Alternative Text Description for Florida Forever BOT Projects

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAP OVERVIEW

This map displays Florida Forever Board of Trustees (BOT) Projects across the state of Florida. These are environmental land acquisition project boundaries approved by the State's Acquisition and Restoration Council and administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of State Lands. The map shows the geographic distribution of lands proposed for acquisition due to outstanding natural resources, opportunities for natural resource-based recreation, or significant historical and archaeological resources.

GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT

The map covers the entire state of Florida, from the panhandle region in the northwest near Pensacola and Tallahassee, extending southward through the peninsula to the Everglades National Park and the Florida Keys. Major cities labeled on the map include Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa, Lakeland, Palm Bay, Cape Coral, and Port St. Lucie. The map also shows the Florida coastline along both the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of America to the west. Protected areas such as Apalachicola National Forest in the panhandle, and Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge in southern Florida are labeled. Major interstate highways including I-10, I-75, and I-95 are visible as reference features.

KEY INSIGHTS

Florida Forever BOT Projects are distributed throughout the state with notable concentrations in several regions. The panhandle region shows significant project areas around Apalachicola National Forest and along the coastal areas between Pensacola and Tallahassee. The northern peninsula, particularly around the Jacksonville and Gainesville areas, contains substantial project boundaries. Central Florida displays scattered project areas around Orlando and between Tampa and Lakeland. Southern Florida shows considerable project coverage, especially in the Cape Coral area, around Lake Okeechobee, and in scattered locations throughout the Everglades region. The spatial pattern suggests prioritization of coastal areas, regions adjacent to existing protected lands, and environmentally significant wetland and forest ecosystems throughout the state.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

Florida Forever BOT Projects

This layer represents the boundaries of all current Florida Forever environmental land acquisition projects approved for state acquisition.

Florida Forever BOT Project Boundaries (solid orange polygons)

Appearance:

The project boundaries are displayed as solid orange polygons of varying sizes and shapes across the state.

Distribution:

Projects appear throughout Florida with concentrations in the panhandle, northern Florida, scattered locations in central Florida, and southern Florida including coastal and inland areas.

Notable locations:

Significant project area concentrations occur around Apalachicola National Forest in the panhandle, around Jacksonville and Palatka in northeast Florida, near Gainesville in north-central Florida, in the greater Orlando area, around Tampa Bay, extensively around Cape Coral and Fort Myers in southwest Florida, around Lake Okeechobee, and in numerous locations throughout the Everglades region and southern peninsula.

Spatial patterns:

Projects show clustering near existing protected areas such as national forests, national parks, and wildlife refuges. Coastal regions display linear patterns following shorelines and wetland systems. Interior projects often appear as larger contiguous blocks in forested or wetland areas, while urban-adjacent projects tend to be smaller and more fragmented. Many projects align with water bodies, floodplains, and natural corridors connecting existing conservation lands.

SYMBOL GUIDE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This map shows only Florida Forever projects administered by the Board of Trustees through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of State Lands. It does not include Florida Forever projects administered by water management districts or other state agencies. The boundaries shown represent the entire project area for each Florida Forever BOT project, including portions that have already been acquired as well as areas still targeted for future acquisition. The distinction between acquired and unacquired lands within project boundaries is not indicated on this map.

DATA CONTEXT

Data Source:

The data are maintained as the official inventory of boundaries for all current Florida Forever environmental land acquisition projects approved by the State's Acquisition and Restoration Council and administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of State Lands, for the State Board of Trustees. Data source layer name: FL_FOREVER_DEC25.

Definition Query:

No definition query or filter criteria was applied to this dataset.

Scale Information:

The map displays a statewide view of Florida at a scale appropriate for understanding the overall distribution and general locations of project boundaries across the entire state.

Coordinate System:

NAD_1983_HARN_Florida_GDL_Albers (WKID 3087)

Time Period of Content:

The data are current as of December 2025. The Florida Forever BOT data are updated approximately every two to four months to reflect changes in project boundaries and approvals.

Limitations:

This map does not distinguish between lands already acquired and lands still targeted for acquisition within project boundaries. The map does not include Florida Forever projects administered by water management districts or other state agencies, representing only a subset of the total Florida Forever program. Individual project boundaries may overlap with existing protected areas, and the precise legal boundaries may differ from the generalized polygons shown at this map scale.

Map Coverage:

The map extent includes the entire state of Florida from the western panhandle to the eastern Atlantic coast, and from the Georgia and Alabama borders in the north to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas in the south, including surrounding ocean waters for geographic context.

The alternative text description of this map was AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies.