Florida\u2019s Miccosukee Tribe is seeking to purchase important Tribal lands to create a corridor for wildlife conservation as part of a partnership agreement with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation.<\/p>\n
The corridor will connect 18 million acres of contiguous privately owned and state wilderness that are the habitat of endangered species like Florida panthers and Key deer, reported The Guardian.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida have stewarded the lands and waters of Florida since time immemorial. The entirety of this land, and her flora and fauna, have been shaped by successive generations of our people. Our collective Indigenous Knowledge offers a unique perspective informed by this deep and historic relationship to the lands and waters of the National Wildlife Refuge System that lie within our traditional lands,\u201d said Talbert Cypress, chair of the Miccosukee Tribe, in a press release from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).<\/p>\n
During the Seminole Wars two centuries ago, Tribal members sought to protect the Everglades and avoid banishment by government forces to Indian territories in what is now Oklahoma.<\/p>\n