{"id":14905,"date":"2025-10-22T01:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/14905\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T01:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:09:10","slug":"florida-conservation-group-safeguards-7300-acres-of-working-lands-in-levy-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/14905\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Conservation Group safeguards 7,300 acres of working lands in Levy County"},"content":{"rendered":"

As growth and development accelerate in Levy County, the Florida Conservation Group<\/a> (FCG) has secured the permanent protection of more than 7,300 acres of working forests and farmland through coordinated efforts with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services\u2019<\/a> (FDACS) Rural and Family Lands Protection Program<\/a> (RFLPP) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection\u2019s<\/a> (DEP) Florida Forever<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

FCG facilitated the conservation of more than 3,800 acres of working forests through the Florida Forever program, which prioritizes ecologically significant land. Another 3,500 acres of agricultural land were preserved through the RFLPP, a program focused on keeping ranches and farmlands in operation while preventing future development. Together, these conservation easements reflect how state land conservation programs can work in tandem to protect working lands in a region experiencing rapid growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrograms like the RFLPP and Florida Forever are Florida\u2019s most powerful tools to safeguard our working lands,\u201d said Julie Morris, executive director of FCG. \u201cThese lands provide wildlife habitat, green space, and clean air, as well as protect our water resources and our food security. They keep Florida running, and if we don\u2019t protect them now, we risk losing them to sprawl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded initially to protect Florida\u2019s ranchlands, FCG expanded its mission to include working forests as landowners managing timberlands sought conservation assistance. Today, the organization works across both landscapes \u2014 ranches and forests \u2014 that are essential to Florida\u2019s wildlife, water resources, and agricultural economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the reduced demand for timber products, there is a strong incentive for landowners to subdivide their property, resulting in fragmented habitat and a larger human footprint,\u201d said Dr. T.R. Baxter, a landowner in Chiefland whose property was preserved through the Florida Forever program. \u201cThanks to the assistance of the Florida Conservation Group and the generosity of the people of Florida through Florida Forever, this tract of land will remain intact in perpetuity. This preservation will benefit all people and all things wild through increased air quality, increased water quality, and Wildlife Corridor continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In northern Florida, timberlands make up the bulk of the Wildlife Corridor, while private ranchlands dominate in the south.<\/p>\n

Programs like Florida Forever and the RFLPP allow landowners to conserve their property in perpetuity without sacrificing operational productivity, conserving the natural systems that support Florida\u2019s environment and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unbelievable growth over the last decade has positioned this region as the next frontier, and if we\u2019re going to preserve Florida\u2019s rural lands, the time to act is now,\u201d said Don Quincey, FCG Board member and owner of Quincey Cattle Beef in Chiefland. \u201cProtecting rural landscapes safeguards critical wildlife habitat, natural resources, sustainable agriculture and the communities that depend on them. I\u2019m grateful to Commissioner (Wilton) Simpson and state programs like the RFLPP and Florida Forever for their leadership in advancing conservation across rural Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As growth and development accelerate in Levy County, the Florida Conservation Group (FCG) has secured the permanent protection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12888,12889,12890,12891,28,12892,7951,8582,3290,30,29,12893,12894,12895],"class_list":["post-14905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-commissioner-wilton-simpson","tag-dep","tag-fcg","tag-fdacs","tag-florida","tag-florida-conservation-group","tag-florida-department-of-agriculture-and-consumer-services","tag-florida-department-of-environmental-protection","tag-florida-forever","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-quincey-cattle-beef","tag-rflpp","tag-rural-and-family-lands-protection-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}