A partnership between Pasco County and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson permanently protects 1,893 acres north of Land O’ Lakes

A partnership between Pasco County and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson permanently protects 1,893 acres north of Land O’ Lakes—preserving agriculture, wildlife habitat and a piece of Pasco County’s rural heritage.

LAND O’ LAKES — In one of Florida’s fastest-growing counties, nearly 1,900 acres of pasture, wetlands, woods and working ranchland will remain green forever.

Pasco County has announced the permanent protection of the 1,893-acre 4G Ranch along State Road 52, north of Land O’ Lakes. The $68 million agreement represents the largest land acquisition in the history of the county’s Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, better known as ELAMP.

The preservation of 4G Ranch was made possible through a 50-50 partnership between Pasco County and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, led by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

“This partnership to permanently protect 4G Ranch from development is a perfect example of what can be accomplished when state government, local government and private landowners work together toward a common goal,” Simpson said.

“By preserving 4G Ranch, we are safeguarding productive agricultural land, protecting our natural resources and ensuring that future generations can enjoy the rural way of life that makes Pasco County and Florida so special.”

For Simpson, a fifth-generation Floridian and longtime Trilby-area farmer, the agreement is another important piece of a much larger effort to preserve Florida’s working farms, ranches and wildlife corridors before they disappear beneath development.

As president of the Florida Senate, Simpson championed passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act in 2021. The law made protecting and connecting Florida’s natural areas, wildlife habitats and working agricultural lands a statewide priority.

Since becoming Agriculture Commissioner, Simpson has continued expanding Florida’s Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. The program purchases permanent conservation easements that prevent future development while allowing privately owned farms and ranches to remain productive.

Approximately 224,000 acres of working agricultural land have now been preserved through the program, including about 158,000 acres during Simpson’s administration. Since 2022, he has helped secure more than $700 million in state funding for the effort.

The protection of 4G Ranch brings that statewide mission home to Pasco County.

More Than Open Space

The importance of 4G Ranch extends far beyond its boundaries.

The property contains the entire Conner Preserve-to-Crossbar Ecological Corridor, connecting the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Conner Preserve to the south with the Crossbar and Al Bar Ranch conservation lands to the north.

That connection creates a continuous natural passageway through north-central Pasco County, allowing wildlife to move safely between protected habitats and permitting native plants to spread naturally.

The ranch contains a mixture of cattle pasture, cropland, forested and non-forested wetlands, open land and approximately 10 acres of planted pine. It also provides suitable habitat for the federally endangered Florida scrub-jay and other native wildlife.

A future wildlife undercrossing beneath State Road 52 is planned through a partnership involving Pasco County and the Florida Department of Transportation. The crossing will help animals travel between habitats without entering the busy highway, reducing the danger to wildlife and motorists.

Florida’s preservation strategy recognizes that working agricultural land can accomplish several goals at once: producing food, supporting rural employment, protecting water resources, providing wildlife habitat and keeping large areas of Florida open and undeveloped.

At 4G Ranch, cattle can continue grazing beneath sprawling oaks draped in Spanish moss—but the land can never be transformed into another subdivision.

Thousands of Homes Taken Off the Map

The permanent protection of 4G Ranch represents a dramatic change in the property’s future.

Development plans previously proposed for the larger ranch property included thousands of homes and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space. The protected 1,893 acres alone carried a future land-use designation that could have accommodated approximately 2,000 residential units.

Those development rights have now been extinguished.

“There will never be any development or anything on this land,” said Keith Wiley, Pasco County’s director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources.

Pasco County Commission Chairman Jack Mariano said preservation also helps address concerns residents raise about the consequences of rapid growth.

“Acquisitions mean we can slow down a lot of growth and development,” Mariano said. “1,900 acres of preserved land, which slows down traffic and protects wildlife.”

County Commissioner Seth Weightman, whose district includes the ranch, credited Pasco voters and the Phillips family, the property’s former owners, with making the historic agreement possible.

“This purchase of 4G Ranch, all of this land, is because of the voters,” Weightman said. “Credit the Penny for Pasco taxes for making it possible to purchase this land, and credit to the Phillips family for selling it to the county.”

Pasco Voters Made It Possible

Pasco County established ELAMP in 2004 to protect environmentally significant land, natural wildlife connections, wetlands, water resources and habitat for threatened species.

The program is funded primarily through Penny for Pasco, the voter-approved local sales tax. Approximately 20 percent of that revenue stream is dedicated to environmental land acquisition and preservation.

Penny for Pasco has since been renewed twice and currently extends through December 2039.

One of ELAMP’s central goals is to make those local dollars go farther by combining them with funding from state, federal, municipal, nonprofit and water-management partners. The 50-50 agreement with Simpson’s Department of Agriculture allowed Pasco County to accomplish a project that would have been difficult to fund alone.

With the addition of 4G Ranch, ELAMP has now protected approximately 8,688 acres throughout Pasco County since the program began.

The county’s work is far from finished. Thousands of additional acres remain within identified ecological corridors that officials hope to protect as funding and willing landowners become available.

Preserving the Pasco County We Remember

Pasco County will continue to grow. New homes, businesses, roads and schools will remain necessary for the families moving here.

But the preservation of 4G Ranch demonstrates that responsible growth also means deciding which places must never be developed.

It means keeping room for wildlife to move, protecting wetlands that store and clean water, preserving working farms and ranches, and ensuring that future generations can still recognize the Florida that existed before the subdivisions arrived.

The cattle grazing under the oaks at 4G Ranch are now more than a reminder of Pasco County’s past. Thanks to Pasco voters, the Phillips family, county leaders and Commissioner Wilton Simpson’s commitment to protecting Florida’s agricultural lands, they will remain part of its future.