South Florida Wildlands Association

Home to the Greater Everglades, South Florida is famous for its biodiversity. Its mosaic of natural habitats - fresh and saltwater marshes, pinelands, hammocks, beaches, estuaries, mangroves, and more - host a countless variety of plants and animals.  The Everglades also provides clean water to our towns and cities and is heavily used by residents and visitors alike for outdoor recreation. Yet for all its natural beauty, this special region is also imperiled by over-development, urban and agricultural runoff, invasive species, climate change, and more.

Since our founding in March of 2010, South Florida Wildlands Association (SFWA) has been a major voice for the protection of wildlife and the habitat they need to survive.  Included in the long list of native species we work to protect are 68 species animals (fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates) that are federally listed as endangered or threatened. Many more wildlife species in our region are either candidates for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act or receive protection under Florida’s Imperiled Species Management Plan.  

Over nearly 15 years of operation, SFWA’s successful campaigns have included: stopping three oil drilling operations in the Greater Everglades (Kanter Realty in the Broward Everglades, Trend Exploration in the community of Immokalee, Tocala LLC in the Dinner Island WMA and surrounding ranches); ending an FPL powerline corridor across the eastern edge of Everglades National Park; contributing to the end of the massive M-CORES highway project across Florida; and challenging numerous developments proposed for rare and biodiverse private lands.  We have also devoted years of work to revised General Management  Plans for Everglades and Biscayne National Parks, Big Cypress National Preserve, the Loxahatchee and Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuges, State Park management (including recent attempts at development inside State Parks such as Jonathan Dickinson), and a host of Florida Wildlife Management Areas where SFWA is a member of many Management Advisory Groups.  On all these publicly-owned lands, SFWA has pushed the managing agencies hard to ensure that protection of wildlife and their habitat come first.

SFWA carries out our work through direct advocacy with decision-makers in meetings, phone calls, emails, and letters. Sometimes we go the legal route. Our communications to the public go through our email list, our popular Facebook page (now over 142,000 followers), and commentary in the local press.  SFWA’s messaging also contain a strong environmental educational component and we have spoken at numerous colleges and universities, public schools, and community organizations about environmental issues and campaigns in South Florida.

Please be a part of this never-ending work with a donation to SFWA on Give Miami Day.  We cannot carry out this mission without you!  Included in our work for 2024 will be big fights over tens of thousands of acres of new development that has been proposed for core Florida panther habitat and new trash incinerators being proposed for the edge of the Everglades.  On public lands, we will be working to implement the 10,000-acre marine reserve for Biscayne National Park and to revise a recent NPS proposal in the Big Cypress that recommended no wilderness designation despite hundreds of thousands of wilderness-eligible lands found. Taking the incoming administration at its word, we also expect to be challenging rollbacks of existing federal protections for endangered species, public lands, wetlands, and coastal habitats to facilitate new development. Those rollbacks could include lifting the current moratorium on oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and reopening the push to drill for oil inside the Big Cypress National Preserve.  

This work is never easy – but it’s necessary. A big thanks for your support over the years.  Please give what you can this Give Miami Day on behalf of South Florida’s wildlife and South Florida Wildlands Association.