News featuring Alachua-Wild



​WUFT’s three-part investigation into Alachua County’s forests, powered by Alachua Wild data, highlights both the scale of canopy loss across our region and the importance of protecting the forests that remain. 

The series begins with the concept of a “zero day” — the projected date when a community exhausts its remaining non-protected oak forests if current clearing rates continue. For Gainesville, that date is 2126. The reporting also documents the loss of approximately 5% of the county’s non-protected oak forests since 2017, including rapid clearing in the Kanapaha Forest area. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

The third story focuses on Graham Woods and Graham Pond at UF, where current plans would remove 1,168 trees, including nearly 70 heritage trees, for stormwater infrastructure. While UF has historically maintained one of the strongest canopy records in the region, WUFT found that the university experienced its largest annual canopy decline in the dataset last year. As Florida Museum botanist Lucas Majure noted, “It’s never going to be what it is now,” describing the difference between a functioning forest ecosystem and a landscaped replacement. Read Part 3.

The series also highlights a hopeful example in McCarty Woods, which was saved from development through community action in 2021. As UF Biodiversity Institute Director Pam Soltis observed, “These places can be protected, but only if people continue to care for them.” Together, these stories remind us that forests that take centuries to develop can disappear in days, while recovery takes generations. 

Explore the full Alachua Wild dataset.

Part 1: https://www.wuft.org/environment/2026-05-29/from-shaded-roads-to-bare-ground-alachua-countys-disappearing-oak-forests

Part 2: https://www.wuft.org/environment/2026-06-02/from-forest-to-subdivision-how-alachua-county-handles-development

Part 3: https://www.wuft.org/environment/2026-06-04/uf-has-done-well-preserving-its-tree-canopy-but-its-under-threat

Alachua-Wild: https://www.speclab.org/alachua-wild.html