◆ Talks have broken off
Water district, ranching family were negotiating land trade
over turning over a piece of the celebrated Bull Creek wilderness in Osceola County to the original owner, the Kempfer ranching family.
Ending the latest chapter of a saga going back 50 years, state officials said Thursday they have broken off talks aimed at turning over a piece of celebrated Bull Creek wilderness in Osceola County to the original owner, the Kempfer ranching family.
“We couldn’t come together on values,” said Billy Kempfer, speaking by phone.
Triggering a growing furor, the St. Johns River Water Management District previously had confirmed that it had entered into negotiations with the Kempfer family to trade some of the remote Bull Creek wilderness in exchange for some the Kempfer ranch.
The water agency then remained silent for months on the matter until issuing its press release late Thursday.
“Negotiations on a proposed land exchange on the Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area have been called off,” the release states. “The district and land owner were unable to reach a suitable agreement.”
The water district, which includes North and Central Florida, said it wouldn’t be able to provide further details immediately.
A half-century ago, a state flood-control agency forced the Kempfer family to sell 16,900 acres of its holdings in Osceola County as part of a project to turn the St. Johns River into a drainage ditch.
That effort was halted in the 1970s but the state kept ownership of the Kempfer land, turning it into the Bull Creek Conser- vation Area, which now covers 23,646 acres of prime and popular Florida wilderness.
The Kempfer family has attempted previously and unsuccessfully to get back some of that ranchland. This time, said Billy Kempfer, his family had offered to declare some of its ranch permanently off limits to development and to allow occasional flooding of pasture in exchange for getting back some of the Bull Creek property.
Environmentalists and fans of Bull Creek were stunned when rumors surfaced late last year that the water agency and Kempfer ranch were negotiating a trade.
While opponents to a trade pressed aggressively for details, the water agency would confirm
only that negotiations were underway and cited the need for confidentially while appraisals were being performed.
News of the water district’s announcement spread rapidly Thursday through the environmental community and among supporters of Bull Creek wilderness.
“There was too much light being shed on it,” said Sierra Club member Doug Sphar of the water agency’s talks with the Kempfer family. “It would have never stood up to scrutiny.”
The Friends of Bull Creek had planned a barbecue, clean-up and rally at the Bull Creek property as part of gearing up for a pitched battle to stop a trade that could have come as soon as next month.
“We are very pleased negotiations have ceased,” said group president Don Aycock.
Bill Alexander, a Florida Trail Association team leader, said he, too, was happy to learn that a land deal appears dead.
“This big piece of land is irreplaceable,” he said.
Yet there remained suspicion that the agency’s announcement that talks were “called off” was either a diversionary tactic or just for a short delay.
Marjorie Holt, a longtime activist with Sierra Club on matters of land conservation, said she would not comment until the water agency revealed more about what had been proposed and why it failed.
Others said they’d remain wary of the possibility for renewed talks.
“We are pleased to see the land swap off the table,” said Sarah Owen Gledhill, planning director with the Florida Wildlife Federation. “However, we treat these issues like a cat with nine lives and we will continue to be vigilant conservationists and protect the integrity of our state’s public lands.”