Groups prepare to sue over Collier County development near panther habitat

NAPLES, Fla. — Environmental groups are preparing to sue over plans to build thousands of new homes on land in Collier County they said is critical breeding habitat for endangered Florida panthers.

The proposed development, known as Rural Lands West, spans more than 10,000 acres in Collier County. The planned community, years in the making, sits just west of Ave Maria off Oil Well Road and could expand residential and commercial activity in the area.

While the project has received multiple approvals, environmental groups warn it threatens one of the last areas left for Florida panthers to roam and breed.

So far in 2026, two Florida panthers have been killed — both as a result of traffic collisions in Collier County, according to the FWC.

"This lawsuit is really about wildlife in Southwest Florida. But it's also about kind of the future of what Collier County is going to look like," Matthew Schwartz, the executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association.

Schwartz said their impending lawsuit against the federal government challenges a biological opinion that allowed the project to move forward.

"It's surrounded by a whole nexus of public lands. Florida panthers are not like bobcats, they're not like opossums, not like foxes - they can't really live amongst us. They need large contiguous roadless areas for them to be able to survive," Schwartz explained.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said the Rural Lands West project, as proposed, is not "likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the caracara, indigo snake, Florida bonneted bat, Florida panther, and tricolored bat."

Schwartz and other environmental groups strongly disagree with those findings.

"We're saying the biological opinion is flawed in a number of ways. Primarily is they're not looking at all the cumulative impacts that have been happening from the development going all the way back to Florida Gulf Coast University, Ave Maria," Schwartz said.

If the federal agencies don't respond, the lawsuit will move forward in 60 days. The developer of Rural Lands West, Collier Enterprises, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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