This week Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet agreed to spent $9.8 million to purchase a 6,071-acre conservation easement in portions of Hardee and Polk counties to protect another part of a regional habitat corridor in the Peace River Basin.
The property owned by Crews Groves contains 3,826 acres of uplands and 2,245 acres of wetlands around Old Town Creek, which flows toward Charlie Creek, a tributary of the Peace River.
The property contains cutthroat grass, gopher tortoises, pygmy fringe tree and Florida scrub lizard.
It is adjacent or near to existing public and private conservation lands, including The Nature Conservancy’s Saddle Blanket Scrub.