In January 2025, the reticulated flatwood salamander, a federally endangered amphibian restricted to the lower southeastern coastal plain, was successfully reintroduced to a private forest in Florida's Santa Rosa County, marking the first-ever reintroduction of a listed species on private lands without regulatory risk to the landowner or adjacent properties. The effort was made possible through a first-of-its-kind Partners Program Agreement between Resource Management Service (RMS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, supported in part by funding from the Conservation Without Conflict Coalition and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The project united RMS, USFWS, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Eglin Air Force Base, the Naval Air Station at Whiting Field, Virginia Tech, the Longleaf Alliance, and the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership around a shared goal. The innovative agreement framework provides a model for future reintroductions on private working lands, demonstrating that species recovery and productive forestry are not competing objectives. With a second release planned for 2026, the project offers both a proof of concept and a replicable template for collaborative, voluntary conservation at scale.
Read the full article on the WMI Outdoor News Bulletin.
