What a year it has been. We have been through it the past few years, haven’t we? But in typical Floridian fashion, we press forward with grace, humor, determination, and a unique-to-Florida love for where we live.

Conservation Florida and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of State Lands have completed the conservation of Crippen Ranch, a 615- acre property in the Northern Everglades.

To others, my grandma’s house may seem like an unassuming plot of agricultural land with a comfortable home on it. To me, it’s so much more. It’s a place to disconnect from reality, a place to feel loved, and a safe space that holds some of my dearest memories and traditions.

Since our founding in 1999, Conservation Florida has led the way in strategic and evidence-based land protection and has saved more than 30,000 acres of critical habitat through the acquisition, facilitation, and incubation of conservation projects.

Partnership brings Conservation Florida, Avon Park Air Force Range Sentinel Landscape, and NRCS together to protect vital wildlife habitats and help sustain military readiness activities

As Floridians, we spend endless hours along the world's best coastlines, exploring countless springs, and hiking thickly wooded trails, while carefully dodging too-close-for-comfort encounters with snakes. From the subtropical hammocks to the sandhills to the swamps, Florida is one of a kind. Florida is wild. And we intend to keep it that way.

I firmly believe that Florida is the best place to live, work, visit, explore, and more. I want to live here, raise a family here, and will continue to be a champion for our state’s prosperity. It’s no surprise to me that others want to be here, too. But, as we grow, we have to keep a keen eye on what we save, and what we pave.

Florida is the birthplace of the cattle industry in America. In 1521, on Ponce de León’s second trip to the land he’d named La Florida, the Spanish explorer brought along Andalusian cattle - something never before seen in America. Now, there are about 15,500 operations, encompassing more than 7 million acres of land with some 1,750,000 head of cattle, and more than 5,000 registered brands in Florida. These ranchlands are the keepers of Florida’s last frontier.