The Florida Senate

The department, on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, may allocate moneys to acquire perpetual, less-than-fee interest in land, to enter into agricultural protection agreements, and to enter into resource conservation agreements for the following public purposes:

To achieve the purposes of this act, beginning no sooner than July 1, 2002, and every year thereafter, the department may accept applications for project proposals that:

Rural-lands-protection easements shall be a perpetual right or interest in agricultural land which is appropriate to retain such land in predominantly its current state and to prevent the subdivision and conversion of such land into other uses. This right or interest in property shall prohibit only the following:

Resource conservation agreements will be contracts for services which provide annual payments to landowners for services that actively improve habitat and water restoration or conservation on their lands over and above that which is already required by law or which provide recreational opportunities. They will be for a term of not less than 5 years and not more than 10 years. Property owners will become eligible to enter into a resource conservation agreement only upon entering into a conservation easement or rural lands protection easement.

Agricultural protection agreements shall be for terms of 30 years and will provide payments to landowners having significant natural areas on their land. Public access and public recreational opportunities may be negotiated at the request of the landowner.

Payment for conservation easements and rural land protection easements shall be a lump-sum payment at the time the easement is entered into.

Landowners entering into an agricultural protection agreement may receive up to 50 percent of the purchase price at the time the agreement is entered into, and remaining payments on the balance shall be equal annual payments over the term of the agreement.

Payments for the resource conservation agreements shall be equal annual payments over the term of the agreement.

Easements purchased pursuant to this act may not prevent landowners from transferring the remaining fee value with the easement.

The department, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, the water management districts, the Department of Community Affairs, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shall adopt rules that establish an application process, a process and criteria for setting priorities for use of funds consistent with the purposes specified in subsection (1) and giving preference to ranch and timber lands managed using sustainable practices, an appraisal process, and a process for title review and compliance and approval of the rules by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund.

If a landowner objects to having his or her property included in any lists or maps developed to implement this act, the department shall remove the property from any such lists or maps upon receipt of the landowner’s written request to do so.

The department is authorized to use funds from the following sources to implement this act:

Any such funds provided shall be deposited into the Conservation and Recreation Lands Program Trust Fund within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and used for the purposes of this act.

No more than 10 percent of any funds made available to implement this act shall be expended for resource conservation agreements and agricultural protection agreements.