State ponders huge conservation buy

The state has blessed investigating the acquisition of 17,000 acres in eastern Franklin County for a conservation area.  The land proposed for conservation passed its first review by the Florida Acquisition and Restoration Council, which will now order environmental surveys of the area.   The land is owned by the Ochlocknee Timberlands LLC, a holding of the Mormon Church. The acquisition, if approved, would put into public ownership most of the vacant land between Bald Point State Park and Tate’s Hell State Forest.  Pierce said the state acquisition process is long, as there is a great deal of competition for state funds. Much of the area in question was formerly owned by the St. Joe Company, which at one time proposed to build several housing developments there. When the county backed off a proposed land use change that would have led to a mixed-use development, with a marina and up to 2,000 residential units on central sewer and water, the St. Joe Company sold the land in April 2014 to the Mormons. The land was a portion of 382,834 acres of timberland in the Panhandle that was bought by AgReserve from the St. Joe Co. for $565 million, the equivalent of about $1,475 per acre.