{"id":1669,"date":"2020-10-29T22:39:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T02:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/about\/history\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:57:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:57:59","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tThe work of saving our environment started in 1964 when plans were revealed to build a road through Rookery Bay, crossing Gordon Pass and into the Ten Thousand Islands. A small group of citizens became concerned, involved, and politically active mobilizing grassroots efforts to prevent the project. As a result, the road was never built, Rookery Bay and its inhabitants were saved, and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida was founded.\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t<iframe title=\"60 Years of Preserving Paradise: A Conservancy of Southwest Florida Film\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1oBKpk34KZc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/historical-save-the-bay.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Save The Bay\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1363\" width=\"1132\" srcset=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/historical-save-the-bay.jpg 1132w, https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/historical-save-the-bay-768x925.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1132px) 100vw, 1132px\" title=\"Historical Save The Bay\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Save-Rookery-Bay-Archive_Web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tView the Historical Archive\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<h4>\n\t\t\tExpanding our goals\n\t\t<\/h4>\n\t<p>Since 1964, we have expanded our scope across the five counties in Southwest Florida: Collier, Charlotte, Lee, Hendry, and Glades. We maximize the combined forces of environmental policy, advocacy, research, education, and wildlife rehabilitation to protect Southwest Florida&#8217;s natural treasures &#8211; our water, our land and our wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Our goals have become more ambitious as even greater pressures are placed on our natural heritage.<\/p>\n<p>We have concerns about our water. Will it be clean? Will we have enough? Over one million acres of rural lands are proposed for development. Will it be done in a way that protects lands vital to our survival &#8212; and to the 133 listed, endangered, and threatened species in Florida? We are constantly working to find a sensible balance between the demands of a growing population and the preservation of our natural resources.<\/p>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tKey Milestones\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/About-Us-History-Fakahatchee-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"About Us History Fakahatchee\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1101\" width=\"1815\" title=\"About Us History Fakahatchee\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Conserving 55,000 acres of land in Southern Golden Gate Estates to help restore natural water flows to the Western Everglades<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/119918253_4342201522473285_2100845157334456171_o-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"119918253 4342201522473285 2100845157334456171 O\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1280\" width=\"1920\" title=\"119918253 4342201522473285 2100845157334456171 O\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Monitoring existing species populations for the Western Everglades Restoration Project<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/1_eBEQ6pqA9OQKR64MMLtnaQ-landscape.jpeg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Protecting more than 320,000 sea turtle hatchlings since 1982 through our Sea Turtle Monitoring and Protection Program<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/94097010_3875559939137448_2163935876709613568_o-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Wildlife Tile 2\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1125\" width=\"1769\" title=\"Wildlife Tile 2\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Treating over 4,000 animals per year and successfully releasing about half of them back into their native habitats<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/About-Us-Mangrove-Image-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Mangrove Island\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1154\" width=\"1732\" title=\"Mangrove Island - About Page\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Helping to preserve our bays, their mangroves, and sea life through various research, monitoring, and restoration projects<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/Panther-crossing-Sign-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Policy Page - Panther Crossing Sign\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1201\" width=\"1800\" title=\"Policy Page - Panther Crossing Sign\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Encouraging voters to protect environmentally sensitive land for conservation by assisting in the passage of conservation initiatives in Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/1_Q-dLsKUwah06PsHR1jRi6A-landscape.jpeg\" alt=\"1 Q DLsKUwah06PsHR1jRi6A\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1127\" width=\"2000\" title=\"1 Q DLsKUwah06PsHR1jRi6A\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Helping to negotiate the successful state purchase of 74,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land at Babcock Ranch, keeping all parties talking when the deal was threatened<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/About-Us-History-Summer-Camp-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"About Us History Summer Camp\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"1224\" width=\"1632\" title=\"About Us History Summer Camp\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Earning the &#8220;Peoples Choice&#8221; Award from the Naples Daily News many years in a row for our summer camps and environmental education programs<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/EducationOutreach1400x500-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"EducationOutreach1400x500\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"500\" width=\"1400\" title=\"EducationOutreach1400x500\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Reaching over 50,000 children and adults each year through public awareness and community outreach programs<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/report-card-cover-landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Report Card Cover\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"985\" width=\"800\" title=\"Report Card Cover\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>Assessing the state of our region&#8217;s water quality and publishing our findings and recommendations in the Estuaries Report Card<\/p>\n\t<p>The Conservancy is committed to helping citizens stay informed, assisting our government and business leaders with science-based research, and encouraging them to make growth decisions that keep our region&#8217;s health, well being, and sustainability in mind. As a result, we &#8211; along with several other dynamic environmental organizations &#8211; have achieved a long list of accomplishments in this region.<\/p>\n\t\t<h6>\n\t\t\tHow You can help\n\t\t<\/h6>\n\t\t<h2>\n\t\t\tHelp protect our water, land, and wildlife\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/support-us\/membership\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-membership.png\" alt=\"Become a Member\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Become a Member<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Membership helps support our work and gets you free membership to the Nature Center and many other perks. Join today!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-donate.png\" alt=\"Donate\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Donate<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The majority of our funding comes from people like you who care about protecting our environment in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/support-us\/volunteer\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/icon-volunteer.png\" alt=\"Volunteer\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Volunteer<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>A variety of fun volunteer opportunities are available. Interact with diverse people, learn new skills, and enhance and share your knowledge.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The work of saving our environment started in 1964 when plans were revealed to build a road through Rookery Bay, crossing Gordon Pass and into the Ten Thousand Islands. A&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":19,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1669","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16965,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1669\/revisions\/16965"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservancy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}