News

Southern Living, March 21, 2022,  By Kaitlyn Yarborough Photos by Brown Cannon It’s a cool and breezy morning on Blackbeard’s Ranch in Florida’s Myakka River Valley. Clouds conceal the early hints of sun and allow the dew to nestle a bit longer on the grass. It’s quiet, barring the rustle of droopy palm fronds in...Read More

Excerpt from Craig Pittman: https://www.flamingomag.com/2021/10/18/how-these-ranchers-are-carrying-on-the-little-known-legacy-of-florida-cowboys/ On a steamy August morning, as the temperature rose with the sun, Jim Strickland stood on a raised cypress board in a rugged cow pen at Blackbeard’s Ranch near Myakka City, looking down on a series of brown, black and reddish cows scooting through a cattle chute. They flickered by...Read More

Excerpt from: https://floridaconserve.org/2021/04/16/floridas-ranches-play-a-significant-role-in-combatting-the-threats-from-the-warming-climate/ I consider myself blessed to live and work as a rancher in Florida. As a caretaker of the land, I have both the privilege and the obligation to protect the habitat and wildlife on our ranchlands. Florida ranches are part of the solution to protect Florida’s environment. Ranchers engage in conservation practices...Read More

Excerpt form Mary Wozniak: https://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/articles/ranchers-say-most-owners-support-corridor-its-our-livelihood/?fbclid=IwAR3XUAb0W5scF2EGHruhZtCScc6eax-SKn89gef2zZuCA6pq5uqdzekpBIY Florida has 47,400 farms and ranches covering 9.7 million acres of land that provide a large and stable economic base, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ 2020 agricultural overview. These working lands are also essential for the Florida Wildlife Corridor. “Helping to sustain this state’s working...Read More

Each year, Audubon honors a rancher who has demonstrated exemplary environmentally-sustainable ranching practices and makes efforts to conserve native wildlife habitat. Audubon is honored to be able to present this award to Jim Strickland this year. Jim Strickland grew up ranching with his father along the west coast of Florida in the 1950s and 1960s....Read More

Excerpt from USNEWS.COM by Katelyn Newman Jim Strickland is a sixth-generation cattle rancher who, alongside fellow ranchers in the Sunshine State, is working to preserve Southwest Florida’s natural habitat. As the sun begins to rise and the mist breaks on a clear Florida morning, wild turkeys, white-tailed deer and pesky feral pigs rummage for breakfast...Read More

An excerpt from Jessica Salmond at YourObserver.com Ranchers learn to adapt when development changes the landscape. Standing in a 20-acre pasture east of Lorraine Road, Jason McKendree remembered the days when he couldn’t hear the sound of bulldozers working on a new subdivision. That was a time the Mary Fran Carroll Bridge was made of wood...Read More