FORT MYERS - Confronted with Florida's escalating real estate prices, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet balked Thursday at paying more than $5-million to preserve a tract of North Florida land used by Indians more than 1,000 years ago.
"I would really like to get a better idea of what's on this property before we make this decision," said Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.
Bush and the Cabinet, venturing out of Tallahassee for one of their "Capital for a Day" events, decided to delay until their Aug. 9 meeting a decision on whether to pay more than $5.2-million to preserve 1,391 acres that include historic Indian mounds in Leon and Jefferson counties.
The rising cost of land across Florida is making similar purchases more difficult, Bush said.
"It does make it harder for us to preserve these very valuable lands," Bush said after the meeting. For example, in Charlotte County, the state has not been able to reach an agreement with landowners to buy the 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch property. The latest offer included about $455-million in public money for a parcel that would become Florida's largest state park and create a greenway of land from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.
Department of Environmental Protection officials said the North Florida property is on the state's "A" list for conservation acquisitions because it contains ceremonial, religious, burial and cooking mounds built by Indians more than 1,000 years ago. The mounds were likely part of an entire prehistoric village.
The land is part of the Letchworth Mounds built by the Weeden Islands peoples in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast.
