Heartland Conservation Land Deals Adding Up

This week the folks in Tallahassee announced more agreements to purchase conservation easements here in the Heartland, which contains the Peace River Basin, the Lake Wales Ridge and the Everglades Headwaters.
The latest purchases involve 12,128 acres in DeSoto, Hardee and Okeechobee counties involving the purchase of development rights at local ranches.
This is in addition to the 30,414 acres in conservation easements the state has purchased in recent years in the region.
The protection efforts, some of which are tied in part to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, are really starting to add up.
When you add in the purchase of Creek Ranch in eastern Polk County and the purchase in recent years of land for the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and the land that was already in private or public conservation ownership the map is becoming greener all of the time.
Polk’s newly reorganized land purchase program as a result of the successful 2022 referendum is expected to eventually add to that total.
Overall, this continues to be a real success story.