Family Lands Remembered Honored with Geo for Good Impact Award

Family Lands Remembered has recently been awarded a Geo for Good Impact Award for our work on the Green Heart of the Everglades Project. 

The Geo for Good Impact Awards are honorary awards celebrating users and organizations that are creating real-world impact using Google’s mapping tools. Google launched the Geo for Good Impact Awards program to recognize the collective impact and contributions made by users, partners, changemakers and communities who’ve used Google’s mapping tools to drive environmental change.  

Family Lands Remembered has utilized Google’s mapping tools, specifically Google Earth, for a number of our projects to map out the area and gain an understanding of the needs of the land. We received this award for our work using Google Earth to visualize and analyze the landscape of uplands and wetlands that make up the Green Heart of the Everglades. 

The Green Heart of the Everglades project was a large-scale conservation initiative to facilitate the State of Florida’s acquisition of 11,053 acres of private lands, thereby placing the lands in permanent conservation in Southwest Florida. Family Lands Remembered worked in partnership with WildLandscapes International, a non-profit 501c(3) organization dedicated to landscape conservation worldwide, to protect the 11,053 acres located in Collier County, Florida, situated between Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Everglades National Park. 

These 11,053 acres were the last large tract of private land in the Everglades-Big Cypress Region and represent the final conservation of this ecosystem. The acquisition includes the oil, gas, and mineral rights in addition to land and water resources, protecting the mangrove forest habitat, endangered species, and water quality of the area. 

This project ensures these lands are protected for generations to come and supports the continuation of important commercial eco-tourism activities, including airboat tours, which are a key part of the local economy in nearby Everglades City and the surrounding area. 

Family Lands Remembered is honored to have received this award and excited to share the project that made it possible. We look forward to continuing our use of Google’s mapping tools to create real-world impact in our large-scale conservation, innovative water use, and sustainable development projects moving forward. 

To read more about the Geo for Good Impact Awards, follow the link below.