As the Florida Legislature enters a special session on Tuesday to pass a state budget, lawmakers will decide the fate of wild Florida. The House proposes zero dollars for Florida Forever. The Senate offers only $50 million but restricts funding to easements on private land. This excludes the public land acquisition that has defined the program for the last 25 years.
This is more than a funding cut; it’s a dismantling of Florida’s conservation priorities. Both chambers are choosing a model focused on private land easements over one that creates accessible public lands serving multiple conservation purposes.
To be clear: Easements hold a critical role in statewide land conservation, but Floridians have built a legacy through our passion for the outdoors, a legacy that has deep roots in our public lands.
Florida Forever is the backbone to that legacy. Since 2000, it has protected over 1 million acres of land identified for their natural and cultural significance. These lands become state parks where families camp, wildlife areas where hunters pursue game, water-recharge areas that protect our drinking water, and trails where Floridians connect with nature. Unlike easements, which keep land privately owned with limited public access, these are our lands, held in trust for every Floridian, now and for generations to come.
As Florida adds more than 800 new residents daily, should our public lands not grow too? Where will these new Floridians and visitors go? Without acquisitions, there will be no new state parks, state forests, or wildlife management areas, resulting in the loss of access to the wild Florida that makes our state special.
Proponents cite long-term management costs and future budget obligations as reasons for the shift. But this reasoning overlooks important realities.
Florida is the lead manager of nearly 4 million acres spending roughly $360 million annually on management. According to a 2025 Florida Department of Environmental Protection report, state parks alone generate over $3.5 billion annually in economic impact and support over 50,000 jobs. That’s an overwhelming return on investment benefiting our state.
And that return becomes even clearer when you factor in long-term costs. Conservation easements also require ongoing monitoring, enforcement and administration. The difference is who benefits. With easements, taxpayers fund oversight of private land they cannot access. With public acquisition, that same investment supports land the public owns, manages, restores and can actually use.
Development is truly an irreversible decision. Once land becomes a road or subdivision, no future legislature can ever truly turn it back into the wildlife habitat it was. That choice is permanent.
Meanwhile, Florida readily commits to long-term costs for highways, schools and other infrastructure. The question isn’t whether conservation lands require ongoing funding. It’s whether the benefits justify the cost. State parks generate billions in economic impact, protect drinking water and provide recreation for millions. The answer is clear: yes.
Florida’s budget can support robust funding for conservation easements and for Florida Forever’s land acquisition program. What’s at risk isn’t easements; Florida Forever uses those too. What’s at risk is the ability to create new state parks, wildlife management areas and other public lands. The state needs both, not one or the other.
These are opening proposals. During the special session, the House and Senate negotiations will determine the final budget. If Floridians remain silent, legislators will assume these proposals are acceptable. But if Floridians speak up now, there’s still time to change course.
Contact your state senator and representative today at floridawildlifefederation.org/fund-florida-forever. Stand with us at the Florida Wildlife Federation as we ask lawmakers to keep Florida Forever at the forefront of state priorities, and create a path to restoring funding to historical levels that reflect inflation, rising land values and the urgency to protect land for public use before it is developed.
The lands we fail to protect today are the parks and wild places our children will never know.
Sarah Gledhill is the president and CEO of the Florida Wildlife Federation, a 90-year-old statewide nonprofit committed to safeguarding Florida’s water, wildlife and wild spaces.
