TALLAHASSEE (NSF) — Florida lawmakers defied a voter-approved constitutional amendment by improperly diverting money intended for land buying and maintenance to cover agency expenses and salaries, attorneys for environmentalists told a three-judge panel at the 1st District Court of Appeal Tuesday. But lawyers representing the state argued that the environmental groups are trying to impose restrictions on spending that doesn’t …
Land Conservation Funding in Florida Needs Your Voice
Week four of the 2019 Florida legislative session is taking place this week in Tallahassee, and many have been busy looking over the proposed state budgets for the upcoming fiscal year rolled out last Friday by both the House and Senate. The release of those budget proposals came after House and Senate subcommittees issued pieces of the spending plans earlier …
NRCS Alabama Announces Conservation Easement Signup
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Alabama has announced that eligible producers interested in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program’s Wetlands Reserve Easements (WRE) and Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) components should apply for program funds by April 15 at their local USDA service center. Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, financial assistance is available for landowners …
Florida Ag Land Conservation Easement Signup Underway
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida has announced that applications to fund agricultural easements in Florida are being accepted until April 25. NRCS provides financial and technical assistance to conserve working lands and wetlands through two programs, the Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) and Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE). Through WRE, agricultural landowners and Indian tribes …
State Appeals Conservation Funding Case
Legislative leaders are appealing a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling that the state has not properly carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment that required spending on land and water conservation. Attorneys for House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, filed a notice this week of taking the case to the 1st District Court of …
Scott, Cabinet Approve Conserving Former Mission Site
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet agreed Wednesday to spend $660,060 to conserve 772 acres of ranchland in Madison County that four centuries ago included a Spanish mission. The Cabinet vote came without comment. The deal, which involves purchasing a “conservation easement,” would allow the Koblegard family to continue operating a cow and calf ranch on land it has …
Alabama Ag Land Conservation Easement Sign-up Ends Friday
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Alabama wants to remind landowners that this Friday, January 19, is the deadline to apply for 2018 financial and technical assistance to conserve working lands and wetlands through two programs. Alabama Ag Land Conservation Easement Signup Ends Friday Sponsored ContentCIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsNovember 1, 2024Nuseed Carinata Covers New GroundOctober 1, 2024TriEst Ag Group: …
Senate Panel Backs $100 Million for Florida Forever
A measure that would double the amount Gov. Rick Scott wants to spend on the state’s most-prominent land preservation program was easily approved Monday during its first Senate committee. And bill sponsor Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican elevated earlier in the day to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said the state isn’t doing enough for land conservation. The …
Cabinet Weighs Highlands Conservation Plan
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet next week will consider a proposal to spend $1.58 million to help conserve about 1,000 acres of land in Highlands County. The proposal involves buying what is known as a “perpetual conservation easement” on 1,034 acres of ranch land owned by S.Y. Hartt & Son, Inc. The Hartt family bought the northern Highlands …