Land Trust Strives to Preserve Farms

By RON MATUS
Sun staff writer

Every year, nearly 150,000 acres of Florida farmland – an earthy swath as big as Union County – gets cleared and paved and turned into new subdivisions and strip malls.

A handful of Alachua County residents hopes to stem that tide of concrete, one farm at a time.

"We're not going to save the whole world," said David Carr, a founding member of the new Conservation Trust for Florida. "But we're going to throw our 2 cents in."

Carr, the son of late Florida environmental legends Archie and Marjorie Carr, said the trust was formed to preserve "rural, working lands" - farms, ranches and pine plantations.

Those lands aren't pristine, but they're still valuable as wildlife habitat and recharge areas for drinking water. Anybody who has driven past a pasture studded with live oaks and palms knows they're easy on the eyes, too.

By working with willing landowners, trust members say they might be able to keep those lands working - and undeveloped.

"If you want to sell to developers and get rich, that's your business," said Gary Meffe, a member of the trust's Board of Directors. "We're not telling people they can't do that. It's their land."

But Meffe said conserving land offers financial benefits about which many landowners may not be aware.

When they donate conservation easements to land trusts, it's considered a charitable contribution that can be used as a tax write-off.

And when the owners pass away, their heirs will face a smaller bill from Uncle Sam. It's not unusual for inheritance taxes on large farms to total several hundred thousand dollars.

"I suspect a lot of people don't know that," Meffe said.

The trust sees educating landowners as a main goal. They also hope to work with foundations and wealthy donors to raise money that can be used to buy conservation easements, which keep lands in private hands but prohibit most development.

Trust members say they are discussing conservation options with several landowners, but said it was too early to name names.

Many large landowners don't want to see their property developed, Meffe said. But selling land can become an option if crops fail, or if his or her heirs can't afford to pay inheritance taxes.

Meffe said the group plans on working statewide. But for now, its focus is on south Alachua and north Marion counties.

"That's the area we all love. And that's where we see the greatest danger," said Meffe, who edits Conservation Biology, an international scientific journal. "Ocala was rated as having the worst sprawl in the entire U.S. And it's what, 20 miles south of this area? This area is very vulnerable."

The trust's goals are in line with a new program started by the state Legislature in the spring.

The Rural and Family Lands Protection Act, which was supported by a rare alliance of farmers and environmentalists, would allow the state to buy conservation easements for farms and ranches. But it wasn't funded.

Supporters say for the upcoming session, they're going to ask for $100 million a year for 10 years. But with the current budget woes, that kind of money may be a long-shot.

Meffe said the trust hopes to work with the program once funding is available, perhaps by lining up interested parties.

According to the Land Trust Alliance in Washington, D.C., there are nearly 1,300 trusts in the United States – 23 of them in Florida. That includes the Alachua Conservation Trust in Gainesville, which was founded in 1988.

Alliance spokeswoman Martha Nudel said despite the numbers, those groups don't really compete with each other, or with state programs that target land conservation.

"The scope of the problem is so large ... that state money alone is not going to solve it," Nudel said.

In the Sunshine State, the new trust may have a niche to itself.

Conservation programs such as Florida Forever have focused on saving wild lands. In the past decade, more than $3 billion has been spent conserving 1 million acres of Florida's natural lands, such as tracts around Watermelon Pond and Newnan's Lake in Alachua County.

Meanwhile, farms and ranches continue to be paved over.

Meffe said agricultural lands can be used to link wilder lands and provide corridors for animals such as black bear and bobcat. In this area, Meffe said the trust would like to build links between the Ocala National Forest, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and Goethe State Forest.

Humans would benefit, too.

Agricultural lands are also important "for history, for a sense of Old Florida, for serenity," Meffe said. "Who doesn't enjoy going out into the countryside? People go nuts in cities."

Ron Matus can be reached at (352) 374-5087 or .