State moves to guard rare ecosystem

Amy L. Edwards

Sentinel Staff Writer

November 17, 2005

More than 800 acres in the Lake Wales Ridge, an ancient ecosystem south of Orlando that is home to dozens of rare plants and animals, has been preserved by the state for conservation.

The Department of Environmental Protection announced Wednesday that it has bought conservation easement rights to the land, east of Lake Reedy in south Polk County, for $1.2 million in a move that may become more popular as land values soar out of the reach of government budgets.

A conservation easement means the landowner can continue to use the land; however, it will be protected from development. The state, meanwhile, gets the land, often at half the value of what an outright purchase would cost.

The ridge land is adjacent to the Avon Park Bombing Range and near other conservation lands, including Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. The easementis part of a much larger conservation effort that spans tens of thousands of acres of some of Florida's most-historic habitat.

"What makes this so exciting," said Tricia Martin, Lake Wales Ridge program director for The Nature Conservancy, is that it "represents progress in our efforts to piece the natural areas back together again."

The Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem is a series of ancient scrubs that stretches north and south through Central Florida. Ultimately, the state hopes to conserve areas from the ridge down the Kissimmee River corridor, which includes some areas already purchased and others areas being puzzle-pieced together.

The area is worth the efforts, state officials say.

Scientists say that long ago the ocean covered nearly all of present-day Florida except the ridge. The land became an island where plants and animals lived in isolation.

Today, 24 plants and 19 animals in Lake Wales Ridge State Forest are endangered or threatened under state or federal status, according to the state forestry department.

The land was purchased through Florida Forever, a $300 million-a-year program of the Division of State Lands.

More than $755 million has been invested through the program to preserve about 500,000 acres near military bases, and state officials plan to purchase another 650,000 acres to preserve wildlife around military operations throughout Florida.

State officials, though, have bemoaned the high price of land in recent years, watching prices soar out of reach in some cases. Conservation easements, like the one used in the ridge purchase, will likely be used more often in the future to save land from development at a price the state can afford.

Last year, the state bought 5,068 acres of conservation easements for $3.1 million.

This is the second land-conservation purchase in fast-growing Polk County in recent weeks. Last month, Polk officials gave the go-ahead to purchase 1,600 acres in the Green Swamp for $9 million through its environmental-lands program. The swamp is designated as an "area of critical concern" by state officials, serving as a major "recharge" area for the Floridan Aquifer.

In a unanimous decision, commissioners voted to buy the land near Gator Creek Reserve, east of U.S. Highway 98 near Lakeland.

For land purchases such as these in Polk County, Martin said, "It's so important for us to try and connect these landscapes and try to manage these lands into the future.

"Especially given the development pressures that we're seeing, it's really important for conservation to move forward," she said.

Amy L. Edwards can be reached at aledwards@orlandosentinel.com or 863-422-3395.