Excerpt form Mary Wozniak: https://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/articles/ranchers-say-most-owners-support-corridor-its-our-livelihood/?fbclid=IwAR3XUAb0W5scF2EGHruhZtCScc6eax-SKn89gef2zZuCA6pq5uqdzekpBIY
Florida has 47,400 farms and ranches covering 9.7 million acres of land that provide a large and stable economic base, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ 2020 agricultural overview.
These working lands are also essential for the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
“Helping to sustain this state’s working ranches, farms, and forests that provide compatible wildlife habitats while sustaining rural prosperity and agricultural production” will be one of the ways the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act can accomplish some of its goals, according to language in the act.
The language not only recognizes the role the land plays in connecting and preserving the corridor, it recognizes its economic importance.
The act appears to be well received by the majority of those who work the lands for their livelihood, say two high-profile members of those industries, one a timber company co-owner and one a rancher.
They both have long histories in their respective fields and have received numerous accolades, both for their businesses and personally, in recognition of their work in environmental stewardship and conservation issues