homes , on the Walker property .
Each home was another nail in the Everglades ’ coffin .
RESTORATION LIKE NO OTHER Every time The Walt Disney Company builds something new , it also improves a piece of nature it owns . While the law requires this mitigation , what Disney did to offset the development at Celebration far exceeded legal requirements . In 1992 , The Walt Disney Company bought Walker Ranch for $ 20 million .
The creation of the Preserve was a greatly innovative and groundbreaking collaborative effort of The Walt Disney Company , The Nature Conservancy , the State of Florida , and other partners to create wetlands and restore habitat at a large scale .
Years of cattle ranching and logging had ruined this piece of paradise . Undeterred , Disney spent almost $ 50 million to undo 150 years of logging , draining , and other environmental misdeeds done to this part of the Everglades . In 2014 , Disney bought another 3,000 acres for $ 11.5 million , and in 2019 , more than 2,500 acres for $ 34 million . The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and Universal Studios also bought smaller parcels of land to add to the preserve , but the bulk of the funding came from The Walt Disney Company .
Between the Nature Conservancy and five different governmental agencies , The Disney Wilderness Preserve undertook what some called impossible : taking a part of the Everglades that looked nothing like its former self and restoring it to its rightful place as a functioning part of the Everglades . The Nature Conservancy has
Longleaf Pine at Disney Wilderness Preserve © ERIC LASPADA - THE NATURE CONSERVANCY