A 1,327-acre working ranch in Hardee County will remain permanently protected following approval of a conservation easement this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet.

The easement is a project of the Florida Conservation Group (FCG) and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLPP).

The conservation easement safeguards Buckhorn Ranch, a cow-calf and citrus operation east of Wauchula. The property includes nearly two miles of frontage along Buckhorn Creek, part of the Peace River watershed that ultimately supplies drinking water to more than 1 million Southwest Florida residents.

FCG, which works directly with agricultural landowners to secure conservation easements, partnered with the Smith family to help move the project through the state approval process. With this approval, nearly 4,000 acres of the family’s original ranch holdings have now been permanently conserved.

FCG Executive Director Julie Morris said the Buckhorn Ranch project reflects a broader trend of ranching families seeking to preserve working lands amid rapid growth pressures.

“Landowners like the Smiths are lining up, willing to protect their land,” Morris said. “But we need funding for both Rural and Family Lands and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Forever program. We are in a race against time. With over 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, we need to protect these lands now, before it’s too late.”

The Buckhorn Ranch easement adds acreage to the Florida Wildlife Corridor and helps link other protected lands in the region. Morris says protecting land in the Peace River Valley is particularly important because its pastures, wetlands and hardwood hammocks provide natural flood storage and water filtration before flows reach Charlotte Harbor.

Buckhorn Ranch owner Clay Smith said state conservation programs have been instrumental in keeping his family’s land intact.

“The ranch my great-grandfather put together 170 years ago was 6,000 acres overall, and much of it is still in our family,” Smith said. “The state conservation programs like Rural and Family Lands and Florida Forever are one of the main reasons we will be able to keep it just as it is.”

“It really comes down to what the Florida Legislature wants the state to look like in 30 years,” Smith added. “We can be one big urban sprawl, or we can take care of the natural resources that draw so many people to Florida in the first place. To me, it’s a no-brainer. We need to fund these programs.”

The RFLPP allows agricultural landowners to sell development rights while continuing to operate their properties. Like Florida Forever, the program depends on annual legislative appropriations.

For FCG, the Buckhorn Ranch approval underscores its expanding footprint in the Peace River region, where the organization is working with additional landowners in Hardee and DeSoto counties to pursue similar protections.

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