North Florida Land Trust Awarded Grant from the Florida Defense Support Commission

The grant will help the nonprofit land conservation organization preserve land surrounding Camp Blanding to support its military mission

Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 11, 2025 – North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) has been awarded a $550,000 grant from the Florida Defense Support Commission (FDSC) to prevent incompatible land development and encroachment around Camp Blanding. FloridaCommerce recently announced the grant, which is among $2.6 million the state designated to organizations to strengthen Florida’s military communities.

NFLT has been working with Camp Blanding for nearly a decade to preserve and protect land around Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, which is located within the Ocala to Osceola (O20) critical wildlife corridor. The nonprofit has been able to conserve approximately 9,455 acres within a three-mile buffer around the military installation, enabling aerial and ground military training operations without disturbance. Almost 2,800 of those acres were conserved with a conservation easement and remain privately owned.

“This grant will assist us in continuing our work with Camp Blanding, ensuring these lands remain natural spaces, because it is now or never,” said Allison DeFoor, president and CEO of NFLT. “Camp Blanding is a critical link in the O2O, and conserving the property surrounding the base is both essential for the military and for protecting essential wildlife and plant habitats. We have been able to protect thousands of acres in coordination with Camp Blanding and look forward to conserving even more.”

NFLT’s relationship with Camp Blanding began in 2016, and since 2019, NFLT has had an exclusive cooperative agreement with the military installation to facilitate the acquisition of properties that surround the base. The nonprofit works with the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program and the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program on funding for the acquisitions. As part of the program, NFLT must provide a 25 percent non-federal match for each transaction. This FDSC grant will help NFLT meet those requirements. The non-federal match can come from any source, including donations to NFLT.

The 80,000-acre Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is central to the O2O wildlife corridor, a 1.6-million-acre network of public and private lands that extends from the Ocala to the Osceola National Forest. Preserving the land surrounding Camp Blanding provides habitats for endangered species, protects the water supply and connects the wildlife corridor. NFLT leads the O2O Partnership, comprised of public and private organizations with a common mission of land and resource conservation in the O2O.   

About North Florida Land Trust

North Florida Land Trust is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the quality of life by protecting North Florida's irreplaceable natural environment. Founded in 1999, NFLT has preserved tens of thousands of acres of land through the donation or purchase of land and conservation easements. NFLT is funded largely by private and corporate contributions and works closely with willing landowners, public agencies at all levels of government, not-for-profit partners, and foundations. For more information, visit nflt.org.