A true wildlife corridor that stretches from South Florida to the Georgia border is becoming closer to a reality, thanks to the St. Johns River Water Management District's investment on 4,708 acres of land in Volusia County. The project, known as the "missing link" in the Volusia Conservation Corridor Florida Forever Project, will be funded with the District's remaining Florida Forever funds.

Florida Forever, the state's widely popular and successful land-preservation program was allocated $0 in Governor Scott's recent budget recommendations.

The Orlando Sentinel quotes Audubon's own Charles Lee:

"If you look at a satellite photo of Florida at night you can see the corridor," said Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon of Florida. "You can see the signature of urban areas with the lights and the dark areas that are the remaining wildlife corridors that have yet to be shredded by growth."

...At the same time, there hasn't been a better opportunity for land conservation, Lee said. Real-estate prices have dropped dramatically, and some landowners who might have been holding out for a tidy profit by selling to developers, are more willing to sell to the state.

"Right now, there are some exceedingly good land deals to be made for the public," Lee said. "There is a tremendous opportunity to leverage public dollars to get more land than we could five years ago."