Winter Springs, Florida — State leadership finalized a series of major environmental conservation agreements Tuesday, authorizing financial packages exceeding $72.6 million to place nearly 10,800 acres of rural timberlands, ranch acreage, and sensitive ecological passages under permanent protection.
The approved transactions feature a Putnam County parcel spanning 2,708 acres within the Etoniah and Cross Florida Greenway boundary, designed to protect regional water quality and aquifer recharge across the regional Ocala-to-Osceola Wildlife Corridor. In Hendry County, the governing board cleared a 3,567-acre preservation easement in the Panther Glades project zone, establishing contiguous habitat links between the Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area and Finca Vigia while maintaining permitted agricultural operations.
Additional agreements completed under the state's Rural and Family Lands Protection Program encompass agricultural tracts surpassing 4,500 acres of active working farms and ranches. Among the protected properties is a 1,034-acre working parcel at Limestone Creek Ranch, a commercial cattle operation with more than seven decades of continuous ranching history formerly held by former Governor Doyle E. Carlton.
"Florida continues to make historic investments to protect the lands and waters that make our state unique," said Governor Ron DeSantis following the cabinet approvals. "These acquisitions will strengthen the Florida Wildlife Corridor and preserve working lands. Today’s approvals ensure that Florida’s growth is balanced with the preservation of the places that define our state."
