Featured Destination Story

White Oak Conservation

Yulee, FL

Located on the banks of the St. Marys River, 30 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida, White Oak encompasses more than 17,000 acres of hardwood hammocks, pine forest, and tidal wetlands. The Gilman family acquired the property in 1938, and philanthropist Howard Gilman established a significant program for the conservation and propagation of imperiled species at White Oak in 1982. Since that time, White Oak has become one of the world’s premier wildlife conservation facilities. Now owned by Mark and Kimbra Walter, both long-standing conservationists were already noted for their philanthropy-supported work with conservation and wildlife programs across North America. White Oak operations and facilities are currently managed by White Oak Conservation Holdings LLC, which the Walters established for this purpose.

White Oak is well-known in the conservation and zoo communities for its rhinoceros, cheetah, antelope, and okapi (a rare giraffe relative) programs, and for its support of conservation in Africa, Asia, and the United States. Since its inception in 1983, the conservation breeding programs have contributed to dozens of rhinoceros, cheetahs, and antelope being born into captive conservation populations. The facility has also been responsible for re-introducing bongo antelope, roan antelope, and black rhinos back into Africa. In the United States, White Oak has worked with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission to bolster wild populations of critically endangered Florida panthers and Mississippi sandhill cranes.