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TALLAHASEE – The state of Florida purchased about 28,000 acres, much of it in Collier and Polk counties, to be set aside conservation. One of the swaths in Polk County had been slated for an 1,876 single-family home development.
The purchase, which could total more than $150 million, will now be managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a wildlife management area.
The purchases and transaction details were included in meeting of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. The group is “charged with the acquisition, administration, management, control, supervision, conservation, protection and disposition of all lands owned by” the state.
The properties are within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a network of 18 million acres of connected lands and waters and is “vital in protecting the state’s water resources and preventing habitat fragmentation.”
Source: Business Observer (03/30/24) Llovio, Louis
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