We are happy to see these protections provided by the State of Florida. Even though these protections appear to prevent development at this time, we have learned that no lands can be assumed safe from the greedy and spineless leaders who oversee Florida’s rural areas.
Read the complete article here in the Orlando Sentinel.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Governor, Cabinet protect thousands of acres in Central Florida from development
The Florida Cabinet approved the purchase of the 1,362-acre Yarborough Ranch property on March 26, 2024, to protect it from development. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
By Martin E. Comas | mcomas@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel and Natalia Jaramillo | najaramillo@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel
PUBLISHED: March 26, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. | UPDATED: March 26, 2024 at 5:33 p.m.
Nearly 4,400 acres of pasture lands in Central Florida will soon be forever protected from development and continue serving as critical pieces of a statewide wildlife corridor.
Acting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved purchasing Yarborough Ranch in Seminole County and development rights to the Heart Bar Ranch in Osceola County.
“This is fantastic,” Richard Durr, director of Seminole’s parks and recreation department, said about the state’s acquisition of the Yarborough land. “The fact that we could see this property put into conservation and recreation to some degree … it’s just a wonderful outcome.”
The $34.5 million purchase of the 1,361-acre Yarborough Ranch was made under the Florida Forever land acquisition program.
The property — used by the Yarboroughs for more than 150 years to raise cattle — will soon be added to the neighboring Little Big Econ State Forest, one of several large conservation parcels owned by the state near the banks of the Econlockhatchee River in east Seminole. The sale contract still has to be finalized with the family.
At the morning meeting in Tallahassee, the Cabinet also approved spending nearly $12.7 million for the development rights to the 3,000-acre Heart Bar Ranch in Osceola under the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
Under that deal the Partins, who’ve raised cattle there since 1847, will keep their land from development forever. A state analysis and the Partins shared growing concerns over the ranch’s proximity to the county’s expanding urban growth boundary, thereby making the land increasingly vulnerable to rooftops and pavement.
But it was the Yarborough Ranch purchase that drew the most local excitement, as Seminole commissioners and staff cheered and clapped at their morning meeting after the news was announced.
“It’s going to be a huge asset to Seminole County for multiple generations,” Commissioner Jay Zembower said. “We’re not going to have development on that property. It will help continue the rural flavor of the eastern side of the county.”
Dotted with ponds, wetlands and old-growth forests, the Yarborough land sits just south of State Road 46 and east of Snow Hill Road.
Since prehistoric times a variety of fauna have used it as a corridor between North Florida and the Everglades to nest, hunt and breed. Deer, black bears, bobcats and eagles have shared the land with cowboys in recent decades.
“The property’s diverse landscape of basin swamp, sand pine scrub, wet flatwoods … provides potential habitat for several imperiled species, including the Florida black bear and gopher tortoise,” state wildlife biologists said in a staff report to the Cabinet.
About two decades ago, the Yarboroughs were given the rights to build 300 homes on the property. Then last year, the family said it was ready to move forward with selling it to developers. In effect, it would’ve created a pocket of rooftops between thousands of acres of pristine land and impede that wildlife corridor.
After cries from the public and conservation organizations — including Florida Audubon — for some entity to buy the land for conservation, Seminole agreed last year to ask the Florida Forever program to step in with the purchase.
Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon Florida, had long urged either Seminole or the Florida Forever to buy it because of its ecological importance.
“Audubon Florida believes that the Yarborough tract is one of the most vital missing links in the Florida Wildlife Corridor in Central Florida,” Lee said after Tuesday’s decision.
Conserving the Yarborough land also would protect the nearby Econlockhatchee River, a nearly 60-mile stretch of waterway that flows north from Osceola County into the larger St. Johns River in east Seminole, Lee and state officials said.
The state analysis notes the Yarborough Ranch sits entirely atop the Geneva freshwater lens, an underground source of freshwater for east Seminole residents who live on large-acre lots. Adding hundreds of homes and commercial development on the property would deplete that drinking water source.
“Anything we can do to protect water quality as well as conserve the land, it’s a win-win,” Zembower said.
Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, cast the sole vote against the Yarborough acquisition.
“I think the merits of what we’re trying to accomplish with protecting state lands … I think it’s a wise thing to do,” Patronis said after the meeting. “But I’m also very fiscally disciplined … I just think the price was high.”
Two appraisals of the property commissioned by Seminole in October showed the land worth about $35 million.
The other Cabinet members — DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson — voted for the Yarborough acquisition.
The ranch is still used today with about 200 heads of cattle. After it’s transferred to the state in the coming months, the property will be maintained by the Florida Forest Service. It’s unclear when it will be opened to the public. Even so, it will remain rural with trails for hiking and horseback riding….
