Pasco County paid $68 million to permanently protect the 1,893-acre 4G Ranch north of Land O' Lakes. The land's future-use designation could have accommodated about 2,000 homes.

The deal, announced July 17, is the largest acquisition in the history of the county's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, or ELAMP. The property stretches along State Road 52 and fills the ecological gap between the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Conner Preserve to the south and the Crossbar and Al Bar Ranch conservation lands to the north, according to OurTownFLA.

Earlier development proposals for the broader ranch property had included thousands of homes and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space.

State and County Split the Cost of the Deal

Pasco County and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services split the cost through a 50-50 partnership. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, a fifth-generation Floridian and longtime Trilby-area farmer who championed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act in 2021 as state Senate president, led the state's side of the deal.

"There will never be any development or anything on this land," Keith Wiley, Pasco County's director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, said at the July 17 announcement.

Officials Credit Voters and Sellers for the Sale

The deal slows growth, Commission Chairman Jack Mariano said. Commissioner Seth Weightman, whose district includes the ranch, credited Pasco voters and the Phillips family, the property's former owners, for making the sale possible.

Ranch Habitat Supports an Endangered Bird Species

The ranch contains cattle pasture, cropland, forested and non-forested wetlands, open land and about 10 acres of planted pine. It also provides habitat for the federally endangered Florida scrub-jay. A future wildlife undercrossing beneath State Road 52 is planned through a partnership between Pasco County and the Florida Department of Transportation.

How the Conservation Program Is Funded

ELAMP was established in 2004 to protect environmentally significant land, wetlands, water resources and habitat for threatened species. The program draws its funding from Penny for Pasco, the voter-approved local sales tax. About 20% of that revenue goes to environmental land acquisition. Penny for Pasco has been renewed twice and runs through December 2039.

With 4G Ranch added, ELAMP has now protected about 8,688 acres across Pasco County. Florida Trend described the purchase as the county's largest conservation acquisition to date.

According to county records, thousands of additional acres remain within identified ecological corridors targeted for future protection as funding and willing landowners become available.