State buys land for $8.5M

Gov. Rick Scott and the state Cabinet agreed Tuesday, with little comment, to spend about $8.5 million to conserve thousands of acres of land owned for decades by two ranching families in Okeechobee and Highlands counties.

The parcels being secured through the state’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program — 4,177 acres in Okeechobee County and 1,034 acres in Highlands County — could help control the quality of water entering Lake Okeechobee from the north, said Florida Forest Service Director Jim Karels.

The program involves buying conservation easements, which restrict development while allowing current landowners to continue using the property for things such as agriculture.

The Triple S Ranch in Okeechobee County, a cow and calf operation owned by the Scott family since 1948, sits about 25 miles west of Fort Pierce and is within the recharge range for the Kissimmee River basin.

The Highlands County land, owned by the Hartt family since 1939, drains into the Arbuckle Creek, which eventually flows into Lake Okeechobee.

The deals approved Tuesday are expected to leave the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program with about $11 million for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

In the 2017-18 budget recently approved by the Legislature, $10 million is set aside for the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.

The budget remains subject to Scott’s approval.