Florida is home to a national treasure known as the Florida Wildlife Corridor—18 million connected acres that span from the Everglades up through the Georgia and Alabama borders. Only about 60% is protected, and with more than a thousand people moving to Florida every day, the Corridor is at risk of being lost to development. This landscape is essential to our state’s resilience, drinking water, food, and fiber as well as to giving wildlife room to roam.
Thanks to the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act passed in 2021, there is now significant statewide funding to protect the remaining 8 million acres, but it’s going to take hundreds of organizations alongside volunteer landowners to permanently protect the remaining opportunity areas.
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation serves as the champion and the guidepost for the Corridor movement, uniting leaders and changemakers to elevate the Corridor and accelerate protection for its most urgent, vulnerable, and irreplaceable connections. One of the ways we accomplish this is through our biennial summit Corridor Connect, a multi-day gathering of 700+ conservation professionals, scientists, elected officials, developers and planners, community leaders, and academics where we work together to solve the Corridor’s most pressing issues in real-time.
Our goals for the event are to build experiences that strengthen necessary relationships to realize a connected and protected Corridor, curate topic-specific issues to both inspire action and work through solutions, and form working groups for ongoing problem solving during the interstitial years.
In 2022 we held the first Florida Wildlife Corridor Summit, a free invite-only convening of 300 like-minded partners and interested parties from the public and private sector to engage in the Corridor effort, funded by a single donor. From there we formed five working groups to develop products that were identified as a need during the summit. After the donor decided on another path, we were challenged to build a new event in 6 months, casting a broader net for support and with the need to charge for registration. In September 2023, we held the second Florida Wildlife Corridor Summit, “Corridor Connect: Ecology + Economy for a better Florida.” It was exactly what the movement needed, expanding the tent to both sides of the fence, and bringing together over 500 individuals from more than 200 organizations to strategize, and build solutions to protect the Corridor. Our biggest shift was focusing on the experience of the attendees, polling them about what worked, what they wanted to see next Summit, and where we could improve.
The plan for 2025 was to increase attendance, reach new audiences like indigenous leaders and sportsmen, and continue uniting changemakers to solve the Corridor’s most challenging issues.
To achieve this goal, we implemented attendee feedback in the following ways:
Built content teams from outside organizations like the Nature Conservancy, Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Cadence Architecture
Increased Speaker budget to bring in specific but unexpected guests like Seth Godin, Steve Rinella, and Hipcamp CEO Alyssa Ravasio
Created the Collaboratory--an innovative space for exhibitors, dining, entertainment, and networking
Invitied Miccosukee Chairman Cypress to speak and Seminole singer-songwriter Rita Youngman to perform
Offered a spotsmen panel to include hunters in the conservation conversation
Relaying on the strength of our partnerships, we had several promotional partners to help share registration upon opening, and sold out the hotel block in the first week, with final registration at 701. The inclusion of the Tribes on the mainstage encouraged 14 registrations from other tribe members and the sportsmen panel brought in 35% more sportsmen that the previous two events combined.
Key features at Corridor Connect 2025 also included:
Collaborative multimedia video featuring more than 10 partner celebrations
Moments of surprise like the false start opening and “find the speakers” video for audience belly laughs
A visit from our sponsors Disney on mainstage and the big “Mouse” Mickey himself
An epic VIP night at EPCOT for a private fireworks show and after hours ride experience
New Sabal Awards voted on by attendees and announced during a special awards breakfast
National news coverage by NPR, solidifying the Corridor as a national conservation model
By focusing on the attendee experience, we’ve leveled up this convening, bringing together inspiring speakers and panelists to spark conversation and create opportunities for open dialogue and problem solving with breakout sessions and networking opportunities. Our NPS increased from 70 (2023) to 85 (2025) with attendees summarizing the event as giving them inspiration, hope, and clear action to take.
We had three main objectives: increase attendance from 500 to 700 and improve participation from indigenous tribes and sportsmen; create a connected experience measured by the Net Promoter Score (NPS); and form collaborative working groups to address Corridor issues.
The event was a complete success. We achieved our objectives and received feedback that attendees felt a strong sense of belonging and considered the event the gold standard. Speakers suggested taking this model to the national level. Despite a less financially successful year with state funding, the community feels more hopeful and motivated than ever to connect the Corridor.
Disney surprised us with a $1 million gift and commitment to be our title sponsor again in 2027, as did Subaru with a $250,000 commitment. All 22 partner organizations have committed to sponsoring the event in 2027. The biggest challenge now is the desire to make this an annual event, which we believe is a good problem to have.
"We get more done in three days than what we can do in many months. I leave there filled with energy and ready to continue to work extremely hard to make this grow and succeed!" - Summit attendee
"Corridor Connect renewed my sense of hope for Florida's environment and made me feel incredibly proud to be part of the community working to protect it. It was a rare moment of optimism for me." - Summit attendee
