How Much Conservation?

Today we are going to follow up on our post yesterday about Betz Farm and talk about conservation lands here in Citrus County.

The questions are... do we have enough land dedicated to conservation? How much of this land should be controlled by the county?

That is going to be a major part of the discussion of the Comprehensive Plan Update. Remember, you can take part in that at the link below.

https://www.inspire-engagement.com/citrus-county-comp-plan

If you have been around here for a bit, you will know that people value what we have here in Citrus. It is called the Nature Coast.

Our strategic plan has a statement:

"Where Nature and Community Thrive".

We have a Vision Statement:

"A welcoming, economically vibrant community where people and nature live in harmony."

We have a Mission Statement:

To manage growth and foster prosperity by prioritizing the protection of environmental assets, the development and maintenance of infrastructure, and the health, safety, and well-being of our citizens.

Reading those, one would think that nature is the bedrock of this community. One would also assume that the county has a vision to control lands in a way that conserves them and ensures that they will be around for generations to come.

If you were here for the 2024 election, conservation was a major topic. People are concerned about growth and it taking away the very thing we are known for... the Nature Coast.

We heard over and over again something along that lines of... "we have 36% of our land in Citrus that will never be built on because it is conservation land." And that statement would be correct. The Inspire group showed that graphic.

Sounds great right? 36% of our land will never be built on because it is "conservation"

But wait. Remember it was not too long ago that the state approved 324 acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest to be included in a land swap with Cabot Citrus Farms so they could build a golf course on it.

Also, remember the state also had plans to build hotels and pickle ball courts on 9 beaches throughout the state.

Public pushback stopped both of those projects and the state recently bought 340 acres from Cabot to expand the State Forest.

But Citrus had no say in any of those projects. If the state decided to push through with those plans, the county could not stop it. Why? Because they are state controlled lands.

That got me thinking. How much of our 36% conservation is state controlled lands and should we rely on the state to conserve those lands that we do not control?

A friend sent me this link to a list of lands around the state that are classified as conservation lands.

https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/MAxCounty_202501.pdf

Here is a portion of the graphic. You can view the whole thing above.

Let's look at Citrus.

You can see we have a total of 36% conservation lands. This is on par with the Inspire Group's findings. However... ONLY 310 of the 133,970 acres are in county control.

That means Citrus only controls .23% of the total conservation lands in the county, which make up only .08% of the entire county area. Read that again.. less than a quarter of a percent of our conservation land is controlled by the county.

Should we continue to use that 36% number and state that those lands will never be built on and are dedicated for conservation? That may be true today, but what about tomorrow? 10 years from now? 20 years from now? The state giveth and the state can taketh away... or something like that.

Or should we start saying... "We have dedicated .08% of our land to conservation that will never be built upon"?

Does not have the same ring to it does it? Probably why they like to use that 36% number.

Out of 67 county, only 25 counties have less county controlled conservation lands than we do here in Citrus. Yet, how many call themselves "The Nature Coast"?

We rank 20th in the state in total percentage of conservation lands... again.. how many others lay claim to "The Nature Coast"?

Although in fairness, some of those areas are in the Everglades where its ALL protected. Still.. In Monroe County where 97% of the county is dedicated to conservation, the county still controls .35% of the conservation lands. A full tenth more than Citrus in a county that is mostly state controlled conservation.

Marion County controls .50% of their conservation land. Hernando controls 1.22% of their conservation land. Levy controls 2.07% of their conservation land. Sumter controls 0%.

Point here is that there is no getting around the state control of conservation lands. Only Sarasota, Pinellas, and Hillsborough control more than half of their conservation lands. They do however have a lower percentage of total land set aside for conservation (33%, 12% and 17% respectively).

Just thinking out loud here, but if we were to keep Betz farm and dedicate it to conservation, we would more than double the county controlled lands for conservation. We would then control .49% of the total conservation lands in this county. Does not sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but 660 acres in county control is better than 310 acres.

We can then protect those areas from ever being developed because we control them. We would not need to rely on another entity to protect them for us... we can do it on our own.

You might think I am harping on Betz a bit... and I am.. but the reason for that is that it is still county property today. Once we lose control of it, we do not get it back. This is a chance to add to conservation lands or add it to more lands being developed.

And yes, that also means a reduction in property tax collections from a potential 1400+ homes.

So we need to decide which we value more... lands for conservation or homes to expand the tax base.

But back to the questions... How much land do we need for conservation and how much land should the county control?

This goes back to my question a couple of weeks ago... What do we want Citrus to be?

We need to get answers to those questions as we move through the Comp Plan update. That is why it is important for you to be involved and provide you input. Participate in the surveys. Show up at the workshops (next one in January sometime). Send emails to commissioners.

Every single voice matters in this and your vision will help shape Citrus County through the year 2050 and beyond.