Florida Senate - 2025 (NP) SR By Senator Brodeur 10-03494-25 20251892__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Senate Resolution A resolution affirming the importance of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and its significant environmental, 3 cultural, economic, and tourism value as a unique natural resource and recognizing April 22, 2025, as 5 “Florida Wildlife Corridor Day.” 6

WHEREAS, the campaign to establish the Florida Wildlife Corridor began years ago, and supporters saw their vision become reality with passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act of 2021, and

WHEREAS, the Florida Wildlife Corridor establishes a geographic area of more than million acres of land, of which 13 million acres are public conservation lands that could be permanently disconnected from each other without the additional conservation of nearly million acres of opportunity areas connecting them, and

WHEREAS, Florida’s population has grown from 21.8 million when the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed to more than 19 23.4 million today, resulting in urban and suburban sprawl consuming rural and natural land within and adjacent to the corridor, and

WHEREAS, the nearly million acres of opportunity areas still needing protection consist largely of working ranches, 24 farms, and forests, the majority of which can be protected through conservation easements with willing landowners, thereby supporting the state’s agricultural economy and contributing to the long-term food security of Florida and the nation, and

WHEREAS, the Legislature has appropriated significant Florida Senate - 2025 (NP) SR 1892 10-03494-25 20251892__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. funding for the state’s conservation programs, providing incentive for conservation and sustainable development while preserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of this state’s economy and quality of life, and

WHEREAS, since July 2021, more than 300,000 acres of land in the Florida Wildlife Corridor have been approved for protection by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet, including Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, who made the corridor a priority during his term as Senate President, with funding appropriated by the Legislature from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Forever Program and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, and

WHEREAS, a number of federal and local programs have increased their investment in Florida conservation, following the lead of the state in prioritizing the framework of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and

WHEREAS, these programs share the state’s goal of protecting an additional 600,000 acres in the Florida Wildlife Corridor by 2030, balancing this commitment to urgent conservation with the demand for development to accommodate the more than million new residents projected to move to this state within the next years, and

WHEREAS, public access to the Florida Wildlife Corridor was greatly expanded in with the Legislature passing, and Governor DeSantis signing, legislation that connects the corridor to the Florida Greenways and Trails System and the Florida Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Network, as well as additional pathways to heritage small towns throughout this Florida Senate - 2025 (NP) SR 1892 10-03494-25 20251892__ CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

That the Senate affirms the importance of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and its significant environmental, cultural, 89 economic, and tourism value as a unique natural resource and recognizes April 22, 2025, as “Florida Wildlife Corridor Day.” 91