South Florida Wildlands Association

South Florida Wildlands Association (SFWA) was founded in 2010 with a simple idea - the protection of wildlife and wildlife habitats in the Greater Everglades.

During our fifteen years of operation, SFWA has been involved in dozens of projects on public and private lands alike. This Give Miami Day, we want to provide a summary of some of the successes we've had.

On public lands, SFWA worked with the National Park Service (NPS) to create new management plans for the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and Biscayne National Park that emphasized wildlife and habitat protection in lieu of expanded human access and recreation.

In the Big Cypress National Preserve, we worked to create a management plan that allowed the use of off-road vehicles (as required in the preserve's enabling legislation), but restricted their use wherever soils, vegetation, wetlands, and habitat for endangered animals would be impaired. The final "Backcountry Access Plan" for the preserve published in November of 2024 reflects that balance of motorized and non-motorized use. We're happy that, after a fierce, decades-long battle, parties were finally able to compromise on a plan that provided both protection and access.

In Everglades National Park, SFWA's work on the new General Management Plan helped craft a zoning plan that protected the vast, shallow seagrass beds of Florida Bay from damage by boats and propellers. Protective zoning was also carried out in the East Everglades Expansion Area to prevent overuse by airboats. Another major success in the park was SFWA's strong opposition to a major FPL powerline corridor along the park's east side - a project that was finally ended through legal action by the county.

In Biscayne National Park, SFWA was again active in the park's General Management Plan where we focused on the creation of a 10,000-acre marine reserve - a no-fishing zone - over the park's coral reef. That reef is part of the only barrier reef off the mainland United States and has sustained enormous damage from power boats and fishing activity. With over 95 percent of the park under water, Biscayne is the largest marine park in the National Park System and is a true national treasure.

SFWA also played a key role in stopping the Florida black bear hunt after the last disastrous hunt killed about 300 bears in just two days of hunting. We regret that we were unable to do the same in 2025 and a new hunt is now scheduled for December 6 - 28. Despite the FWC's decision, we continue working on the twin problems of bears accessing garbage and other human food sources as well as ongoing development in prime bear habitats. Although human-bear conflict is often given as the rationale for hunting Florida's bears, access to food and development are the real problems and will not be touched by another hunt that is deeply unpopular with most Floridians. 

The ending of the M-CORES highway project - a new toll road from Collier County to the Florida-Georgia border - was another notable conservation success. In addition to speaking at public meetings held by the Florida Department of Transportation, SFWA's major contribution was a FOIA request we made to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which revealed a transportation biologist's opinion that the highway would devastate Florida panther habitat and all wildlife habitat in its vicinity. That  opinion provided an important justification for the Florida Legislature's eventual cancellation of the project.

On oil drilling, SFWA filed lawsuits against the Dan Hughes company's intent to drill near the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and against Tocala LLC which wanted to conduct explosive seismic testing on over 100,000 acres of primary panther habitat north of the Big Cypress. Both companies have since left Florida. Our organizing against Kanter Realty's plan to drill in the Broward Everglades (and through the Biscayne Aquifer) put pressure on the state to buy out all 20,000 acres of Kanter's holdings. We campaigned hard for the amendment that permanently banned drilling in Florida state waters and helped push the NPS to require an Environmental Impact Statement before allowing Burnett Oil a drill permit.  Burnett is not currently operating in the Big Cypress and have not applied for the permit.

Skipping to the present, SFWA's advocacy work is focused on the tidal wave of development now rolling over remaining rural parts of Southwest Florida. Unfortunately, the lands slated for new subdivisions and shopping centers are already occupied by the last puma population in the entire eastern United States - the endangered Florida panther. Government agencies on the local, state, and federal level have so far turned a blind eye to the plight of the panther and have continued to greenlight development after development in the small amount of habitat that remains. This is a recipe for extinction and we anticipate legal action to try to move this disaster to be in a different direction.