Passive recreation – hiking, photography, and birding – in conservation areas managed by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission as wildlife habitat. No hunting is permitted on these public lands. They usually have an important natural feature that is protected by their special status, such as the ancient longleaf pine forest at Chinsegut WEA, or the gopher tortoise colony at Perry Oldenburg WEA. Many of these public lands were purchased as mitigation lands – specifically, land preserved for a certain species’ diminishing habitat bought with funds paid by developers destroying those habitats nearby.
Wildlife and Environmental Areas
Wildlife and Environmental Areas are much rarer in Florida than Wildlife Management Areas, where hunting is permitted. Both are managed by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. These are the ones we’ve visited so far. Dogs are not permitted in these WEAs.
