A Highlands County ranch known as a Florida panther habitat is being protected from development under a $4 million land deal that creates a conservation easement.
The 1,003-acre AP Ranch is next to the Archbold Biological Preserve, another known panther habitat.
A nonprofit land conservancy, Conservation Florida, partnered with two federal agencies to purchase the easement and protect the migration corridor.
Conservation easements are critical to protecting the wildlife corridor, creating an unbroken migration route up and down the state.
"Just in the next few years, we are projected to lose two more million acres of ranch lands throughout our state," said Traci Deen, the conservancy's CEO. "So protecting places like AP Ranch don't just protect water and wildlife and wildlife habitat and a way of life in ranching, but we're protecting the future of our state's sustainability."
Deen said that at least three panthers have been tracked on the property.
"Just in the last couple of years, we have had trail cameras picking up panthers and beyond," she said. "We have other endangered species calling this place home. And so this is a part of Florida that we have many of our wide-ranging mammals utilizing these types of properties, and we're losing properties like this rapidly."
The landowner of AP Ranch, Gerry Arsenault, said partnering with Conservation Florida ensures the place will stay pristine for panthers, bears and other wildlife.
"I’ve always believed that taking care of the land means leaving it better than you found it," Arsenault said.
The ranch's cattle operation will be allowed to continue.
Part of the funding came from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
"It's not always a partnership that you think of when you think conservation in Florida. Most Floridians don't think about the Department of Defense as being a significant contributor to our land conservation efforts, but they are," Deen said.
The ranch is within the Avon Park Air Force Range Sentinel Landscape, which is anchored by a bombing training range north of the AP Ranch and the conservation easement. Sentinel landscapes are areas where conservation, working lands and military interests converge.
Deen said the Air Force wants to keep the land from being developed.
"We’re proud to partner with Conservation Florida to see AP Ranch protected,” said retired Lt. Col. Buck MacLaughlin, range operations officer at the Avon Park facility. “This kind of land protection is good for everyone. It keeps rural Florida intact, gives wildlife the space they need, and helps make sure our military can continue to train effectively.”
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The deal comes as another Florida panther was found dead trying to cross Interstate 75 in Pasco County. It is the 10th death of a Florida panther this year and the only one discovered north of their primary habitat in Collier, Lee and Hendry counties.
Deen said adult panthers need an extraordinary amount of habitat to thrive.
"To protect the long-term health of our Florida panther and its ability to thrive into the future, we have to protect connected landscapes. We need to protect more land, including agricultural landscapes, in order for the panther to have a future in our state," she said.
