Land Trusts and Their Role In Completing The Florida Trail

Land Conservation by Jeff Glenn, North FL Trail Program Manager

ing, logging, drilling, or development rights on the land. Trusts also provide funding to assist like-minded private buyers or government organizations to purchase and protect the land forever. Easements can also grant access only and provide zero conservation value. An example of this is the trail section through Weyerhaeuser lands north of the city of Lake Butler. The trail is permanently protected where it is, meaning that it can never be forced out of that location, but the timber farm it passes through could be sold for development purposes all the same. A conservation easement is a legally binding agreement that halts the development rights on a property. The trust is tasked with ensuring the easement is enforced and, in some cases, managing the property. Conservation easements can be tailored so that Photo courtesy of Emily Griffith the landowner retains ownership and usage rights—such as the right to continue farming or raising livestock—while still ensuring that the land remains undeveloped in perpetuity, which means that the terms of the easement remain in force even if the land is sold or passed to heirs. Land Trusts and Their Role in As non-profit organizations, land trusts rely on donations, grants and public land acquisition programs for operating exCompleting the Florida Trail penses and for acquiring land and easements. Donors often provide monetary support, but it is common for conservation-minded

The Florida Trail is diverse in many maintain natural resources, historical sites, landowners to donate an easement on their ways, and one of those is the and public recreational areas for future land, or the land itself. Some land trusts also breakdown and complexity of land generations. They may require that property receive funds from government programs to ownership along the trail. Unlike many of our owners give up some rights over land use and acquire, protect, and manage land. Altruistic sister National Scenic Trails, the The Florida development since their goal is to protect donors do exist along the Florida Trail! A

Trail (FT) crosses through dozens of land these resources from development or other great example of this is along the Suwannee management units and even more private activities that may lead to disruption or pol- River near Bell Springs. The Opgenorth parcels. This ownership, while making the lution. Land trusts conserve all types of land: family donated a trail easement to the route unique, also poses a challenge: how to farmland or ranchland, forests, mountains, Florida Trail Association (FTA) many years protect the trail in such a fragmented land- prairies, deserts, wildlife habitat, cultural ago, preserving a trail route connecting the scape. This is neither exclusive to the Florida resources such as archaeological sites or trailhead to nearby Suwannee River Water

Trail, nor to the rest of Florida in general, but battlefields, urban parks, scenic corridors, Management District Lands. Another major something that is applicable to the country, coastlines, wetlands or waterways. It is up example of government land acquisition proif not the world. How is land protected, to each organization to decide what type of grams is discussed in the following section preserved, sustainably used, and treated with land to protect according to its mission. about Camp Blanding. respect for future generations? One way is Many different strategies are used to According to The Land Trust Alliance, through organizations called land trusts. provide this protection, including outright a national organization that supports land Land trusts are organizations that donation or acquisition of the land by the trusts across the nation, there are more than take legal ownership, stewardship, or partial trust. In other cases, the land will remain in 1,667 land trusts operating in every state of control over property at the behest of the private hands, but the trust will purchase a the United States with 29 accredited trusts landowner. Conservation land trusts are conservation easement on the property to operating in Florida. While there are many tasked with the management of land to prevent development, or purchase any min- land trusts working hard to protect wild Flor-

NORTH FLORIDA LAND TRUST The North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) seeks to preserve the natural resources, historic places, and working lands of North Florida. Since 1999 the NFLT has protected over 20,000 acres of wild spaces spread across 12 counties in the state. Recently FTA, in partnership with the US Forest service, created a proposal for a future collaboration with the NFLT on one of their recent acquisitions in Clay County. This acquisition is part of the Ocala to Osceola Conservation Corridor, or O2O for short. The O2O is a network of forested and rural lands that make up a 1.6-million-acre wildlife corridor connecting Ocala National Forest to Osceola National Forest. The O2O is part of the larger Florida Wildlife Corridor, which is a network of connected lands throughout the State that serves as Florida’s “conservation blueprint” for optimal protection of natural resources, wildlife habitat, agriculture and open space. The O2O Partnership, of which the FTA and the US Forest Service are members, is a coalition of 16 public agencies and private organizations to protect land through direct acquisition and conservation management. The Florida Trail is the preeminent recreational feature that ties the O2O corridor together and is a proud member of this group. Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard. It is located in the heart of O2O, and is a prominent partner in the effort to build the O2O Corridor. Camp Blanding helps fund acquisition of land and conservation easements to protect wildlife habitat and military training, while deterring incompatible land development surrounding the installation. Since 2016, this partnership has enabled the acquisition of over 7,000 acres of conservation land, which are managed and protected by NFLT. As Camp Blanding works to enlarge its footprint through land conservation the Florida Trail will be able to move off of connecting roadwalks in the vicinity of the base. Our latest proposed routing change will remove 1.6 miles of road walk in the vicinity of Goldhead Branch State Park and there will potentially be more opportunities in the future to continue this work. 34 Florida Trail Association

PUTNAM LAND CONSERVANCY Putnam Land Conservancy (PLC) is a regional, nonprofit Florida land trust dedicated to working cooperatively with landowners and public and private conservation partners to preserve and protect important natural areas and open spaces– including wetlands,waterways, forests, farmlands, and environmentally significant habitats. PLC focuses on Putnam County, but their range of activity comprises the tri-county (Putnam-Alachua-Clay) region. An area of focus just north of the Ocala National Forest is known locally as Mondex, a classic undeveloped north Florida subdivision that was sold off to out-of-state buyers, many of whom have never seen their property. This was a common scheme, where vacant lots were advertised in out of state areas offering Florida land on the cheap. According to the property appraiser data, current owners live in states such as NJ, FloridaTrail.org MI, MA, TX, MS, WI, and so on. Whether lots were purchased as investment properties or a space to retire, they sit abandoned. Unfortunately, this large area has become a playground, party spot, and dumping ground, and the environmental toll is evident. Fortunately, through the work of PLC and their partners, the dynamic is changing and the land is being purchased for conservation. Up until 2018, the FT navigated through the heart of Mondex, passing through many PLC protected properties on dirt roads. Unfortunately the route was never fully protected-- parts of the trail had to remain on roads rather than in the forest. Around that time, an opportunity presented itself to relocate the trail onto an adjacent land parcel that was permanently protected by an access easement. While the easement is for access only, the property is also protected by a conservation easement held by the State of Florida. The deal was a very good opportunity for the permanent protection of the FT and the trail was moved

to the property boundary of Mondex and the neighboring land. Currently, the FT crosses only a single PLC property at the south end of Mondex. The USFS is currently in the midst of signing a partnership agreement with the PLC. This will solidify the partnership between PLC, the USFS, and the FTA. The partnership is currently based on recognition only which carries a mutual understanding of what the values of each organization are. While the trail only crosses one property, PLC continues to work hard to protect the land in this area which has a direct impact on the scenic quality of the FT route. TThe protection of land adjacent to the trail ensures no nearby development and protects the viewshed, or what can be seen from the trail. To date, PLC has protected 284 parcels, totaling 300 acres in Mondex. This is in addition to 233 parcels totaling 250 acres owned by the Robinson family for the purpose of conservation. In total, 550 acres out of a possible 980 acres have been protected with many more to be added in the future.

OTHER LAND TRUSTS Throughout its history, the Florida Trail has benefited from the partnership and generosity of several other land trusts and organizations, some of them operating on a national scale. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is one of the largest and oldest conservation land trusts in the United States with more than 5,000 successful projects under its belt. In 2002, TPL successfully purchased Mills Creek Woodlands, which protects a two-mile section of the trail that links the Little Big Econ State Forest to the northwest and Seminole County's Chuluota Wilderness to the southeast. Formerly jointly owned by Pineloch Management Corporation and the Murray family, the beautifully wooded 470-acre site is located 25 miles northeast of Orlando in Seminole County. Once a family farm with orange groves and grazing cattle, the site also features a small creek and undisturbed woodlands. Once acquired, TPL immediately sold this property to the USFS. This is a common practice in the land trust world in which land trusts assist with the purchase of a property but are either unable or unwilling to manage the land in perpetuity. Another land trust that has partnered with the FTA is the Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT). While their lands do not touch the FT, they now operate in counties where the trail lies, which opens up the possibility of future partnership. Our friendship may not yet be trail related, but ACT has generously donated the use of their Prairie Creek Lodge to the FTA in the past. This standout organization deserves high accolades for their amazing conservation work!

NOKUSE Twenty years ago, entrepreneur and conservationist M.C. Davis purchased more than 54,000 acres of Florida’s Panhandle. He had a dream of restoring what had become pine plantations and sod farms back to the sweeping longleaf pine forests that once dominated the Southeast. He called it Nokuse (black bear in the Muscogee language) Plantation, which is the largest privately owned nature preserve in the Southeastern United States. The plantation worked with the US Forest Service and the Florida Trail Association soon after purchasing the land to establish a permanent conservation easement across the landscape. This easement will forever protect the Florida Trail corridor through the region. Using that conservation easement as well as adjacent public lands in the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the Nokuse section of the Florida Trail spans 27.7 miles, all roadless, from the Choctawhatchee River to US 331 north of Freeport. Sections of Nokuse include: Lafayette Creek, Forgotten Creek, and the Choctawhatchee River. As an entrepreneur, but also a conservationist, Davis saw the opportunity to fund his restoration efforts on his massive landscape. Davis sold a 9-mile conservation Summer/Fall 2020 35

easement to the US Forest Service on the Lafayette Creek and Choctawhatchee sections for over $4 million dollars and donated an 8.25-mile easement at the same time. His idea was to take advantage of the cash value of recreational opportunities on his land and immediately redirect it towards the betterment of that very land.

FLORIDA TRAIL LAND TRUST From the early 1990s to 2000, The Florida Trail Land Trust existed as a separate 501c3 non-profit organization working alongside and within the Florida Trail Association. The focus of the 36 Florida Trail Association

Florida Trail Land Trust’s work was to serve as a lobbying organization that researched and put forward proposals to state and federal bodies that had the funds to purchase and protect the trail corridor. The Land Trust was never well suited for raising its own funds. During its tenure, the Trust negotiated land sales in St. Marks, the Apalachicola National Forest, and in Hamilton County near Bell Springs. Only one time in its history did the Florida Trail Land Trust purchase property using its own funds; a small parcel adjacent to the TPL purchased Mill Creek property. This was transferred to USFS ownership from the FTA. Beginning around 2000, the USFS started receiving earmarked acquisition funds for land along the Florida Trail. And so, the trust slowly dissolved back into the parent organization and into an official Trail FloridaTrail.org Protection Program of the FTA. Over the course of approximately 5 years, the USFS received and spent 17 million dollars! The end of the Trust also meant simplified administration for an already small FTA staff and the elimination of one 501c3 designation. Complete with a Trail Protection Committee and designated land acquisition fund, the goals and central ideas of the land trust became absorbed into the FTA’s general operating procedures. The land acquisition fund and trail protection committee still exist today, and were recently tapped into for the first time in many years for the purchase of a trail easement along the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County. As federal funds are not always readily available for Florida Trail land acquisition, the future of trail gap closure and trail protection will lean heavily on financial self-reliance on the part of the FTA but also partnerships with private organizations such as land trusts. The good and bad news is that with every passing year, the relevance and importance of the trail grows as the state becomes evermore fragmented and developed. As time moves on, it will become increasingly difficult to purchase land for the trail as acquisition dollars are needed all over the state to protect conservation based resources from rampant development. There is a lot of reason for optimism though! We can celebrate the recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act which fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provided nearly $10 billion dollars to cover backlogged maintenance in the National Park System. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a federal program that was established by an Act of Congress in 1965 to provide funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water, and easements on land and water, for the benefit of all Americans. The main emphases of the fund are recreation and the national protection of natural treasures in the forms of parks, protected forest and wildlife areas. The Great American Outdoors Act is a major accomplishment, years in the making, and creates a new environment where conservation and recreation are seen as something that needs to be funded wholly. Your tax-deductible donations to the Florida Trail Associaton allow us to be ready when opportunities arise to secure additional lands and easments. Your donations allow us to travel and lobby at both the state and federal level for the FTA's priority landscapes and these newly available funds.