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The state of Florida has snapped up the development rights to over 3,000 acres of land south and east of St. Cloud.
In the face of explosive growth in Osceola County—going in all directions, including land that’s been part of the area’s ranching heritage for over 150 years—over 3,000 acres of land here have been set aside for protection thanks to the Florida Legislature.
Last week, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced the protection of 8,349 acres of working Florida agricultural land, between the Heart Bar Ranch and two other ranches in Seminole and Marion County, through rural land protection easements totaling $25.2 million, $12.7 million of it under the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
Heart Bar Ranch is a cattle, timber, wildlife management, and seed operation in Osceola County. Folks may be familiar with where the Partin Ranch Corn Maze is every October— that’s part of it.
The conservation easement and protection of development rights will preserve approximately 3,080 acres of Osceola County land south and east of St. Cloud, much of which also supports cattle grazing and other protected wildlife. Osceola County Commissioner Ricky Booth’s district 5 includes the Heart Bar Ranch—and it’s in his heart as well, as his Partin family on his mother’s side has owned much of that land as a legacy ranching family since the 1840s.
“”This is very good for our wildlife corridor and our watershed and creating a boundary for the southern edge of our Urban Growth Boundary (a line the county drew years ago to define where future population growth can go, and where it can’t),” he said. “Kudos to Dave Partin and his family, and kudos to Gov. DeSantis, the state Cabinet for funding the Rural and Family Lands Project and Commissioner Simpson. This is a great program and hopefully we can see some more of it in Osceola County.”
Rural land protection easements prevent future development of the land and allow agriculture operations to continue to contribute to Florida’s economy and the production of food, timber, and other resources vital to the prosperity of Florida. It’s a way, at the state level, to slow the rapid sale of ranch land to feed a development boom that is expected to see Osceola County’s population rise to nearly 700,000 by 2045.
“Today’s approval to partner with Heart Bar Ranch and Rainey Pasture to preserve over 8,000 acres of productive agricultural land through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program is another huge win for the state of Florida,” Simpson said in a state release. “These rural land protection easements strengthen our food security though the protection of prime agricultural land, keep the protected property on the local tax rolls, and require every property owner to maintain the land and its natural resources according to state standards.”
