Santa Rosa County Commissioners voted March 26 to find a recurring source of funding to be used to incentivize owners of agricultural land to preserve their property as farmland by establishing a permanent conservation easement.
“What a legacy, people deciding to do that for future generations,” said Commissioner Rhett Rowell, who proposed establishing the Agricultural Legacy Land program that was adopted. Rowell serves commission District 3, which includes the majority of the county’s rural agricultural property.
Commissioners also charged county staff to explore creating a similar program to set aside dollars that can be put toward establishing conservation easements to protect sensitive environmental areas…