Habitat
Conserve ’em, Cowboys
Florida cattlemen see an opportunity for their land to exist as functioning ranches and wildlife havens. 
By Michael Lowe

Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier
By Carlton Ward Jr.
University Press of Florida, 2009, 231 pages, $45

The idea of ranching may not initially evoke images of environmental sustainability–it’s easy to picture pastures grazed down to the roots and streams devastated and polluted by marauding cattle. Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier, by photographer Carlton Ward Jr., sheds light on some of the ways ranching and conservation can strike a balance.

Florida ranchlands have been around since the 1500s, when they were introduced by Spanish explorers; today there are some 15,500 cattle ranches in the state. While two-thirds of Ward’s book focuses on the changing lifestyles of the Florida rancher, Ward makes a point to integrate the importance of the environment in the last section by exploring the potential benefits a ranch can have on its surrounding ecosystems.

Keeping the land undeveloped for ranching is far less invasive than tract housing, freeways, or another Disney theme park, Ward argues. He notes that conservation easements partnering Florida ranchlands with nonprofit environmental organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, for example, offer financial incentives to ranchers in exchange for preserving parts of their land.

In 2006, 74,000 acres on the Babcock Ranch were put under permanent protection, adding to the thousands of acres throughout Florida already protected under conservation deals. The Florida Rural Lands Stewardship program has “protected in perpetuity” an estimated 24,000 acres of ranchlands and environmental areas, with a potential 32,000 acres on the way (as of the publication of this book). Additionally, during the past 20 years, the Nature Conservancy has been involved with more than 35 ranchland conservation projects and have put more than 300,000 acres in permanent protection.

Ward, a native Floridian and a descendant of a pioneering ranching family, hopes to capture “what is at stake as we change the face of Florida.” His book, funded in part by the Florida Cattlemen’s Association and Florida Cattlemen’s Foundation, presents a nostalgic look into this world on the brink of flux.

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