Just north of here, the Ocala Greenway Disc Golf Course sits within the remnants of the Atlantic-Gulf Ship Canal, where by 1936 workers had excavated 13 million cubic yards of dirt for an ambitious but ultimately doomed project, and traces of the canal remain visible along the greenway. After canal plans failed, the natural sandhill habitat was converted into cattle pasture. The Florida Park Service has worked to restore the former canal lands to a healthy ecosystem, with biologists and rangers planting longleaf pines and wiregrass, the two building blocks of sandhill habitat. The greenway now serves as a natural corridor stretching across Florida, and Florida Park Service staff have seen gopher tortoise, southern fox squirrel, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, bobwhite quail, red rat snake, and other species there, while threatened wildlife pressed for space by habitat loss can find sanctuary here.