Fla. Stat. § 259.1053 Babcock Ranch Preserve; Babcock Ranch Advisory Group

• Library: Florida Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Chapter 352 of the 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: Fla. Stat. § 259.1053

(1) SHORT TITLE.-This section may be cited as the "Babcock Ranch Preserve Act."

(2) DEFINITIONS.-As used in this section, the term:

(a) "Babcock Ranch Preserve" and "preserve" mean the lands and facilities acquired in the purchase of the Babcock Crescent B Ranch, as provided in s. 259.1052.

(b) "Commission" means the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

(c) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Agriculture.

(d) "Department" means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

(e) "Executive director" means the Executive Director of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

(f) "Financially self-sustaining" means having management and operation expenditures not more than the revenues collected from fees and other receipts for resource use and development and from interest and invested funds.

(g) "Florida Forest Service" means the Florida Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

(h) "Multiple use" means the management of all of the renewable surface resources of the Babcock Ranch Preserve to best meet the needs of the public, including the use of the land for some or all of the renewable surface resources or related services over areas large enough to allow for periodic adjustments in use to conform to the changing needs and conditions of the preserve while recognizing that a portion of the land will be used for some of the renewable surface resources available on that land. The goal of multiple use is the harmonious and coordinated management of the renewable surface resources without impairing the productivity of the land and considering the relative value of the renewable surface resources, and not necessarily a combination of uses to provide the greatest monetary return or the greatest unit output.

(i) "Sustained yield of the renewable surface resources" means the achievement and maintenance of a high level of annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable surface resources of the preserve without impairing the productivity of the land.

(3) CREATION OF BABCOCK RANCH PRESERVE.-

(a) Upon the date of acquisition of the Babcock Crescent B Ranch, there is created the Babcock Ranch Preserve, which shall be managed in accordance with the purposes and requirements of this section.

(b) The preserve is established to protect and preserve the environmental, agricultural, scientific, scenic, geologic, watershed, fish, wildlife, historic, cultural, and recreational values of the preserve, and to provide for the multiple use and sustained yield of the renewable surface resources within the preserve consistent with this section.