Pictured: Brooke Langston, Director of Land Protection, Big Waters Land Trust. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

As Director of Land Protection at Big Waters Land Trust, Brooke Langston works with landowners across a nine-county region stretching from southern Tampa Bay to the northern Everglades to permanently protect land through purchases and conservation easements that prevent future development. Guided by a conservation plan focused on habitat health and water quality, the nonprofit conserves natural habitats, farmland, waterways and open spaces to safeguard clean water, wildlife and public access to nature for future generations. Founded more than 20 years ago as the Sarasota Conservation Foundation and later known as the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, the organization rebranded in 2024 to reflect its expanded service area across Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties and has permanently conserved more than 20,000 acres to date.

Rapid growth in Florida is making conservation more challenging as land values rise and developers offer premium prices. “Ranchers, particularly ranchers out east who have these big tracks of land, say the developers literally knock on their doors with a checkbook and say, ‘How much do you want?’ and some of these ranches have been in the family for up to six generations. They want to keep ranching and we need them to keep ranching, because we don't want all of our food to come from elsewhere when we can grow some of our own food here,” Langston explains.

Still, she emphasizes the organization is not anti-development. “We know that Florida's a popular place, and people are going to continue to move here, but we want the right houses in the right places. We want the right use for the right pieces of land. We'd like to see more infill in areas that are already developed and less destruction on big, vast tracks of land. But a little silver lining is that land owners are finally realizing that they need to act soon to protect their land.”

Residents can support Big Waters by volunteering in the office, assisting with fieldwork such as pulling weeds and planting native species, or helping at events like the upcoming “Wild About Nature” festival in March.

To read the full story, pick up the May/June edition of SRQ Magazine.

Pictured: Brooke Langston, Director of Land Protection, Big Waters Land Trust. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

To learn more, visit