The Florida Cabinet voted this week to spend more than $34 million to acquire and protect 1,361 acres of rural Seminole County land on Yarborough Ranch for conservation, via the state’s Florida Forever program. It’s the first Florida Forever project in Seminole County, according to a county press release.
A family-owned, working cattle ranch for several generations, the Yarborough Ranch property is surrounded by several existing conservation lands, including the Little Big Econ State Forest. After the state finalizes the acquisition, Florida Forest Service (FFS) will manage Yarborough Ranch as an addition to that forest.
Once acquired, the Yarborough Ranch property managed by FFS won’t be used any longer for cattle operations, according to a spokesperson for Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Instead, the property will be available for outdoor public recreation and sustainable forest management activities, per FDEP.
With this week’s acquisition vote, FDEP says, the acquired Yarborough Ranch is set to help protect wildlife and regional water resources, especially drinking water from the Geneva Freshwater Lens beneath the land. The Yarborough Ranch property is within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, an area designated by a 2021 state law as more than 18 million acres of Florida’s most important ecological lands.
