Room to roam: Connected habitats are better for wildlife | Waterline | yoursun.com

Some animal species can easily cross roads and other barriers. For others, like this eastern box turtle, its a serious challenge and potential death sentence.

As the human population of Florida expands, we are taking up an ever-greater proportion of the state for “people stuff” — homes, commercial development, roads, etc. It’s pretty obvious that every acre that we build something on is an acre that gets subtracted from what wild Florida used to be. But how big of a problem is that, really?

Today, Florida still has about 15.5 million acres of “natural communities” remaining. These are lands that have not been converted to some other intense use. Some are still in a more or less natural state, such as the 5.8 million acres of wildlife management areas. These places still show the fingerprints of human meddling, but at least they’re not homebuilding projects.

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Capt. Josh Olive is a seventh-generation native Florida Cracker and a Florida Master Naturalist, and has been fascinated by all sorts of wild things and places since he was able to walk. If you have questions about living with wildlife, contact him at [email protected] or 941-276-9657.

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