Healthy wild turkey populations depend on healthy habitats. Across Florida, land managers are working year-round to restore forests, improve native ecosystems, and maintain the open landscapes that wild turkeys and countless other species need to survive.
Thanks to funding from our Foundation’s Wildlife Foundation of Florida specialty license plate, the Florida Wild Turkey Cost-Share Program is continuing that work on public lands across the state.
The program is a long-running partnership between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Florida Forest Service. Since it began in 1994, the program has invested more than $7 million into habitat restoration projects that benefit wild turkeys and other wildlife on Florida’s public lands.
This year alone the program supported 27 habitat improvement projects across 21 managed properties across the state, including wildlife management areas and state forests. These projects included prescribed fire, invasive species control, longleaf pine restoration, roller chopping, herbicide treatments, and other habitat management practices that help restore natural ecosystems.
The impact was massive. In 2025 the program improved or enhanced more than 151,000 acres of habitat, making it the most impactful year in the program’s history.
One of the biggest reasons for that success was prescribed fire. Fire is essential to maintaining healthy Florida ecosystems, especially longleaf pine habitats that wild turkeys depend on for nesting, feeding, and brood rearing. In northwest Florida alone restoration teams helped complete 95 prescribed burns covering more than 109,000 acres.
These restoration efforts benefit far more than wild turkeys. Species like gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes, Bachman’s sparrows, northern bobwhite quail, and red-cockaded woodpeckers also rely on these healthy fire-maintained habitats. In fact, decades of habitat restoration and prescribed fire have helped the Blackwater River State Forest and Conecuh National Forest red-cockaded woodpecker population recover after once being at risk of disappearing.
The work also included aggressive invasive species removal efforts. Crews treated invasive plants like cogongrass, Chinese tallow, kudzu, and Japanese climbing fern across thousands of acres, helping native plants and wildlife thrive again.
Because these projects take place on public lands, the benefits extend directly to Floridians who hunt, hike, camp, birdwatch, and enjoy the outdoors. Better habitat means healthier wildlife populations and stronger ecosystems for everyone.
By purchasing the Wildlife Foundation of Florida specialty license plate, you can help fund habitat restoration projects like these across the state. Click the button below to get yours today.
