Florida Wildlife Corridor

A land conservancy buys a conservation easement adjacent to AP Ranch, a property with confirmed Florida panther activity. The deal allows the ranch's work to continue while prohibiting development.

The $200 million had been swept from the corridor acquisition money by state lawmakers — before a line-item veto reversed that move.

Soon, wild animals that find their path blocked by the state’s busiest interstate will have a new way to get across.

But more money has been allocated in this year's state budget for a program that pays farmers and ranchers in the Florida Wildlife Corridor not to develop their land.

The agreement to purchase the land came after public outcry over a proposed swap of part of the Withlacoochee State Forest for other parcels in north Florida.

Disney World's conservation arm has given $1 million to the foundation that wants to preserve a wildlife corridor through the length of Florida.

The purchased conservation lands cover 134 square miles, the largest increment of conservation land and easement purchases ever proposed on a single Cabinet agenda.

When picturing Florida, many minds are drawn to sunny skies and sandy beaches. But it's the swamp and scrublands in the state's interior that environmental advocates are looking to call attention to.

About $47 million could potentially be used to protect lands from being gobbled by development in several counties, including Polk, Hardee, DeSoto and Charlotte, in an area that supplies drinking water to several counties.

By 2070, much of the state’s farmland could be paved over and developed, including more than half of the unprotected Florida Wildlife Corridor.

The land will be called the Bellini Preserve, in honor of Tampa-based businessman and environmentalist Arnie Bellini.

The Florida panthers’ numbers dwindled so quickly over the the early 1900s that hunting them was banned in 1958. In 1967, panthers were the first animal to be put on the federal Endangered Species List, and in 1973 the puma, a big cat relative, was named a Florida protected species.