• Residents get to keep their open space and beautiful vistas while ensuring the last crop on a piece of land isn’t a house.
• Farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods depend on working these lands get to keep farming.
• The natural environment is preserved, helping to cleanse our waterways, protect drinking water supplies and provide natural habitats and corridors for wildlife.

Conservation Easements - Part 2

The State of Florida currently manages more than 10 million acres of wild and rural Florida. As of 2024, over 262,000 acres of land are covered by conservation easements. How did we get to this place in our history?
 
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson summed up why people in government, in agriculture, on the coast, in the heartland, and everywhere in between have gotten behind conservation efforts.
 
“By buying land development rights, we can keep the lands in perpetuity in agriculture. It makes sure that 50 years from now, 100 years from now, we can still farm in this state and provide food,” Simpson said.
 
“By safeguarding our rural lands through protection easements, we enhance food security, maintain these protected properties within the local tax system, and ensure property owners adhere to state standards for land and natural resource conservation,” added Simpson.
 
There’s real muscle behind these words. State statutes and active programs add more arrows to the quiver for land preservation. And when we understand that Florida is predicted to lose 500,000 acres of land to development by 2030, the urgency to act now is clear.
 
Let’s take a look at some of the programs having a positive impact in saving the farmlands we’ve got - before they’re gone for good.

The Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLPP)

This program has been operating since 2001 and has successfully acquired conservation easements on nearly 69,000 acres of working agricultural land.
 
For those who want to preserve the ideal vision of the family farm, this program is a godsend. It helps preserve the economic viability of existing agricultural operations – and not just so they’ll be attractive to look at. The nation’s food security depends on our ability to keep our farmers farming and producing the goods we expect to find on store shelves.
 
While it's not the main reason for the program, the other benefits are just as important: protecting natural resources like our water supply, our tree canopies, and wildlife and their habitats. More than 40 farms and ranches are part of the RFLPP including about 1,200 acres in western Martin County on property managed by Seminole Cattle Company for four generations.
 
And although not in Martin County, the iconic Adams Ranch is now protected on 60% of the property thanks to a recent conservation easement over approximately 8,881-acres of the ranch.
 
The Adams Ranch is a fourth-generation cattle operation, headquartered in Ft. Pierce with operating holdings in Osceola, Okeechobee, St. Lucie, and Madison counties. As developers of the Braford breed of cattle, the Adams Ranch holdings are one of the top producing cow-calf ranches in the United States.
 
The ranch is a perfect example of the win-win trifecta: the ranch is still in operation, there will be no development on the acres protected by the conservation easement, and the natural environment including our water supply and wildlife habitats will be preserved.

The Florida Forever Program

Florida Forever is our state’s premier conservation and recreation lands acquisition program, one of the largest in the United States. It’s a blueprint for conserving Florida’s natural and cultural heritage. It’s shaping our future.
 
Since 2001, the state has purchased more than 907,412 acres of land under the Florida Forever Program.  Much of that land is open to the public in the form of parks and recreational areas. All the lands that have been saved have huge value to ecosystem: water quality and quantity, resilience from storm impact, habitat and species protection.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor

Florida’s panthers, bears, gopher tortoises and burrowing owls can’t read the warning signs for proposed new developments in the areas where they’ve roamed for generations. They just know that for their survival, they need to get from one place to another during certain parts of the year.
 
Have you had a chance to watch “Path of the Panther”? It’s a film by nationally renowned photojournalist and 8th generation Floridian, Carlton Ward Jr. You watch it and see how obvious it is that we preserve and protect the lands and waterways essential to the continued existence of the panther and the other 130 imperiled animals in our state.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law by the Florida Legislature with unanimous bipartisan support on June 29, 2021. This conservation move protects nearly 18 million acres of contiguous wilderness and working lands crucial to our wildlife, flora, fauna, water supply, and water quality. It also protects ranching and fishing, important sectors of the Florida economy.
 
The East Coast Greenway, stretching from Maine to the Keys, is part of the Wildlife Corridor and comes right through Martin County.  If you value our green space for its beauty and its recreational opportunities, you can thank the Florida Legislature and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act.

The Wetlands Reserve Program

Wetlands are important – for so many reasons. Water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, absorbing and storing excess rainwater, reducing the risk of floods, providing wildlife habitats, recreational activities like fishing, and economic benefits from ecotourism and carbon sequestration.
 
The Wetlands Reserve Program gives financial incentives to landowners to conserve, restore and manage wetlands on their property. They can opt for permanent easements, 30-year easements, or 10-year restoration contracts.

In each case, landowners retain ownership of the land while providing all the other benefits I just mentioned.
 
Martin County is home to one of the largest Wetlands Reserve projects, the Allapattah Flats easement, managed by the South Florida Water Management District. Water stored on the Allapattah Flats is cleaned before flowing into the Indian River Lagoon. The area is open for recreation like fishing, biking, horseback riding, and camping. And it’s conserved forever for the good of all.
 
For much more information, check out these articles and websites:

• Rural and Family Lands Protection Program Safeguards Florida’s Food Supply, Farm Flavor, Dec 9, 2023
• Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
• Florida Forever, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
• Partner Efforts Lead to 36,091 Acres Approved for Corridor Conservation, Florida Wildlife Corridor
• Wetlands Reserve, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service

In Our Next Issue

Florida has had great success with its conservation easement efforts over several decades.

In our next issue, we’ll explore who monitors conservation easements, what can go wrong, and how to make sure the agreement is structured properly and enforceable in perpetuity.