FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
By JIM TURNER
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 10, 2016………. The state is picking up $1.5 million that the federal government had been expected to contribute to a deal to conserve 1,617 acres of ranch land and panther habitat in eastern Collier County.
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet, expressing unhappiness, agreed Tuesday to cover the additional cost of the $3.75 million purchase from the JB Ranch. Scott and Cabinet members had approved the deal in September.
“This is something that I’m very frustrated about and very embarrassed to bring back to the Cabinet,” Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said.
“At closing, they changed staff and pulled the rug out from under us,” he added.
When the deal was first approved, the state anticipated a contribution from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. However as closing neared, the federal agency raised objections about language in the deal because the state did not acquire all of the mineral rights on the land. Federal officials were concerned that could allow “horizontal” drilling, which is often used for extracting natural gas.
Putnam said after the meeting that the state finds “value in the surface benefits that (the land) provides.”
The deal involves what is known as a “conservation easement,” which typically allows landowners to continue longstanding uses of their property, such as farming and ranching. The easements serve as a way for the state to preserve natural land by preventing development.
Funding for the land is slated to come from the state’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
The land is part of the 9,303-acre JB Ranch, which is in its third generation of family management. The land sits north of the Big Cypress National Preserve and east of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to cows, various parts of the land include timber harvesting, bee keeping and row crops.
Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, said his group supported the deal as being vital to maintain panther habitat in Southwest Florida, along with preserving oak hammocks and wetlands.
“That is the ground zero for some of the best panther habitat, it’s because the rancher preserves the native habitat,” Draper said.
The land deal was one of three approved Tuesday by Scott and the Cabinet members — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Putnam.
They also agreed to spend about $6.6 million for two separate parcels in Osceola County totaling nearly 3,800 acres.
The larger of the deals will lead to the state paying $5.4 million to conserve 3,245 acres that are part of the original holdings of Adams Ranch, a fourth-generation cattle business.
The land has been appraised between $6 million and $6.165 million.
The second deal, with a price of $1.188 million, is to conserve 528 acres within an area known as Camp Lonesome.
The land is part of a 4,638-acre ranch that for more than a half-century has been used in cattle operations.
The land was owned by the Irlo Bronson family for more than 50 years and currently is owned by Carlos Vergara of Venture Four, LLC.
The land has been appraised between $1.32 million and $1.43 million.