DeSantis and Cabinet protect more than 10,770 acres, from Putnam County woods to Martin County ranches

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet on Sept. 29 approved conservation deals covering more than 10,770 acres across the state, an investment of more than $72.6 million, according to the governor's office. The approvals include two large Florida Forever conservation easements in Putnam and Hendry counties and seven working farms and ranches protected through the state's Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, most of them inside the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

The deals keep the land in private hands while permanently barring development. That approach has become the state's main tool for slowing the conversion of rural Florida into subdivisions as the population keeps growing.

The two Florida Forever easements

The largest single piece is a 3,567-acre conservation easement within the Panther Glades Florida Forever project in Hendry County. According to the governor's office, it will connect the Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area with Finca Vigia, adding to a mosaic of protected lands in Southwest Florida, while allowing the property to stay in agricultural use.

The second is a 2,708-acre conservation easement within the Etoniah/Cross Florida Greenway Florida Forever project in Putnam County. It will create a connection to the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway State Recreation and Conservation Area and other conservation lands within the Ocala-to-Osceola Wildlife Corridor, which links the Ocala and Osceola national forests. The state said protecting the tract will safeguard regional water supply and water quality, enhance flood protection and contribute to aquifer recharge.

Both properties lie within the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The governor's office did not list a separate price for each of the two easements.

Seven farms and ranches

The Cabinet also approved permanent rural lands protection easements over about 4,500 acres of working agricultural land through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The department's release detailed each property.

Acreages are approximate, as listed by the department. Martin County is sharing the cost on two of its properties, contributing $10,075,000 toward the Leonard Property and $3,740,000 toward Turnpike Dairy.

A ranch with a governor's history

Limestone Creek, in Hardee County, drew particular attention from the governor's office. The roughly 1,034-acre ranch has been a working cattle operation for more than 70 years and was formerly owned by Doyle E. Carlton, who served as Florida's governor from 1929 to 1933. According to the agriculture department, the property runs an average of 300 head of cattle and is bisected by Limestone Creek, which drains east to the Peace River.

Development pressure on the coasts and in Central Florida

Several of the properties sit in the path of growth. The department said Encore Farms, a horse and cattle operation adjacent to Seminole State Forest and near Wekiwa Springs State Park, faces significant development pressure from its frontage on County Road 46A and surrounding residential growth. Blandford Farm & Ranch is about 3 miles from Mount Dora and roughly 23 miles from downtown Orlando, in what the department described as a transitioning market area.

In Martin County, the Leonard Property, a mix of improved pasture, pine flatwoods, freshwater marshes and cypress, faces development pressure along SW Bridge Road, the department said. Fair Bluff Ranch, which includes pasture, forested uplands and freshwater marshes, sits in the Taylor Creek and Nubbin Slough basin of the Northern Everglades and Lake Okeechobee watershed, an area the state has identified as a priority for water quality restoration. Turnpike Dairy has been run by the same family for multiple generations and sits next to South Florida Water Management District conservation lands.

In North Florida, Stokes Farm in Columbia County is the largest of the seven. It is a timber operation with planted pines and roughly 100 acres of pasture used for horse grazing.

Five of the seven agricultural properties are within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, according to the department, and all seven are enrolled in its Best Management Practices program for water quality.

What officials said

"Florida continues to make historic investments to protect the lands and waters that make our state unique," DeSantis said in a statement, adding that the acquisitions will strengthen the corridor and preserve working lands.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson called the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program "a proven, cost-effective way to keep productive farmland in private hands." In his department's release, Simpson said the easements protect Florida's food supply without taking land off the tax rolls. As Senate president, Simpson championed the 2021 Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which directed the state to protect and connect natural areas and working lands.

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Alexis A. Lambert said the projects will connect conservation lands while protecting water resources and wildlife habitat.

The bigger picture

The state has spent more than $1.5 billion on land conservation through Florida Forever since 2019, acquiring more than 500,000 acres, 92% of them within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, according to the governor's office.

The Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, created in 2001, has now permanently preserved more than 251,000 acres of working agricultural land, with nearly 186,000 of those acres protected during Simpson's tenure, according to the agriculture department. Simpson's office said he has helped secure more than $1.1 billion in state funding for the program since 2022, including $425 million in the 2026-27 state budget.

What's next

Along with the individual deals, the Governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, approved the 2026 Rural and Family Lands Protection Program project acquisition list. It is made up of projects from earlier application cycles, including properties on the 2025 list that are still awaiting purchase, and sets up the pipeline for future easement approvals at upcoming Cabinet meetings. With $425 million budgeted for the program this year, more ranch and farm easements are expected to come before the Cabinet in the months ahead.