of the Everglades, these lands connect a mosaic of national parks, preserves, tribal lands and wildlife corridors. Animals migrate, birds nest and pass through, water flows, fish spawn, and trees anchor themselves deep in the soil. Life here depends on movement, and on space, and ecological integrity, being left for that movement to happen.

Its environmental value is immense, but no less important is its cultural significance. The Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes of Florida have lived in this landscape for generations. For many, protecting it is not just a question of sovereignty or livelihood; it is a spiritual responsibility. This is their home, and has been for a very long time.

From a practical point of view, the stakes are just as high. The Everglades supply clean drinking water to more than nine million people. Any attempt to drill or extract oil here could contaminate that water beyond repair. These wetlands also support Florida’s hunting and fishing traditions, with anglers and hunters playing a quiet but important role in caring for the land. Their livelihoods, along with much of Florida’s outdoor economy, depend on the health of this ecosystem. Even tourism and property markets as far off as Palm Beach could feel the impact of a spill.

In December 2022, WildLandscapes began working with the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes of Florida to seize a rare and critical opportunity: to appraise, purchase, and permanently retire the mineral rights beneath 449,689 acres of the Florida Everglades. The idea was straightforward. The reality was anything but.

Hundreds of individual land parcels had to be assessed, each with its own legal and logistical challenges. The paperwork was mountainous. The process, governed by strict federal standards, was both technically and bureaucratically daunting. But the urgency, and the importance, left no room for hesitation.

WildLandscapes brings to this project a long history of working on difficult, large-scale land protection efforts. Our earlier work in the region gave us both the relationships and the resolve to take this on. It builds on the success of Phase I, in which we, together with Family Lands Remembered, helped to protect 11,142 acres of critical habitat for the Florida panther and over 25 rare species. After years of negotiation, this land - formerly known as the Collier Everglades property - was purchased in summer 2023 by the South Florida Water Management District.

The mineral appraisal is, after a herculean effort, very close to completion. Once finalised - to the very highest standards - and presented to the DOI, we will begin fundraising for the purchase itself, with the hope that it can be achieved with support from the current administration.

This is a flagship project that speaks to everything WildLandscapes stands for: scale, ambition, complexity, and meaningful collaboration. It comes with no shortage of red tape and challenges, but its potential impact is enormous, and worth the effort a thousand times over.