Special Large Property Opportunities
Occasionally unique opportunities occur to protect large parcels of wildlife habitat that do not necessarily follow existing tools or patterns. These parcels are important in their own right but also often form pieces of larger conservation plans that additional large land owners and local governments can partner. Below are a few examples to consider.
1. Babcock Ranch - Straddling the border between Charlotte and Lee counties, the 91,000- acre Babcock Ranch was one of the largest remaining
undeveloped tracts of privately-owned land in Florida. As part of its continuing commitment to preserve habitats Florida bought 74,000 acres of land in Babcock Ranch. Babcock Ranch is home to the Florida panther, Florida black bear and other threatened and endangered wildlife such as the crested caracara. The ranch includes large, well managed areas of pine and scrubby flatwoods along with a highly functional freshwater swamp system known as Telegraph Swamp. Acquisition of the Babcock Ranch completed a massive natural land corridor from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.
2. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is located northeast of Naples, Florida. It is owned and operated by the National Audubon Society and was established in 1952. The Sanctuary’s 11,000 acres are within the Big Cypress Swamp and the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) planning area. A two-mile long boardwalk passes through the sanctuary and through distinct environmental areas including pinelands, freshwater marshes and wet prairie, cypress swamps and hardwood hammocks. The Sanctuary is one of the largest remaining breeding ground for the endangered wood stork. Low, winter water levels with fish laden water holes signal the storks to begin nesting as they now have enough food to raise their young. When water management practices delay the winter drying season, the storks begin nesting later thus when the spring rains disperse the fish, the storks prematurely abandon their nests and young.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is located directly in the Center of this map forming a linkage piece between the east and west CREW area.
3. Archbold Biological Station has been instrumental in developing a major plan for a network of biological preserves to protect the endangered habitats of the Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem. This plan includes the first National Wildfire Refuge in the United States to be designed around protection of endangered plants. Archbold Biological Station is an independent, non-profit research facility, devoted to long-term ecological research and conservation. The Station owns and manages a 5,193-acre, globally significant natural preserve. The Station also manages the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center (MAERC) (10,300 acres) at Buck Island Ranch. Archbold Expeditions also manages the Reserve (3,648 acres) adjacent to the Station.
Archbold Biological Station is just a piece of the area known as the Lake Wales Ridge. A biodiversity hotspot for species endemic to Florida.
4. Nokuse Plantation
Nokuse Plantation is 53,000 acre private conservation initiative in the Florida Panhandle conceptualized and funded by M. C. Davis and Sam Shine. It is designed to be both a model and a catalyst for future landscape level conservation projects, which is the only way to preserve nature’s intrinsic biodiversity. Nokuse Plantation actively engages the private sector in the implementation of large scale conservation, preservation and restoration projects. Nokuse focuses on securing a vital corridor between existing federal and state lands in the Florida Panhandle that will serve as the first link in a biodiversity chain.
Nokuse parcels form and imporatant link from Eglin to the Choctawhatchee River Corridor parcels protected by the acquisitions of the Northwest Florida Water Management District
5. Eglin Air Force Base -The Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP
) and the Northwest Florida Greenway - The Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP) is a unique collaboration among Eglin AFB, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Champion International Corporation, Blackwater River State Forest, Northwest Florida Water Management District and National Forests in Alabama and Florida, who cooperate under the auspices of a 1996 multi party Memorandum of Understanding. The partners manage more than 840,000 acres in one of the most important conservation landscapes in the Southeast. Eglin Air Force Base alone spans 463,742 acres across three counties in Northwest Florida, and over 130,000 square miles of military operating airspace in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The base was created out of the Choctawhatchee National Forest in the Would War II era. The Natural Resources Program supports the total Eglin mission through responsible stewardship of Eglin’s natural resources using integrated natural resources management employing principles of ecosystem management. This allows compatible, multiple use of ranges and ensures ecosystem viability while protecting and conserving biological diversity. Ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation and adaptive management are the foundations of Eglin’s conservation programs. Ecosystem principles and guidelines are implemented through an adaptive management approach. 
The Eglin landscape contains almost half of the 83 natural community types recognized in Florida. These natural communities vary in size from hundreds to thousands of acres. Thirty-four are the premiere remaining examples of high-quality natural communities in the world. They provide critical habitat for rare and endangered plants and animals. Eglin’s noteworthy community types include: The largest remaining contiguous acreage of old-growth longleaf pine forests; twenty miles of pristine barrier islands; the best remaining global examples of steephead creeks.
Heading east out of Eglin is an area where the Northwest Florida Greenway ia under consideration. It establishes a 750,000 acre, 100-mile corridor, which follows the flight path of military aircraft on training exercises. Largely undeveloped, the land is teaming with wildlife and native flora – ideal for conservation and recreation. Ultimately, the greenway would span six counties and connect two large existing protected areas: Eglin Air Force Base and the Apalachicola National Forest.
Envisioned is a functional rural lands and wildlife linkage from the Apalachicola National Forest to Eglin.
Various large parcel opportunities linked together have created a regional wildlife benefit that even connects across state lines into Alabama vis the Conecuh National Forest. Blackwater State Forest and the recent Yellow River Rivines acquisitions make the link from Eglin AFB to Conecuh.
Land Protection Strategies - Lands will be conserved through purchase from willing property owners and the acquisition of development rights using conservation easements. Conservation easements allow property owners and communities to continue to derive economic benefit from the land while protecting it from development. Land swaps and environmental mitigation may also be an effective means to preserve property.
6. Tall Timbers Land In the Red Hills region of North Floridaand South Georgia
Tall Timbers is a land conservancy with a very impressive record protecting large tracts of land using voluntary donated conservation easements. Since its foundation in 1990, Tall Timbers and its conservation partners have conserved over 100,000 acres of working forests, farms and recreational lands, and are working toward protecting another 100,000 acres by 2020. The region’s unique history as one of America’s premier quail hunting destinations has allowed Tall Timbers the opportunity to work with owners of large tracts of forested land in a region that has to date been largely spared from sprawling development.
Tall Timbers’ focus is protecting lands from Tallahassee, FL to Thomasville, GA and from the Aucilla River to the Ochlockonee River. This ecologically rich area contains some of the last remnants of the great longleaf pine forests remaining in the nation and more than 60 listed species of plants and animals. The importance of the Red Hills is underscored by the fact that it contains some of the highest recharge areas for the Floridan Aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for portions of Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Easements placed on these lands protect the region’s water quality, air quality, wildlife and distinctive canopy roads.
The majority of the land in the Red Hills region has been privately owned as large plantations for generations. Landowners donate conservation easements because of a strong desire to protect their land for their families and future generations. Conserving land using a conservation easement allows the landowner to retain ownership and prescribed use of the property, while providing substantial tax benefits through the reduction of federal income and estate taxes, and possible property tax relief. Landowners retain all property rights except those specifically relinquished or restricted by the easement and in many cases are free to use their property as they have in the past.
Changes to the federal tax code in 2006 raised the deduction donors can take for donating an easement from 30% of their adjusted gross income in any year to 50%. Qualifying farmers and ranchers can deduct up to 100% of their adjusted gross income. The tax code changes also increased the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 years to 16 years. The new rules provide a significant benefit to landowners who previously could not deduct the full value of their gift. By taking advantage of incentives provided by federal tax law; understanding the needs of its landowner base; and protecting the natural, scenic, and cultural traditions of this working rural landscape, Tall Timbers has developed a model of conservation well suited to the Red Hills region and perhaps elsewhere.
