Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Awarded $100K from the Collier Community Foundation

Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary was awarded $100K as a part of the Collier Neighborhood Basis’s 2025 Celebration of Philanthropy on October 17. Certainly one of 4 native non-profit organizations chosen from dozens of purposes, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary will use the funds to develop and rework growing old campus areas to supply immersive studying alternatives in each season.

“With a proud 70-year legacy of training and conservation, we acknowledge the necessity to elevate our influence to satisfy immediately’s challenges and higher serve our group,” says Sanctuary Director Keith Laakkonen. “The Collier Neighborhood Basis’s fortieth Anniversary Grant helps us understand a visionary transformation of our campus—that includes a brand new Out of doors Classroom and a state-of-the-art Analysis Laboratory.”

Audubon’s famend 2.25-mile boardwalk presents an immersive expertise to just about 80,000 annual guests. Dynamic programming and devoted volunteers deepen these connections, whereas hundreds of scholars and summer time campers expertise out of doors exploration throughout area journeys to the Sanctuary. Sustainably constructed with nature and other people in thoughts, the campus infrastructure enhancements will develop house to attach extra learners of all ages with nature in new and significant methods, in addition to conduct revolutionary science and administration to guard susceptible wildlife and their habitats.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary’s mission is to assist the conservation and restoration of pure ecosystems all through the Western Everglades utilizing science-driven land administration and training to guard birds, different wildlife, and other people.

Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a Ramsar Wetland of Worldwide Significance and acknowledged as a Wetland of Distinction by the Society of Wetland Scientists, has been an Audubon-protected website for greater than 100 years. Established in 1954, the Sanctuary protects 13,000 acres of wilderness habitat, together with the world’s largest remaining old-growth bald cypress forest. An estimated 80,000 guests yearly discover the Sanctuary’s boardwalk via historic forest, marsh, and upland habitats.