Few places in Florida evoke the kind of rugged pioneer life as do the meandering creeks and tributaries of the Peace River. With its headwaters in Polk County, the Peace River and its dozens of creeks flow through swamps, flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, grasslands, and marshes before arriving in the Charlotte Harbor estuary. This vast and relatively wild area, known as the Peace River Valley, encompasses over 2,300 square miles in Polk, Hardee, DeSoto and Charlotte Counties.
Jason Bentley knows the area well. He and his family of farmers and ranchers are lucky enough to live and work along a six-mile stretch of Oak Creek, one of several of the Peace River tributaries in southeastern Hardee County. The Bentley family has run agricultural operations here since the 1940s. “We’re very fortunate to live in the middle of so much natural beauty and earn our living from this land,” said Bentley. “Sometimes it’s not the easiest occupation, but we enjoy what we do and it’s gratifying to be out here sharing this land with all the wildlife.”
Bentley’s connection to this wilderness and continued agriculture has prompted his family to conserve their 2,559-acre cattle ranch with a conservation easement through the Florida Department of Agriculture’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
“We want to conserve these natural resources, our agricultural legacy and the local agricultural economy,” Bentley said. “The development that’s moving closer to us has encouraged us to think about the incredible water resources of this area. We want to ensure we can continue our multi-generational family operation so that it remains sustainable and can help provide food security for future generations.”
A Strategic Location
The Bentley Ranch is situated just south of the historic Florida Cracker Trail, a 140-mile road connecting Bradenton and Fort Pierce that pioneers used for driving cattle from range lands in the interior of the state to coastal ports for shipping.
It’s easy to see why both the Bentley family and the state want to see the property remain as is. The ranch’s strategic location, improved pastures and forests, and abundance of wildlife are contributing to the creation of an ecologically functional corridor for wide-ranging species, including the Florida black bear, Florida panther and eastern indigo snake. Bentley Ranch is an important part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor connecting the Lake Wales Ridge to the Peace River watershed. The ranch is also home to deer, turkey, quail and other wildlife species increasingly dependent on large, rural landscapes including well-managed ranch and farm lands.
The Bentley Ranch plays a key role in supporting the Peace River, an essential drinking water source for Floridians residing in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties. Bentley Ranch is part of the Upper Oak Creek watershed subbasin, which is part of the larger Peace River drainage basin. The flatwoods running north to south along Oak Creek and on the northeast corner of the property give the watershed an area for filtration and continued moisture that supports a natural flow of water.
The Peace River flows into Charlotte Harbor, an Estuary of National Significance and one of Florida’s most important recreational fisheries, according to Julie Morris, executive director of the Florida Conservation Group (FCG). Preserving the Bentley Ranch will protect the water flowing into Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf.
“Protecting the wildlife and water connections between our rural ranchlands and our Gulf Coast is a defining goal of FCG,” said Morris. “We are dedicated to working with our state partners and landowners like the Bentleys to protect Florida’s family farms and our rural heartland.”
Supporting Conservation in Hardee County
Conserving this piece of hardy, historic Old Florida will protect the state’s native wildlife and serve as a reminder of the resilience of a people who forged a way for generations to come. Protection of the Bentley Ranch is also an important step in supporting conservation in Hardee County, where, despite the county’s rich natural resources, only 6% of the land is protected from conversion into more intensive land uses. For an area so rich in Florida’s natural and agricultural resources, Hardee County has long been overlooked as a pivotal piece in the land conservation puzzle.
The FCG is working with the Bentleys and other ranchers across the region. Focusing primarily on Florida’s rural heartland, FCG’s goal is protecting the wildlife, water, and rural economy in Hardee and adjacent counties.
