DeSantis, Cabinet consider spending over $318M in land conservation deals | CPT PPP Coverage

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet could be poised to approve spending more than $318 million to buy conservation land and enter other deals that would shield rural properties from development.

State staff members have recommended that DeSantis and the Cabinet approve 20 proposals totaling 86,819 acres in 15 counties, from Santa Rosa County in the Panhandle to Glades and Martin counties along Lake Okeechobee. DeSantis and the Cabinet will meet Tuesday.

The proposals include seeking $111.24 million from the Florida Forever conservation program for seven parcels totaling 24,153 acres. Five of the Florida Forever proposals involve the state buying land, while two involve purchasing conservation easements, which allow landowners to continue agricultural uses in exchange for preventing development.

Another $206.85 million is targeted by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, through its Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, for 13 conservation easements covering 62,666 acres in 10 counties.

Among the proposals:

• $50.105 million would be used for a conservation easement on 5,875 acres of the Bull Hammock Ranch in Martin County. The land is about 6.5 miles west of Interstate 95, and state staff members said “development pressures are mounting from the north, south, and east due to overpopulation along the coastal areas.”
• $32.65 million from the Florida Forever program would be used to buy 12,243 acres from Bear Creek Timber LLC in Bay County. The land is about 6 miles north of Tyndall Air Force Base.
• $30.36 million from Florida Forever would be used to buy 1,265 acres from Acree JV LLC in Duval County. “It is situated within a landscape that is increasingly under pressure from expansion of nearby suburban population areas, and the property is within a residential planned unit development that allows for 1,607 single-family homes and commercial development,” staff members said in a description of the property.
• $23.85 million from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would be used for a 4,205-acre conservation easement at Overstreet Ranching in Osceola County. The land is along the eastern shore of Lake Kissimmee and adjacent to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area.
• $22.255 million would be used for a conservation easement covering 11,713 acres of Trailhead Blue Springs in Levy County. The land envelops parts of the Waccasassa River and borders three sides of the Devil’s Hammock Wildlife Management Area.
• $21.43 million would be used for a 6,123-acre conservation easement in Glades County. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services proposed deal is with Peeples Family Ranch LLC, with the land within the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
• $18.5 million would be used to buy 1,335 acres known as the Carter Quail Ranch in Volusia County from M.L. Carter Services Inc. Located about 8 miles west of New Smyrna Beach, the land abuts the Deep Creek Preserve and would add to a corridor of conservation lands from the Ocala National Forest to Fort Drum Marsh.