The week of January 26, 2026, was full of exciting milestones for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida!
We were excited to be the host organization for the 41st annual Everglades Coalition Conference, “Everglades Strong: All In for Restoration,” which was held January 28-30 at the Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples. Several hundred Coalition members, Everglades advocates and dedicated stakeholders braved the cold southwest Florida temperatures to come together with one purpose – support for the restoration and protection of America’s Everglades.
Keynote speakers included:
Fine art photographer Dennis Goodman, whose photographs grace the walls of the Conservancy’s Environmental Planning Center, shared how he became a nature photographer and what southwest Florida’s wild and natural places mean to him.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, co-chair of the Everglades Caucus with Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and an ever-present advocate for Everglades Restoration, shared her perspective on the importance of remaining steadfast in our collective commitment to Everglades funding and meeting restoration targets.
Conservancy Wildlife Biologist & Environmental Science Program Manager, Ian Bartoszek, highlighted the threat to the Everglades caused by the invasive Burmese python and the work that the Conservancy’s Science Team is doing to understand, track and remove this exotic species from the greater Western Everglades.
Artist and University of Miami professor, Xavier Cortada, whose work is rooted in science and expressed through art that connects people and places, shared a number of his projects with conference attendees, inspiring our creativity and engaging our senses.
In addition, the Conservancy was proud to have been selected to present at the conference poster session. Conservancy Senior Environmental Policy Advisor, Amber Crooks, presented a poster entitled “Identifying Solutions to Minimize Endangered Florida Panther Vehicle Collisions,” which highlighted a series of reports that the Conservancy worked on as chair of the Panther Recovery Implementation Team (PRIT) Transportation Subteam. These reports and more can be found here.
As the conference host, the Conservancy was the sponsor of the Friday dinner, where President & CEO, Rob Moher, previewed what will be an upcoming feature film about the restoration of Picayune Strand State Forest and the Conservancy’s role in this effort for the past 30+ years.
This conference was special, as it marked the 25th anniversary of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), and conference participants reflected on the monumental effort required to secure CERP authorization, the significant progress that has been made on Everglades Restoration, and the important work that remains to be done.
The energy of this year’s conference was bolstered by the ribbon cutting for the Picayune Strand Restoration Project, which occurred on January 28, coinciding with the first day of the Everglades Coalition Conference. The Conservancy’s staff and board joined the US Army Corps of Engineers, state agencies and fellow advocates in celebrating this milestone for the first Everglades Restoration project to break ground.
In addition to the upcoming film about the Conservancy’s decades of work in the Picayune, the Policy Department is creating a 3-part story map to highlight the organization’s role in the Picayune saga.
Part 1 – Travel back in time to learn the history of the first authorized Everglades restoration project. From a real estate bust to a restoration boom, Picayune Strand has a unique past full of twists and turns that seems more like fiction than fact. This installment of the Picayune saga covers how a subdivision almost rose out of the swamp. See the story map and the trailer for an upcoming documentary here.
While the Conservancy was honored to be part of the ribbon cutting celebration, there is still work to be done regarding the Picayune project. First, a water quality treatment feature is still needed to treat the discharge associated with the new canal that is part of the Picayune Southwest Protection Feature. Second, Picayune is home to the only remaining subpopulation of threatened red-cockaded woodpeckers (RCWs) in Collier County. Conservancy staff remain involved to ensure proper monitoring and protection for RCWs occurs. The Conservancy is committed to remaining engaged and working with the agencies to ensure these final components of Picayune Restoration are completed.
