When the state budget was approved this month, the Florida Legislature put no new money into its premier land conservation initiative, Florida Forever. 

Instead of buying land for public ownership, the Legislature swept $425 million into a program to buy development rights on private farms and ranches, to protect agricultural lands from housing or commercial development, but won’t preserve them for public use.

In the past, for many years, there has been a Florida Forever set aside of $5 million annually for the purchase of environmentally sensitive properties in the Florida Keys, including Islamorada.