Pictured: Deer Prairie Creek Preserve, which was purchased between 2000 and 2004 through a partnership between Sarasota County's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Photo courtesy of Sara

I grew up on a farm, a place where the land held history, shaped our daily lives and connected one generation to the next. That early relationship with the outdoors has stayed with me. As someone who loves endurance sports, I spend hours upon hours training on trails and in parks—places that restore me, challenge me and remind me how much our well-being is connected to that of the natural world.

As our area’s population continues to grow, that connection can sometimes feel precarious. In fact, much of the open space we treasure today may no longer exist if we delay decisions about land conservation.

Thankfully, voters in Sarasota and Manatee counties have an opportunity to act. In Sarasota County, voters are being asked to continue to support a pair of ballot measures that will maintain the county’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program and Neighborhood Parkland Acquisition Program, while in Manatee County, a referendum on the ballot would extend the county’s Environmental Lands Program.

Since 1999, Sarasota’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program has protected more than 42,000 acres across 101 properties through land purchases and conservation easements. Manatee’s Environmental Lands Program was created in 2020 and has allowed the county to acquire more than 300 acres of conservation land, establish and expand nature preserves, grow a county park and partner with the state to protect land through conservation easements.

These lands are critical infrastructure. Forests and wetlands hold and absorb water. Keeping them undeveloped reduces runoff, improves water quality and provides natural floodwater storage. Conserved land can lessen the pressure placed on neighborhoods, roads and drainage systems during severe weather, making our region more resilient for the long term.

Land conservation can also give ranchers and farming families another option when they face pressure from nearby development. Many families want to preserve land they have cared for across generations, but the financial realities of holding onto valuable property can make that difficult. Conservation easements allow willing landowners to retain ownership while protecting the land from future development. This can preserve working lands, family legacies and critical connections between larger conservation areas, while helping our region make more intentional decisions about where and how we grow.

Those connections matter. Wildlife does not recognize property lines or county boundaries. Protecting strategically located parcels helps build corridors through which native species can move, feed and reproduce. Our local efforts can become part of something much larger, including the statewide effort to create the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Philanthropy, too, has an important role to play in conservation and resilience. Donors, foundations and nonprofit organizations can identify opportunities, leverage public funding and bring partners together. We can support education, restoration, stewardship and innovation.

Some decisions can be revisited later. This is not one of them. We have a rare opportunity to come together as a community to care for and protect local land and natural resources. Let’s seize it.

We inherited a community shaped by people who had the foresight to save places before many of us knew we would need them. Now it is our turn to consider what we want to leave for those who come after us. What we choose to save now, we get to keep forever.

Jessica Muroff is the president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

Pictured: Deer Prairie Creek Preserve, which was purchased between 2000 and 2004 through a partnership between Sarasota County's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Photo courtesy of Sara