When Clay Smith’s great-grandfather bought eighty acres of land in remote Hardee County in 1855, Florida had only been a state for ten years, and its total population was just 87,000 souls. The pioneer Smith began what eventually grew to a 6,000-acre cattle and citrus operation known as Buckhorn Ranch, and now Clay Smith wants to preserve it in a conservation easement.
“Back in 1956 when my grandmother died, the ranch was nearly 6,000 acres, but with seven children and marriages, some of the land has been sold off or converted,” said Smith, who now owns Buckhorn Ranch. “We still run cattle and raise citrus and other crops, and all of us in the family are interested in keeping it just the way it is.”
Smith, who is also a pastor, recalls his grandparents and other family elders instilled in his generation a steadfast love for the land.
“My great-grandfather came here in an ox cart with cattle and landed in Hardee County, and we’ve been here ever since. Our family has always had a land ethic,” Smith added, “since really land is all we’ve ever had.”
Compared to what Smith and his cattlemen cousins remember growing up in Hardee County, they feel compelled to put the land in some sort of conservation. The county population has more than doubled during Smith’s lifetime, and the region is reeling from development pressure emanating from both coasts.
Fortunately, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is providing Smith and his family a way to preserve the land and continue their cattle and citrus business.
The Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLPP) is placing a rural lands protection easement over Smith’s 1,327-acre cow-calf and citrus operation east of Wauchula. The easement was approved by the Governor and Cabinet at its meeting on February 24th. It will add important acreage to the Florida Wildlife Corridor and help link other protected areas recently conserved by Smith’s cousins
“With all our easements combined, we are able to conserve about 4,000 acres of the original ranch, and we know how important that is,” Smith said. “Now we won’t ever have to let it go.”
The ranch sits on nearly two miles of river frontage along Buckhorn Creek, a tributary of Charlie Creek and the Peace River. These creek systems are part of the Peace River Watershed, which feeds Charlotte Harbor and provides drinking water to over a million people in southwest Florida. Keeping the land in grassland, groves, wetlands, and hardwood hammocks will play a critical role in storing flood waters and maintaining the water quality and hydrological flows into Charlotte Harbor. Protecting land in the watershed is crucial to the health of the Charlotte Harbor Estuary, which is an Estuary of National Significance.
The headwaters to Charlotte Harbor begin upstream, so protecting the tributaries to the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor on ranchlands is critical to the health of all the water downstream. The land directly impacts the health of Charlotte Harbor, which is also one of the most important recreational fisheries in the state and an economic engine for southwest Florida.
Smith is sensitive to the position his ranch occupies in the watershed. He says preserving land like the Buckhorn Ranch is not just about saving a piece of Florida’s past but also about creating a sustainable future for the state.
“The state conservation programs like Rural and Family Lands and Florida Forever are one of the main reasons we will be able to keep our land just as it is, Smith said. “It really comes down to what the Florida Legislature wants the state to look like in 30 years or so. We can be one big urban sprawl, or we can take care of the natural resources that draw so many people to Florida in the first place. To me, it’s a no-brainer. We need to fund these programs.”
Florida Conservation Group is focused on protecting a network of conservation lands in the Peace River Valley, such as Buckhorn Ranch.
“FCG is honored to work alongside the Smith family, FDACS and state leaders to conserve lands that are vital to the agricultural and environmental legacy of Florida,” said FCG Executive Director Julie Morris.
“It will take a mix of public and private conservation lands to protect the state’s water, wildlife and greenspace. Land conservation programs such as the RFLPP and its counterpart, Florida Forever at the Department of Environmental Protection, play an essential role, but lasting conservation success requires sustained public investment. These programs are dependent on the Florida Legislature for funding each year, which presents an ongoing challenge.”
Morris notes, as does Smith, that those wishing to conserve natural and agricultural lands in Florida are at a critical moment. The state’s population has swelled to 23.5 million people and growing. Smith worries about the potential for losing water quality if lands in the watershed are converted to housing with septic tanks and runoff from new roads.
“All that water passes through our ranch and we help clean it before it reaches Charlotte Harbor,” Smith said. “The grasslands provide sheet flow that filters out pollutants before they would reach the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor. That’s why we have to protect this land and give nature space to purify the water.”
The Florida Legislature just began its work on a state budget for the coming year, and Morris hopes they will continue to invest in the state’s conservation programs.
“Landowners like the Smiths are lining up, willing to protect their land,” added Morris. “But we need funding for both Rural and Family Lands and Florida Forever. We are in a race against time. With over 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, we need to protect these lands now. We need to protect what we hold dear as Floridians before it’s too late.”