Landscape Conservation

six images showing outdoor Florida habitats including forests, salt marshes and birds in ponds

Connect. Collaborate. Conserve.

Florida is facing ever-increasing land and water challenges from population growth, habitat loss, invasive species, water quality issues, and climate change. To address these challenges and ensure a sustainable future, we need to protect ecosystems while promoting livable communities, viable agriculture and working lands.

This can’t be accomplished through a single project or even by a single agency - addressing these challenges requires us to think of landscapes across the state as connected. There is a growing need to bring people together across places, sectors, and cultures to collaborate on connecting and conserving our important landscapes. This can be done through a process known as landscape conservation.

What is Landscape Conservation?

Landscape conservation is planning and management done collaboratively at a larger ecosystem scale. Instead of focusing on one habitat or one or two species, landscape conservation maximizes conservation results by looking at the bigger picture – how ecosystems function, how habitats connect, how species interact, and how people fit into the mix. This forward-thinking approach involves strategically connecting and protecting landscapes across public and private lands, and across geographical and political boundaries for long-term benefits.

Effective landscape conservation involves:

Connecting and collaborating with partners
Pooling resources and efforts
Thinking beyond geographical boundaries
Balancing conservation and management goals

What FWC is Doing

For decades, FWC staff have worked collaboratively with partners and stakeholders on conserving our state's wildlife and habitats. These efforts include species and habitat restoration, as well as management plans and guiding documents that benefit threatened and endangered species, such as the State Wildlife Action Plan and Regional Assessment Plans. The FWC will continue this good work with partners and stakeholders, elevating efforts to a larger landscape scale that prioritizes collaboration. By working together to develop a shared vision for conservation and harnessing the capabilities of all partners, we can maximize our long-term conservation impact for the benefit of wildlife, habitats and people.

Last year, FWC had its first Landscape Conservation Summit, which brought together over 200 people from over 60 organizations to discuss how to better connect, collaborate, and conserve our state’s resources. The Summit included presentations on how Landscape Conservation can, is, and has been implemented across Florida, what success looks like, and planning for the future. Key takeaways from the Summit can be found in the Landscape Conservation Summit report.

Landscape Conservation Resources

The Florida Conservation Blueprint provides a statewide prioritized landscape design by combining ecological data that represent important natural assets.

The Landscape Conservation Resources webpage provides information and resources the FWC and our partners have created to help guide and inform conservation efforts in Florida.