FL_wildlife_Corridor_2021

The Florida Wiildlife Corridor (layer name Florida_Wildlife_Corridor_2021.shp): This vector layer was created from the original raster grid 2021 version of the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN) by combining the Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3 values in the raster layer and converting to a shapefile using the Raster to Polygon command with the simplify option to remove the jagged edges of the original raster layer, reduce file size, and the make conversion to a kml file feasible. The Florida Wildlife Corridor is now part of a new state law intended to protect the corridor through enhanced land protection planning and funding. The Florida Wildlife Corridor is defined in the state law as The Florida Wildlife Corridor represents the most important opportunities to protect a functionally connected statewide system of public and private conservation lands essential for protecting Florida's native biodiversity, water resources, and other ecosystem services while providing a sustainable natural resource economy including a variety of resource-based recreational activities. The FEGN guides OGT ecological greenway conservation efforts and promotes public awareness of the need for and benefits of a statewide ecological greenways network. It is also used as the primary data layer to inform the Florida Forever and other state and regional land acquisition programs regarding the location of the most important wildlife and ecological corridors and large, intact landscapes in the state. The FEGN identifies areas of opportunity for protecting a statewide network of ecological hubs (large areas of ecological significance) and linkages designed to maintain large landscape-scale ecological functions including priority species habitat and ecosystem services throughout the state. Inclusion in the FEGN means the area is either part of a large landscape-scale “hub”, or an ecological corridor connecting two or more hubs. Hubs indicate core landscapes that are large enough to maintain populations of wide-ranging or fragmentation-sensitive species including black bear or panther and areas that are more likely to support functional ecosystem services. Highest priorities indicate the most significant hubs and corridors in relation to completing a functionally connected statewide ecological network, but all priority levels have conservation value. FEGN Priorities 1, 2, and 3 are the most important for protecting a ecologically functional connected statewide network of public and private conservation lands, and these three priority levels (P1, P2, and P3) are now called the Florida Wildlife Corridor as per the Florida Wildlife Corridor legislation passed and signed into law by the Florida Legislature and Governor and 2021, which makes protection of these wildlife and ecological hubs and corridors a high priority as part of a strategic plan for Florida’s future. To accomplish this goal, we need robust state, federal, and local conservation land protection program funding for Florida Forever, Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service easements and incentives, federal Land and Waters Conservation Fund, payments for ecosystem services, etc.