- February 4, 2026
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Over the past two years, Manatee County has purchased approximately 309 acres of environmentally valuable land to conserve in perpetuity.
The funding came after 71% of voters chose to increase their ad valorem tax by 0.15 mills and allow the county to bond up to $50 million to purchase conservation land and easements in 2020.
Between purchases, maintenance and constructing amenities, such as restrooms, the referendum funds are nearly depleted. Manatee County is currently working with the Trust for Public Land to put a referendum on the 2026 ballot that would increase its buying power.
However, commissioners approved two purchases at the Jan. 27 commission meeting that will conserve four times that 309 acres for a fraction of the price.
The vote was unanimous in favor. For just $2 million, Manatee County preserved 1,483 acres of land.
Instead of buying the land outright, the county partnered with the state to buy the acreage’s development rights — 438 acres in Myakka City called Mossy Island Ranch and 1,045 acres in Parrish called Thundercloud Ranch.
While easements are an approved purchase under the referendum, to date, the funds have only paid for fee simple purchases.
With a fee simple purchase, the county takes full ownership of the land, but also takes full responsibility for the land’s maintenance thereafter.
By purchasing the two easements, the ranch owners will continue to maintain the properties as they always have. The public isn’t granted access to the land, but the county isn’t saddled with additional maintenance costs.
Director of Natural Resources Charlie Hunsicker noted that the average cost of conservation purchases over the last two years has been $104,000 per acre because those properties have been “subject to intense development pressures.”
“Easements are exactly the tool we can utilize to assure a perpetual agriculture economy in Manatee County,” he said. “We’re getting these properties, when we look at the two, at 1/10th the cost of fee simple ownership.”
While the referendum does provide for easement purchases, referendum dollars did not fund the easements for Mossy Island Ranch and Thundercloud Ranch. Instead, the funds will be taken from other unrestricted funds within the Environmental Lands Fund.
The county ran into a hiccup with the language of the referendum and its partnership with the state that barred the referendum funds from being used.
The county agreed to pay up to 50% of the acquisition costs — $500,000 for Mossy Island Ranch and $1.5 million for Thundercloud Ranch. The other 50% will be covered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services through its Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
Both properties ranked high on the state’s priority list. Out of 428 properties, Mossy Island Ranch was ranked No. 48, and Thundercloud Ranch was ranked No. 54.
The partnership with the state made Manatee County a third party beneficiary, not the purchaser. County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino said the bond funds can’t be used for something the county won’t own.
In the end, the state agreed to be a co-holder of the easements with Manatee County. However, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will monitor and enforce the easements. If the state fails to enforce the easement, the county can initiate enforcement actions.
But ownership wasn’t the only issue for purchase with ELMAC funds. The properties being acquired are both working farms. The referendum’s purchasing power only applies to land that protects water quality and wildlife habitats or provides a park, not agricultural land.
Commissioner Carol Felts said these are exactly the types of purchases that Manatee County residents and ELMAC board members envisioned for spending this tax money — protecting huge properties from development.
D’Agostino offered a solution: Use the unrestricted funds now, and pay them back later.
“Take the referendum back to the voters, amend the purposes to use it, include agriculture, allow for this type of third party, and then you can reimburse it from those funds if you choose to do so,” she said.
Since 2021, the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program has acquired easements on over 225,000 acres of working agricultural land.
The program has three main objectives listed on its website:
In addition to stripping the properties of their residential, commercial and industrial rights, the agreements come with a list of restrictions.
To name a few, restrictions include not dumping hazardous materials, mining, altering natural water systems, introducing non-native plants and any actions that could harm threatened or endangered species.
The property owners must also agree to maintain the agricultural operations, protect the soil, water and timber quality, maintain open space and preserve natural habitats, ecological corridors and species diversity.
While the properties may no longer be developed, the owners retain fee simple ownership rights, which include expanding agricultural operations, conducting prescribed burns, managing stormwater and engaging in low-impact recreation, agritourism and wildlife management.
The owners can sell the properties, too. However, the easements stay in place, so future owners cannot subdivide or develop the land.
Current or future owners can expand on the agricultural uses, but any major infrastructure improvements or agricultural construction would require approval from the state.
Mossy Island Ranch is located about a mile south of Clay Gulley Road and directly adjacent to Myakka River State Park. Out of 438 acres, 69 acres are wetlands.
The pastures are used for cattle, hay and sod production.
A major reason Mossy Island ranked so high among the state’s priorities is that it will contribute to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which connects nearly 18 million acres of land and water across the state.
“Our environmentally sensitive lands within the southern portion of Florida, a lot of the corridor is in private ranch lands,” said Kara Koenig, environmental lands division manager. “So private ranch lands are very important to protecting the wildlife corridor.”
With a mix of habitats, such as hardwoods and freshwater marshes, the Florida Natural Areas Inventory lists 24 animals that could potentially use the habitats within Mossy Island. The list ranges from birds, like crested caracaras and wood storks, to larger animals, like the Florida black bear and panther.
Thundercloud Ranch is a working cattle ranch located off of State Road 62 in Parrish. Koenig called the ranch a “connecting link” between Edward W. Chance Reserve, Gilley Creek tract, and South Fork State Park.
Gilley Creek, which is a main tributary of the Manatee River, runs through the property.
The property, which contains pine flatwoods and upland hardwoods, provides habitat for deer, turkey, dove quail, rabbits, armadillos and red-shouldered hawks. In addition, the land provides “critical habitat” for Florida scrub jays, eastern indigo snakes and wood storks.
Owners of both properties — Bobby and Lori Manning own Mossy Island and Alexander Walter owns Thundercloud — expressed a desire to establish easements because of encroaching development and for estate planning purposes.
“You can get (an easement) for about 10 cents on the dollar,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “Why aren’t we using all of our money on conservation easements? Let somebody else manage it, so (the county) doesn’t have to own and manage it, and we accomplish the same thing.”
