Florida County Eyes Purchase of Eight Environmentally Sensitive Lands

Published on September 2, 2026

Martin County will purchase eight environmentally sensitive properties, encompassing nearly 4,000 acres, and set it aside for open space, passive recreation and animal habitat.

The county’s Environmental Lands Oversight Committee recommended the properties and developed a ranking list of the properties.

Martin County voters in 2024 approved a half-percent sales-tax increase to buy and conserve environmentally sensitive properties as part of the Martin County Forever program. The 10-year tax is expected to generate $18.3 million annually.

The properties are in the county’s four acquisition priority zones — Indian River River Lagoon South, Pal Mar, Loxa-Lucie and Blueways — and the Florida Wildlife Corridor, an 18-million-acre network of connected public and private environmentally sensitive lands running from the Everglades to the Georgia and Alabama borders.

County staff will negotiate with the owners before bringing the purchases to the County Commission for approval.

“We are simultaneously negotiating,” said Michael Yustin, senior project manager for the county. “We realize with the first batch of properties we are lucky if we get half of the properties. So we try to prioritize the higher ones on the list … Even something lower on the list still provides value. It still provides value. It still provides habitat. It’s still part of the Wildlife Corridor … They all add value to our program. They all make our program better.”

County makes buying conservation land a priority

The properties, in order of their ranking:

Big Cyprus Ranch

  • 851-acre cypress- and wetland-dominant property that is a part of a potential linkbetween Hungryland and J.W. Corbett wildlife management areas
  • Potential conservation easement acquisition

Hawks Hammock addition

A bald eagle is released in a field near the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center’s property in Palm City, Oct. 6, 2025, after four weeks of rehabilitation. On Sept. 4, the eagle was found on the ground at the FPL site on Glades Cut Off Road in St. Lucie County. The center believes she was concussed, and physical evaluations showed nothing of concern.
Martin County is considering purchasing eight properties across the county in order to protect them and their wildlife inhabitants from development.
  • 380-acre property adjacent to a 432-acre, county-owned Hawks Hammock Preserve along Southwest Green Farms Lane in Palm City
  • Acquisition could provide access and connect to the Hawks Hammock Trail
  • The area is used by people riding horses
  • The property has a high probability of development if not purchased

Solo Properties

  • 139-acres in central Martin County with good habitat quality
  • Surrounds a cell tower and is within the footprint of IRL South. The Indian River Lagoon-South project is a massive Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan initiative in Martin and St. Lucie counties designed to protect and restore the St. Lucie Estuary and the southern Indian River Lagoon.
  • Adjacent to Bar B Ranch, 1,600 acres protected from future development
  • The property needs additional acquisitions around it to form a greenway

Pal Mar Chimney

  • 1,238-acres in southwest Martin County similar to Palm Beach Heights
  • Part of a large greenway connecting Hungryland to the C-44 Reservoir and Canal and Allapattah Flats

MTN Ranch

  • 100-acre property south of Bridge Road in the Kitching Creek Watershed
  • Adjacent to the Leonard Parcel, another land purchase purchased with sales-tax revenues
  • Large cypress slough system on the property
  • Potential conservation easement

First Methodist

  • 6.1 acres important to protect scrub habitat
  • Potential access to the 900-acre Medalist Property, which currently has no access

Justin Wilson Addition

  • 20-acres linking county conservation areas and parks
  • Drainage feeds into Bessey Creek and the St. Lucie Estuary
  • Contains important and rare baygall swamp habitat
  • Could create a trail system from LC Justin Wilson Park into other preserves

Datillio Parcel

  • 2.2-acre heavily impacted property
  • Could expand Kitching Creek Central Flow Way project at the Loxahatchee River
  • Potential trail connection for Atlantic Ridge/ Jonathan Dickinson

Martin County voters approve sales tax to buy conservation lands

Since the the environmental sales tax was passed, the county has preserved more than 2,000 acres of natural lands. One $17 million project protected roughly 1,700-1,900 acres of the Bar-B Ranch via a conservation easement, combining $5 million in local sales-tax funds with state support from the Florida Forever Program.

County Commissioner Edward Ciampi applauded Yustin and other county staff for selecting projects throughout the county which range from bigger open areas in the western portion of the county to smaller parcels in developed neighborhoods.

“This is perfect,” Ciampi said. “You are chasing everything on the list.”

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida county eyes purchase of eight environmentally sensitive lands

Reporting by Timothy O’Hara, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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