UF Center for Landscape Conservation Planning

05/28/2026

Last week at the Corridor Connect event held by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation in Ocala, Sarah Lockhart spoke on the Tools and Levers panel, sharing a walkthrough of our EcoCon digital mapping tool (and briefly discussed responsible geospatial data use).

We all had a lot of fun tabling and connecting with other organizations as well as Marion County landowners.


UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida

(Many thanks to the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation for the first photo below!)

05/19/2026

We're making Florida's 10 Critical Linkages accessible by telling their story through corridor science, digital art, and StoryMap technology.

🔗A Critical Linkage is the unprotected, highest-priority land in the Florida Wildlife Corridor: essential pathways that connect existing protected lands, allowing wildlife to move, ecosystems to thrive, and natural processes that increase resiliency to continue across the state. Conserving these corridors is key to a functionally connected statewide ecological network.

🎨Each StoryMap features a digital mural developed by Kelly Quinn at Canvas of the Wild. Her artwork, inspired by the ecology, species, and culture of each region, helps bring these landscapes to life - showing that maps and data are about real, interconnected systems.

📝 Explore the Critical Linkages to learn about:

🌿 Their role in regional connectivity
🐅 The animals, plants, and ecosystems that define each linkage
🐄 The cultural elements of the landscape
🛣️ Conservation challenges and opportunities
💫 How art and science combine to tell Florida's story
🎁 Three of the 10 Critical Linkage murals and StoryMaps are complete, with 7 more underway. Explore the intersection of art and science in the story of Florida's Critical Linkages by clicking this link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/f36d42569f7e4cacbb9a659ea030252f

Kelly of the Wild Canvas of the Wild UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida Florida Conservation Group Wildpath Isabella Guttuso Browne

05/19/2026

We're wrapping up the first leg of our new research project, “Curated Landscapes!”🌿

✨This project is a collaboration between the School of Art and Art History and the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning. We are investigating how curated encounters with plant life vary across different public spaces. From the highly orchestrated choreographies of care at Walt Disney World to the raw beauty of Florida State Parks, we’re analyzing how landscape design functions as both entertainment and environmental pedagogy. 🪵🌸

Over the course of this study, our research team will investigate:

🌱 Human wellbeing and nature exposure
🦋 Ecological impacts of high visitation
📚 "Teachable moments" in public spaces
💚 How different environments inspire care in the viewer

Follow our our study here or on Instagram !

UF College of Design, Construction and Planning UF School of Art + Art History Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida Carlton Ward Jr. Disney Conservation

05/18/2026

Our own Sarah Lockhart, Ph.D. Candidate, was interviewed for the "People and Nature" podcast! Check it out!

Hosted by UFAEC graduate student Emma Lauren Poole, this episode features Sarah Lockhart, a conservation social scientist exploring land trusts, landscape connectivity, and the human dimensions of conservation in Florida. Discover how collaboration, policy, and community-driven approaches can help protect biodiversity and shape the future of conservation across the state.

People & Nature Symposium: https://tbep.org/people-nature-symposium/

Here is the link to the podcast episode : https://www.buzzsprout.com/1651813/episodes/18984940

UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida

Hosted by UFAEC graduate student Emma Lauren Poole, this episode features Sarah Lockhart, a conservation social scientist exploring land trusts, landscape connectivity, and the human dimensions of conservation in Florida. Discover how collaboratio...

05/14/2026

We had a great time participating in the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s “Mind the Gap” meeting for the Space Coast! Dan Smith spoke on a panel as a wildlife crossings expert, and Isabella Guttuso Browne shared our center’s EcoCon tool. As with all the Mind the Gap meetings, this was a wonderful opportunity to connect and collaborate with those working toward the protection of our most eastern reaching portion of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida Florida Conservation Group

05/11/2026

Excited to share these photos of the Center's recent participation in the annual meeting of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, North America chapter! https://www.ialena.org/

This was a fantastic opportunity to connect with others in the landscape ecology field and showcase our work on the FEGN, coastal to inland and cross-boundary connectivity, and online tools including the EcoCon. UF College of Design, Construction and Planning UF Research IALE-North America

05/06/2026

Last week, Mike Volk and Isabella Guttuso Browne presented at the UF IFAS Urban Land Summit, focusing on a key question facing Florida:

How do we accommodate continued growth while preserving our regional to local corridors and greenways and other important natural places —and in doing so, support more resilient and livable communities for people?

It was a great opportunity to share perspectives on the role of landscape planning and design, green infrastructure, and conservation networks in shaping how Florida grows. We’re grateful to IFAS for the invitation and for bringing together a great group of practitioners and researchers working across the state.

We look forward to continuing the conversation on how we balance growth, connectivity, and resilience for Florida’s future!

UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida Florida Conservation Group

04/28/2026

A huge THANK YOU to the for a fabulous event! "A Sense of Place" was an evening of poetry and place-based imagination organized in conjunction with the _Wild Waters_ exhibition of Florida landscape paintings at the Governor’s House Cultural Center and Museum in St. Augustine, sponsored by our Center and the Harn Museum of Art.

Gabriele Belletti and a small group of UF students from “Poetry and Nature” (French program) shared short ecopoetic readings and presented excerpts from SHINE, an interdisciplinary project that brings together environmental humanities and immersive 3D representations of Florida’s springs. The event concluded with a brief, audience-friendly writing prompt followed by informal conversation.

We wanted to share this poem by Delaney Johnson and accompanying video by Jennifer Purington, a project supported by SHINE.

Participating students in the live event: Isabella Castro, Kaleb Ejigbile, Nur Jacic, Selome Medemaku, Briana Mendez, and Siena Zicchinella.

Live Wildly 1000 Friends of Florida Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation UF College of Design, Construction and Planning

https://waterinstitute.ufl.edu/14458-2/
https://lalicenter.languages.ufl.edu/shine-projet/

04/23/2026

Our own Reed Noss was recognized by Conservation Florida with their Legacy Award for his work creating the foundation for what has become the Florida Wildlife Corridor, as well as his continuing contributions through research, writing, and teaching. Congratulations, Reed Noss!!

1000 Friends of FloridaFlorida Wildlife Corridor FoundationFlorida Conservation Group Live Wildly UF College of Design, Construction and Planning Wildpath

Each year at our Sunshine State Soirée, Conservation Florida, in partnership with the Lightsey Cattle Company, honors a Floridian who has made a lasting impact on conservation efforts here at home with our Conservation Legacy Award. This year we are honored to celebrate 𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝘀𝘀!

Decades ago, alongside his colleagues, Dr. Noss pioneered a game changing idea: that the future of wild Florida depended on connected landscapes, on corridors that allow wildlife and ecosystems to move, adapt, and survive.

That work became the foundation for what we now know as the 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗼𝗿, a vision that continues to guide conservation across our state and inspires action at every level.

Through his research, his teaching, his leadership, and even his time on the Conservation Florida Board of Directors, Dr. Noss has profoundly influenced how we protect the places we love.

Join us in applauding Dr. Reed Noss’s outstanding contributions to conserving Florida’s natural beauty for generations to come! 👏

04/17/2026

From the lab to the spotlight. 🎤🌿

What happens when you give undergraduates the tools to solve Florida's most complex conservation challenges? They take over the Undergraduate Research Symposium.

This week, our WildFL cohort traded their field gear and GIS workstations for the symposium floor. They didn't just present posters—they pitched real-world data and solutions for Florida’s wildlife corridors to a room full of peers and experts.

The standout moment? Seeing students explain how their team worked with the various tools in the course: geospatial data, camera trapping, AI RAGs and LLMs, stakeholder engagement, and county planning to protect landscape connectivity.

This isn't just "student work." It’s professional-grade science communication designed to bridge the gap between data and policy. A huge congratulations to these Undergraduate Research Scholars from the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (CLCP) for showing us that the future of conservation is in very capable hands.