Conservation Easement

We live in paradise, also known as Central Florida, Green Swamp West, Woodhills Ranch. More than twenty years ago we felt the need to have some rural property. We have a great need to be in the country, not in spitting distance from anyone. And so, as we were looking for some rural place, perhaps on a river, we heard of land north of Tampa and a bit north of Dade City, that was part of the huge Cummer lumber tract, and they wanted to sell out. We looked at this land and it was the prettiest woods and fields we had ever seen. Immediately, we plotted our way to owning a portion of it. At that time we were not rich, but frugal, and beginning to put kids through college. But we used 'creative financing' to buy this land- 250 acres. It was the best gamble of our lives.

At first we camped out on the property. Gradually, as we came to know it, and we had more income, we staked out a future barn site we built, then a house, a guest house, a pool, and now two workshops. Flocks of friends came, our grandchildren, and kids from my school have come every single year for their week at the ranch, the best activity they said. Our daughter grew up here and we have so many memories of nights we had to care for new calves, or plastering ourselves dressed only in nightgowns, against the fence, as a cow stampede went by.

I remember a time when middle school kids were here and we went out in the truck and observed the birth of a calf. This was an amazing event to them. They were totally quiet, watching the whole thing for almost an hour. When the tiny calf stood up, finally, they all cheered.

This place has history for our family and for so many others. We do not want to see little mansions dotted around the gentle hills. We want to keep this ranch pristine, no development. Our neighbors on one side, the Blanchards, have put their 1200 acres into a conservation easement. On the other side is Swiftmud all the way to the Withlacoochee River. With all these properties together, it makes a strong corridor for wildlife to flow for a long distance through the Green Swamp. The birds and owls, turkeys, Florida jays, foxes, all kinds of reptiles, have a place to go and to be. We had the opportunity to add sixty acres to our land, and we did.

A long way around describing a conservation easement. First of all, we want to keep this place as a wild Florida place for future generations. Second, we could not imagine how any of our children would have the resources to keep this place up (even if they wanted ).
By putting this place in a conservaton easement, it lowers the value of the land. No one, not us, not anyone in the future can develop this land. What's here now is all that there can be.

There are several ways one can do this: you can pay to get your land into a land trust, or, if your land is in a critically environmental situation, the state will pay you for the conservation rights. We explored all options, excluding The Nature Conservancy because Andy is involved with that. Swiftmud, our neighbor to the south and to the north was a natural.

Today, we heard that, after all these months of negotiation, SWIFTMUD has granted us the easement. Two newspapers have called for interviews about it. It makes me nervous! All I want to be is an anonymous wildlife conservator. This is a win-win situation. SWIFTMUD has allocated from Florida Forever funds a million dollars for the development rights to our land. Many weeks from now I assume we will get a check. We will pay off the realtor (5%), the surveyors, and the people who made core samples in the cow pens to check for old arsenic, and we will pay a huge 25% capital gains tax. We will fund a 529 for our six grandchildren to go to college, and we will pay down a chair we have funded at USF. Whew! Maybe enough left for a new tractor? Probably not!

But it is still fun to win the lottery!