Conserving Your Lands

Why protect Land?
What can I do?
Land Protection Process​
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Alachua County’s citizens and leaders are taking bold steps to preserve and protect the natural landscapes that define our community’s character and environmental health. By conserving critical land and waters, the Alachua County Forever program seeks to maintain clean waterways, safeguard wildlife habitats, protect local agricultural lands, and provide spaces for nature-based recreation and reflection. County residents are key partners in shaping this effort and provide input to the land conservation and management efforts through land nominations, citizen advisory boards, and public meetings. Your insights directly influence how we meet conservation goals while balancing the needs of future growth. Whether through a direct land sale or through establishing a conservation easement, every piece of land protected is the result of a commitment and partnership from the landowner to leave a legacy for future generations in this special place.
Each decision to conserve a property is a deeply personal one. It involves the landowners’ financial and family circumstances, the land resource itself, and most importantly, the owner’s vision for the future of that land. One of the best ways to protect natural areas is through good private stewardship. This often simply means leaving the sensitive portions of the property alone. It can mean using some areas wisely for forestry, farming, recreation or personal enjoyment, and setting other areas aside for conservation. You can also protect your land more formally using the land conservation tools available through Alachua County's land conservation program, Alachua County Forever. Because every situation is unique, Alachua County Forever offers several different mechanisms to conserve productive, scenic, historic and environmentally important lands. These lands give Alachua County its rural, historic and natural character that many residents value and want to sustain. You can combine different options to get the right mix of sale, donation or agreement to provide the best opportunities to protect your land, and to meet your and your family's financial needs and other interests.​
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  • The public nominates property to the Prog​ram using a simple one-page form. Property owners must be willing sellers. Condemnation of property is not permitted.
  • Projects are evaluated by staff using a 25-question matrix and presented to the Land Conservation Board. Criteria include water resources protection, habitat protection, species protection, social value, manageability, economic, and acquisition issues.
  • After reviewing the evaluation, the Land Conservation Board determines which projects to recommend to the County Commissioners for inclusion on the Acquisition List.
  • Once projects are on the Acquisition List, staff negotiate to acquire the property or a conservation easements. Offers are made based on appraisals of fair market value by independent appraisers.
  • Contracts to purchase must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners.
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This image is a flow chart of the land acquisition steps. The steps are also described in the above text as well
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Contact us

Land Conservation14 NE 1st St.Gainesville, FL 32601​
Phone: 352-264-6868Fax: 352-264-6852Email Us:
landconservation@alachuacounty.us​

Land Acquisition Project Nomination Form

Download the Alachua County Forever Land Acquisition Nomination Form

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