A Lifelong Commitment

Longtime conservationists Daphne and C. Martin Wood III recently upped their longstanding commitment to protecting the environment, pledging $1 million to the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida to further its work of combating nonnative species.

Foundation President and CEO Andrew Walker called the future bequest “exceedingly generous.” 

“It’s one of the very few we’ve gotten in that range,” Walker said. “It’s certainly far above the average planned gift in the nonprofit world.”

The donation — effective upon the Woods’ deaths — is intended to fight the nonnative species that threaten Florida’s ecology and annually cost millions to control, such as the Burmese python, Brazilian Peppertree and lionfish. 

How exactly the gift is used is up to the foundation.

“They’re the experts,” Daphne said. “They will know the most critical need when the time comes. But reptiles, particularly poisonous nonnative reptiles, are of real concern to Marty and me.”

Prompting the gift was the Woods’ advancing ages and a desire to benefit the environment, one of their abiding passions.

“Marty and I have had a lifelong love affair with nature and the outdoors since childhood,” Daphne said. “And in particular with rural land and habitat.”

Invasives, as the two see it, pose a biodiversity threat.

The lionfish is one of many invasive species that could negatively impact Florida’s native wildlife and habitat. Photo by Amanda Nalley

Theirs is not an isolated view. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), more than 500 nonindigenous plants and animals inhabit the state, including 64 species of reptiles and amphibians. Per the FWC, these species were introduced as exotic pets or entered via international trade and were released or escaped and found a home in the wild. Allowing that not all nonnative species are harmful, the FWC identifies scores of them as threats to Florida’s ecology, economy or public health.

“I think many people are unaware of how horrific invasives are,” said Daphne, who serves on the foundation’s board of directors. “Invasives make kudzu seem like something you want to plant everywhere. I’ll take kudzu nine ways to Sunday over some of these horrible things that are already breeding in Florida.”

The $1 million pledge isn’t the Woods’ first foray into fighting nonindigenous species. In 2013, they provided the prize money for the FWC’s first Python Challenge, a month-long competition to raise public awareness about invasive species that drew nearly 1,600 participants and eliminated 68 pythons.

Each year, the FWC holds the Florida Python Challenge, a conservation effort designed to remove invasive Burmese Pythons from the Everglades. Above, FWC staff pose with a python during the 2023 challenge. Photo by FWC

“We wanted to make sure that there was enough of a reward for people to want to participate,” said Daphne, adding they no longer fund the annual event now that it’s well-established.

Lest anyone think the Woods simply abhor slithering and crawly creatures, she notes that they’ve also helped fund research into the rare striped newt, a threatened species found only in the Southeastern United States and that today is again thriving in some areas.

The Woods have helped fund research into the rare Striped newt, a threatened species found only in the Southeastern United States. Photo by Kevin Enge

The Woods also have a long history of financially supporting efforts to foster an appreciation of nature among young people. Hence, their longtime involvement with programs such as the FWC-operated outdoor education centers that offer adolescents year-round opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.

If it’s not apparent, advocacy and activism are core tenets of the Woods, whose conservation mindedness informs their long participation in such organizations as the foundation and Tall Timbers Research Center (TTRC).

Also underlying their conservation activism are concerns about the possible adverse impact of unbridled development on their beloved Red Hills region.

“You only have to drive to other parts of the country to see how sprawl is eating up rural land everywhere,” Daphne said.

To ensure their area retains its natural pristine beauty, the Woods have put 8,850 acres of family property in North Florida and South Georgia into conservation easement, thus permanently protecting it from development. The decision makes them one of 135 landowners in the Red Hills region to commit a combined 157,223 acres to conservation, thanks to the TTRC’s efforts and Daphne’s participation on its easement committee.

“It’s wonderful knowing this much land will be protected and have many species of plants and animals living on it in perpetuity,” Daphne said. “I consider this our biggest accomplishment.”

Walker applauds the Woods’ commitment, placing them among Florida’s foremost conservationists who “walk the talk.”

“It’s very inspiring,” he said of their example.

Florida’s Apple Snail Dilemma

Channeled Apple Snail. Photo by Getty images plus: Kwhisky

Despite being popular aquarium pets, apple snails are pests in the wild. Florida, the FWC notes, is home to five species of these large freshwater mollusks, including the native Florida apple snail, which alone is regarded as beneficial, serving as the mainstay of the Everglades kite.

The others — the island, channeled, spike-topped and titan — are exotics and considered detrimental. Worrisome is their rapid increase and impact on wetlands, which comprise over 31% of Florida. The concern is that these snails’ voracious, indiscriminate consumption of rooted aquatic plants may significantly alter these ecosystems.

A 2023 University of Florida study of the island apple snail, in particular, found that it decreased aboveground biomass, vegetation cover and degraded water quality. The snails, the study concluded, could impact the wetlands’ ecological benefits to humans, including plant productivity, habitat maintenance and landscape aesthetics.

Of equal concern is invasive snails’ potential to displace the native species and the harm posed by the channeled and island apple snails to crops grown in natural and semi-natural wetlands, such as rice in South Florida.