Nearly 1,500 acres from the Greene family in Columbia County were recently protected through a conservation easement facilitated by Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT).

ACT worked with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the acquisition, located in the Ocala and Osceola Wildlife Corridor, also known as O2O. The Greene easement, one of the largest state acquisitions in the O2O corridor, was acquired through Florida Forever.

“The Greene family have been incredible stewards dedicated to preserving and restoring their family land for generations,” said ACT Executive Director Tom Kay in a press release. “Their commitment to conservation as well as DEP’s has resulted in another successful project that is creating a more connected Florida Wildlife Corridor.”

The 1,475-acre Greene property is on the east side of the Suwanee River around 30 miles north of Lake City. The land will serve as a link between conservation lands along the Suwannee River and the Pinhook Swamp conservation area, which is next to the Osceola National Forest. O2O is part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor – a statewide network with more than 18 million acres part of Florida’s blueprint for landscape conservation.

“My family has owned this property for over 100 years, going back to the time of free-range cattle and turpentining,” said landowner Audrey Greene in a press release. “We see the increasing development in our area and we wanted to protect our land. I am pleased that we have this opportunity to conserve our land with a conservation easement, and ACT helped us make it happen.

According to the ACT release, the Green property contains both pine plantations and natural pine forests intermixed with forested floodplains and wetlands in the Upper Suwannee River. The sandy uplands provide habitat for numerous imperiled species which include the gopher tortoise and the Eastern indigo snake. The undeveloped tract is also an important habitat for Florida black bears white-tailed deer and turkey.

The Green project is part of the 183,000-acre Pinhook Swamp Florida Forever project area in Columbia County. The conservation easement – an agreement between the state and the landowners – permanently prohibits development and land use conversion. It allows the family to use the land for hunting, timber production and recreation, while the DEP owns and monitors the conservation easement.