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| Candidate Properties | Property Owner Expectations |

Adams Ranch | Carlton Bar A | Hayman's 7-11 | Longino Ranch
Rafter T Ranch | Smoak Groves | Two Rivers Ranch
 

TOTAL ACRES, FIRST PHASE: 170,000 acres.

POTENTIAL ACREAGE: Florida producers currently own 4.4 million acres of range/pastureland and 1.9 million acres of woodlands (which, together, comprise 18.5 percent of Florida's land area). Producers with other types of ag operations who wish to participate in the program will most likely make up for the range/pastureland and woodland owners who do not participate. TOTAL POTENTIAL: 6.3 million acres.

Model Project

Hall's Tiger Bay Ranch - 5,922 acres - located in south central DeSoto County (Rep. Adam H. Putnam, R-District 12). This ranch served as the model project for the Farmland Stewardship Agreement concept. It is a commercial cattle ranch with 964 acres of improved pasture situated among native prairie, wetland, and forest ecosystems characteristic of an undiscovered Florida. Approximately 84 percent of the ranch (or 4,958 acres) consists of native plant communities, providing habitat for wildlife and plant populations that are becoming increasingly rare in south Florida, including several listed species.

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Priority 1 Habitat for the Endangered Florida Panther

McDaniel Ranch - 21,542 acres - located in south Hendry County (Rep. Mark Foley, R-District 16) just north of the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. County Road 833 splits the ranch down the middle, going north to south. The ranch is comprised of 1,200 acres of citrus, 3,200 acres of sugar cane, 2,500 acres that are leased to vegetable and cane growers, 9,142 acres of pasture and 5,500 acres of native virgin cypress and oak hammocks. The ranch is home to panthers, black bears, eagles, swallow tail kites, turkey, deer and a wide variety of wading birds such as sand hill cranes, egrets and herons.

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Smoak Groves Venus Ranch - 8,400 acres - located in southern Highlands County (Rep. Mark Foley, R-District 16). The property derives its income from cattle operations, as well as limited sod and timber production. Approximately 3,400 acres are in improved pasture, while the remaining 5,000 acres is in native range, consisting of scrub, cutthroat seep, pine flatwoods and an extensive marsh and wetland system. The land is host to a rich variety of wildlife including bald eagle, black bear and Florida scrubjay.

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Other Priority Candidates

Adam's Ranch - 50,000 acres in western St. Lucie (Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D- District 23), northwestern Okeechobee (Rep. Mark Foley, R-District 16) and southern Osceola counties (Rep. David J. Weldon, R- District 15). One of only 8 ranches in nation to be designated the "Best Ranches of the Century" for its breeding, cow/calf and stewardship practices. One of the older, larger working ranches in Florida. The primary business is as a commercial cow/calf operation. Citrus is grown on approximately 1,500 acres. Native habitat constitutes 35 percent (17,500 acres). The balance is semi-improved or improved pasture. The ranch provides a home to a wide variety of wildlife, from bald eagles to gopher tortoises to wood storks.

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Alderman-Deloney Ranch - 3,400 acres - located in Okeechobee County (Rep. Mark Foley, R-District 16). The property is almost evenly divided between pasture (both improved and unimproved) and native habitats that include oak hammocks, pine & palmetto flatwoods, fresh water marsh and virgin cypress swamp. Wildlife is abundant.

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Carlton Bar A Ranches & Groves - 3 properties comprising 8,335 acres - located in 3 counties: DeSoto and Hardee (Rep. Adam H. Putnam, R-District 12) and Manatee County (Rep. Dan Miller, R-District 13). DeSoto County: 5,600 acres, comprised of citrus, 900 acres; cattle, 3,000 acres; and native habitats, 1,700 acres. Contiguous to Bright Hour Ranch (with existing 30,000-acre conservation easement). Provides a buffer to development to the west. Hardee County: 1,435 acres, comprised of cattle, citrus & sod, 500 acres, and pine & hardwood forests that provide habitat for wildlife & hunting, 935 acres. Horse Creek, Troublesome Creek and tributaries run through this location. Manatee County: 1,300 acres, adjacent to the Myakka River. Revenues are derived from sod, cattle, farming and hunting. Includes 650 acres native; 400 acres upland, devoted to pasture for cattle; a hardwood swamp with tributaries; and pine and cypress timber. All three locations provide habitat suitable for endangered species.

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Rafter T Ranch - 5,178 acres - located in north Highlands County (Rep. Mark Foley, R-District 16; Adam H. Putnam, R-District 12). Arbuckle Creek runs along the eastern boundary and separates the ranch from Avon Park Bombing Range. Revenues for the ranch are derived from a commercial cow/calf operation, with supplemental revenues derived from Bahia sod harvesting and seed production. The ranch has a diversity of habitat with several distinct vegetative communities. Approximately 1,000 acres of Arbuckle Creek Marsh are grazed in a carefully monitored rotational grazing system using native improved and annual grasses. Approximately 1,200 acres of flatwoods have been developed as improved pastures, with 3,000 acres remaining in scrub, cut throat seeps, bay forests, flatwood pine forests, cabbage, oak hammocks and natural timber production areas being managed for bio-diversity and aesthetic value.

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Ryals' Citrus & Cattle - 6,000 acres - located in northern Charlotte County (Rep. Porter Goss, R-District 14) and southern DeSoto County (Rep. Adam H. Putnam, R-District 12). Two of the major tributaries to the Peace River -- one of Florida's outstanding waterways -- meander across the property. Almost five miles of Prairie Creek is contained within the property. About half of the property is devoted to improved pasture, where 250 acres of watermelon are grown, with fields moved every year for seven years. The fields are returned to improved pasture after each harvest. The property also includes an 80-acre citrus grove, approximately 600 acres of wetland habitats and 1,800 acres of native pine/palmetto flatwoods and interior Florida scrub. Wildlife is abundant. The property includes Priority 1 panther habitat. It also is considered a land acquisition priority under the state's Save Our Rivers and Florida Forever programs.

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Two Rivers Ranch - 14,000 acres - located in northern Hillsborough and southern Pasco counties (Reps. Jim Davis, D- District 11, and Michael Bilirakis, R-District 9). This property is a testament to the stewardship of three generations of the Thomas family and the potential of man's benign influence as a integral part of a functioning natural system. Until 1932, when Wayne Thomas bought the first 7,500 acre parcel, this land had been abused -- logged, mined, stripped of its resources, wetlands and creeks filled with debris. Now, thanks to the care that has been lavished by the Thomas family, the land abounds with wild and secret places: upland ridges, oak hammocks, sloughs, herbaceous wetlands, pasture, native range, plantation pines, cypress domes and swamps, South Florida flatwoods, and flood plain forest. There is general agreement among those who visit Two Rivers Ranch -- environmentalists, utility companies, cattle ranchers, politicians, tree farmers, royal families, scientists, hunters, government representatives, land developers -- that the land rates among the prettiest and most productive in Florida. Some, who know about such things, observe that the land has been managed according to its highest and best use, its various resources husbanded in intensities appropriate for the land. Here, through trial and error, intuition and hard work, a land resources management scheme has evolved, guided first by the needs of the land. Successful timber, cattle and recreational operations are carried on in concert with nature in a setting that is at once primitive and sophisticated in its appeal. The ranch has approximately 3,000 acres of improved pasture, 3,000 acres of planted pine plantations and 8,000 acres of wetlands and native habitats.

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Another owner agreed: "A Farmland Stewardship Agreement would provide the financial incentive to maintain most of our land in its native state. It also would provide the necessary finances to improve wildlife habitat by establishing upland and wetland food plots."

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An owner with Priority 1 habitat for the endangered panther concurred: "We, as a family operation, would like to preserve our natural habitat. We have thousands of acres of pristine cypress which has never been harvested for timber. The Farmland Stewardship Agreement will allow us to ... preserve the heart of Florida in all its beauty for agriculture and its wildlife habitat."

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One set of owners spent $30,000 and several difficult years permitting 450 acres for conversion to a citrus operation. They have little motivation to move ahead with this conversion but pursued the permit as a way of improving the value of their property if it becomes necessary to sell because of economic difficulties or the inevitable specter of estate taxes should a death occur.

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Another owner needs cash to pay off loans secured by the property in order to avoid intensifying uses on property (and destroying habitats) to satisfy the loans.

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Still another owner has an opportunity to purchase a large adjoining property. Participation in the Farmland Stewardship Agreement would allow the owner to maintain (and even improve) current conservation activities on the existing property and obtain the cash necessary to purchase the adjoining property.

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Several property owners have been approached by investors who wish to build RV (Recreational Vehicle) camps and develop five-acre homesites. So far, they have resisted these temptations. A Farmland Stewardship Agreement will ensure they can continue to do so.

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One owner said: "The family has owned the land for 70 years and has an intense desire to continue ranching. However, current indebtedness is a threat to future sustainable operations as a non-intensive cattle ranch."

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Another set of owners are in their 7^th generation of agriculture in Florida. They have maintained as much native landscape and native ecosystems as economically possible to date. They desire to pass the property on to the 8^th generation leaving it as intact as possible without permanent restrictions of any type.

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The owners of Rafter T Ranch say: "A Farmland Stewardship Agreement would be welcomed if it provided financial incentives to return the Arbuckle Creek marsh to its natural state and permitted the acquisition of additional scrub and flatwoods to the west. The acquisition to the west would make Rafter T Ranch the sole fee owner between two government owned properties -- the Avon Park Bombing Range to the east and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Carter Creek Wildlife Preserve to the west. We believe our holistic resource management strategies would make us a flagship example of how private property should be managed. Having protected areas on both sides would serve as benchmarks to prove the point."

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Another owner has tried unsuccessfully to work with the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the Division of State Lands, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), to explore the possibility of negotiating a conservation easement. Unfortunately, the property is not located in a priority project area, so no funds are presently available to allow the owners to pursue this conservation option.

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