Improving Water Quality in the Everglades Watershed

Sentinel landscape partners support the Everglades by improving water quality, quantity, and storage capacity in the Northern Everglades Watershed. As of 2018, sentinel landscape partners have successfully enrolled more than 9,000 acres of private land in the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Wetland Reserve Program and over 1,000 acres of private land in the South Florida Water Management District’s Dispersed Water Management Program.

Increasing Public Access to Recreation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission collaborated to establish a 1,500-acre unit within the Everglades Headwaters Wildlife Management Area that is open to the public for hunting and recreation. Similarly, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. FWS are working together to offer hunting and other public recreational opportunities on other parcels, including 4,000 acres of ranch land that the partners acquired.

Protecting National Security and Endangered Species at the Avon Park Air Force Range

As a result of land development, multiple species listed under the Endangered Species Act seek refuge on the 100,000 plus acres of the Avon Park Air Force Range.

In 2019, the Range surpassed its recovery goal for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) by documenting 40 potential RCW breeding groups. Avon Park Air Force Range accomplished its objective by partnering with the Archbold Biological Station, which has helped the installation monitor and manage the species for over two decades. The Avon Park Air Force Range Wildland Fire Support Module, an interagency collaborative consisting of representatives from the Air Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Colorado State University, also supported the installation in its efforts to reach the recovery goal.

In October of 2023, five new pairs of RCWs were translocated by scientists to the Air Force Range, highlighting the military’s dedicated role in their conservation. 

In July 2023, the  Range, continuing its strong partnership with the Archbold Biological Station and the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, successfully released captively bred Grasshopper Sparrows. These tiny birds are considered the most endangered bird in the continental United States, having lost most of their prairie habitat to development. While a surprising place for wildlife to survive, the Range provides some of the last remaining grassland habitat needed by these birds.

More than 40 state and federally listed species can be found within the entire Avon Park Air Force Range Sentinel Landscape, which partners and private landowners work diligently to protect.

Landowners Receive Priority Consideration for Federal Assistance

Private landowners whose properties are within the Avon Park Air Force Range Sentinel Landscape boundary receive priority consideration for the NRCS Agricultural Land Easement Program. This program protects the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing the conversion of working lands to non-agricultural uses. NRCS has already protected more than 15,000 acres of working land within the sentinel landscape since its designation and continues making landowners aware of this program. To learn more about opportunities for assistance, please visit our interactive landowner resources tool.

Enhancing the Conservation Easement Process

In 2018, sentinel landscape partners created the first joint Department of Defense (DoD)—Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation easement by merging Air Force easement language with USDA requirements. Through that easement, the USDA and DoD permanently protected 1,600 acres of ranch land around a critical military testing and training area. The groundbreaking project eliminated redundancies in government spending, strengthened the installation’s air mission, and protected central Florida’s water resources.

Florida Wildlife Corridor

The Avon Park Air Force Range Sentinel Landscape contains a significant portion of lands that make up the Florida Wildlife Corridor, providing some of the largest remaining parcels of  habitat needed for species’ survival and  movement. APAFRSL partners and landowners work to maintain these lands recognizing their importance to community  drinking water supplies; economic vitality from recreation, ranching, and fishing;  reduction of  greenhouse gases and relief from increasing temperatures; and wildlife, including many imperiled species such as the Florida panther, black bear, Red-cockaded woodpeckers, Scrub Jay, and many more. To learn more about how the Wildlife Corridor helps conserve water resources, read the report here. To learn more about the challenges faced by wildlife in Florida, watch the award-winning film @PathofthePanther – a tale of the endangered Florida panther, the last big cat surviving in the eastern United States, and the fight to save its Everglades home.