{"id":85556,"date":"2026-10-21T15:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T19:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=85556"},"modified":"2026-10-21T15:14:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T19:14:42","slug":"polk-county-targets-11-major-properties-for-massive-land-conservation-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/10\/21\/polk-county-targets-11-major-properties-for-massive-land-conservation-push\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Targets 11 Major Properties for Massive Land Conservation Push"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Polk County Board of County Commissioners<\/strong> approved moving forward with evaluating and pursuing 11 environmentally sensitive sites<\/strong> for potential land acquisition or conservation easements.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision follows recommendations from the Conservation Land Acquisition Selection Advisory Committee (CLASAC)<\/strong>, a citizen advisory group appointed by county commissioners. CLASAC reviewed 13 nominated properties during its September meeting and recommended 11 for pursuit through Polk County\u2019s Environmental Lands Program<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Highlights & Notable Sites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Stoneridge Property (1,366 acres):<\/strong> Located near Lake Wales, this parcel was previously annexed and slated for a massive mixed-use development with nearly 3,000 homes. Its addition to the conservation list marks a significant potential pivot toward permanent preservation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Crooked to Tiger Connection (6,303 acres):<\/strong> The largest parcel on the list, located in eastern Polk County, offering massive connectivity potential for regional wildlife. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ridge Corridor Connection (1,528 acres):<\/strong> Another large eastern Polk tract aimed at protecting wildlife corridors and sensitive upland habitats. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lake L (1,266 acres):<\/strong> Located in southern Polk County, scoring exceptionally high on technical evaluation metrics for natural resource value. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 3K’s Family LLLP (1,018 acres):<\/strong> A significant parcel in southeastern Polk County. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Other Recommended Sites Included in the Pursuit List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Thompson Ranch<\/strong> \u2013 ~53 acres in northern Polk County <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Fussell Ranch<\/strong> \u2013 ~131 acres in northeast Polk County <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Indian Lake Estates<\/strong> \u2013 ~86 acres east of Lake Wales <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Whipperwill Woods<\/strong> \u2013 ~18 acres in eastern Polk County <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. GF Laurent-Altman Piece<\/strong> \u2013 ~199 acres in southern Polk County <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Lake Buffum Scrub<\/strong> \u2013 ~25 acres east of Fort Meade <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Funding & Program Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Voter-Approved Funding:<\/strong> Funding for these potential purchases and conservation easements comes from the environmental lands tax assessment reapproved by 58.4% of Polk County voters in November 2022<\/strong>. The tax is projected to generate roughly $312 million over 20 years<\/strong>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Focus on Corridors & Water Protection:<\/strong> Program priorities center on safeguarding regional water resources (such as the Peace River watershed) and maintaining vital links within the Florida Wildlife Corridor<\/strong>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Next Steps:<\/strong> Greenlighting the list allows county staff to begin formal negotiations, appraisals, boundary surveys, and environmental assessments with willing property owners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The Polk County Board of County Commissioners approved moving forward with evaluating and pursuing 11 environmentally sensitive sites for potential land acquisition or conservation easements. The decision follows recommendations from… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzEwXC9pbWFnZXMtMS0xMS53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgVGFyZ2V0cyAxMSBNYWpvciBQcm9wZXJ0aWVzIGZvciBNYXNzaXZlIExhbmQgQ29uc2VydmF0aW9uIFB1c2giLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.8Ot0LgqJMl69LVVgYLfG7GA4kTAXFKa1Wv4wKtdYRwIMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzEwXC9pbWFnZXMtMS0xMS53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgVGFyZ2V0cyAxMSBNYWpvciBQcm9wZXJ0aWVzIGZvciBNYXNzaXZlIExhbmQgQ29uc2VydmF0aW9uIFB1c2giLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.8Ot0LgqJMl69LVVgYLfG7GA4kTAXFKa1Wv4wKtdYRwIMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[18357,18363,18362,18358,18354,18359,18365],"class_list":["post-85556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-clasac","tag-conservation-easement","tag-environmental-lands-program","tag-florida-wildlife-corridor","tag-land-conservation","tag-stoneridge-property","tag-wildlife-preservation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85561,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85556\/revisions\/85561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}