LAKELAND, FL, April 17, 2025 — As Florida's natural lands have become increasingly vulnerable to development, Dean Saunders, Founder and Managing Director of Saunders Real Estate, has successfully facilitated a $56,355,000 conservation easement deal for Bull Hammock Ranch, a 7,310-acre cattle ranch located in Martin County, Florida. This deal highlights the importance of protecting these spaces for future generations.
Dean Saunders, ALC, CCIM, Founder of Saunders Real Estate
The property, which includes 4,300 acres of improved pasture, 1,300 acres of unimproved or woodland pasture, and 290 acres of row crops, has been a working agricultural operation, supporting a cow-calf operation with 2,500 replacement heifers. Situated entirely within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, Bull Hammock Ranch plays a vital role in preserving natural habitats and maintaining the region's agricultural legacy. The conservation easement ensures the property’s future will remain free from development while continuing to support its farm and ranch operations.
Through the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program (RFLPP), this conservation easement is a crucial step in conserving the region’s wildlife corridors, wetlands, and upland forests, ensuring that the ranch remains an intact natural landscape. As part of a broader statewide effort to connect and preserve Florida’s most ecologically significant lands, this project reinforces the importance of long-term land stewardship and strategic conservation to meet the state’s environmental goals.
At 7,310 acres, Bull Hammock Ranch serves as a working cattle and agricultural operation, supporting over 2,500 heads of cattle.
“Florida’s wide-open spaces are disappearing fast, and we have to be intentional about protecting them,” said Dean Saunders. “This easement means Bull Hammock Ranch can keep doing what it’s always done - supporting agriculture and giving wildlife room to thrive, without the threat of future development hanging over it.”
This deal further strengthens the state's efforts to protect agricultural working and ecologically sensitive lands. By securing conservation easements on properties like Bull Hammock Ranch, this initiative plays a key role in safeguarding Florida’s unique landscapes, habitats, and biodiversity.
About Saunders Real Estate
Saunders Real Estate is a full-service land and commercial real estate brokerage representing buyers, sellers, investors, institutions, and landowners since 1996. The firm is nationally recognized as an authority on all types of land and commercial real estate, including agriculture, ranch, recreation, timber, and development, as well as office, retail, industrial, and multifamily properties. Services include brokerage and advisory, land consulting and entitlement, land management, commercial property management, leasing and tenant representation, site selection, property valuation, data-driven market reports, and conservation easement negotiation. With an extensive team of real estate advisors located throughout the Southeast and offices in Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas, Saunders Real Estate has the knowledge and resources available to help clients realize their real estate investment goals.