SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler, a prominent real estate firm specializing in land and commercial properties across the U.S. South, successfully brokered $26 million in conservation easement transactions during the first half of 2024. Totaling nearly 7,000 acres of land across Florida, the conservation easements will place restrictions on future development and help protect the state’s wildlife and agriculture.
In these transactions, landowners retain ownership and agricultural use of their land while selling the development rights to ensure the property remains undeveloped and permanently preserved for future generations. SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler has been instrumental in protecting over 275,000 acres across the state for over 30 years.
Among the most significant conservation easement transactions in the first half of the year is the Syfrett Ranch, which spans 2,101 acres across Highlands and Glades Counties. This ranch, a cow-calf operation, features a blend of improved and semi-improved pasture, along with hardwood and cabbage tree hammocks. The easement was secured as part of a $8 million initiative approved by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet to safeguard rural cattle lands under the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. Another notable transaction involved the conservation easement on Albritton’s Hart in Highlands County, which was valued at $4.8 million and covers 1,602 acres.
“When landowners choose to conserve their land, they are making a pivotal decision that not only protects their land from development but also preserves their property’s ecological value,” said Dean Saunders, Founder, Managing Director & Senior Advisor at SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler. “As Florida’s population continues to grow, seeing over 1,000 new residents a day, it is becoming increasingly more important to preserve the state’s natural land from development through conservation easements before the land is gone forever.”
Dean Saunders has been a pioneering force in Florida’s conservation efforts for over three decades. As a state legislator in the 1990s, he presented groundbreaking legislation establishing the Green Swamp Land Authority, Florida’s first state entity to purchase development rights from landowners. The legislation was limited to the geography of The Green Swamp, a 322,690-acre area identified by the State of Florida as an Area of Critical State Concern. This program laid the foundation for the current conservation easement programs, which Saunders has championed for the past 25 years by representing ranchers in securing conservation easements.
This year, the state of Florida issued $100 million in funding for the Florida Forever Program and an additional $100 million in funding for Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLPP). Moreover, a new law passed on July 1, 2024 allocates a portion of gambling funds to protect the state’s environmental resources, some of which will go towards the Florida Forever Program and the RFLPP.
Please see below a complete list of the properties that SVN’s land brokers closed within the first half of 2024.
About Dean Saunders
Dean Saunders, ALC, CCIM is the Founder, Managing Director & Senior Advisor of Lakeland-based SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler. A former Florida House of Representative, Mr. Saunders also served in the US Senate as Agricultural Liaison, Special Assistant, and Director of External Affairs to US Senator Lawton Chiles, then Governor Chiles. He wrote the legislation that formalized the state’s ability to purchase development rights from landowners, which has evolved to now be known as Florida’s conservation easement program, which he got passed during his time as a Florida legislator.
About SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler
Founded as a land brokerage in 1996 by Dean Saunders, SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler has grown into a nationally recognized, full-service real estate brokerage firm focusing on land and commercial real estate transactions. With more than 100 expert advisors located in Florida and Georgia, the firm represents buyers, sellers, investors, institutions, and landowners.
The Lakeland-based firm is a national leader in conservation easements, with decades of experience assisting landowners in selling their land to the State of Florida for conservation. SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler has been involved in some of Florida’s most significant land deals.
