Last Everglades Holdout Finally Sells To State

The last of more than 19,000 parcels claimed by the state over the past two decades to help return the Everglades to its natural state was acquired this week, when 70-year old Jesse Hardy finally relented. Most owners happily sold their land to Florida’s ongoing Everglades reclamation project, having received offers well above market value. Yet Hardy fought and fought, desperately clinging to his rural lifestyle until this week.

“I will never see the turkeys run up and down the road again. I will never see my deer feed in my yard again. I will never be able to freely do what I wanted to do,” he said.

Hardy rejected repeated offers for decades, saying he wanted to pass the land on to his 9-year old son, who lives with him along with the boy’s mother. Despite having accepted a $4.95 million payout in exchange for his property in July and buying a much bigger house, he laments the loss.

You can’t argue with that kind of appreciation, though. In 1976, Hardy paid just $60,000 for the land, about 160 acres worth, 40 miles east of Naples. He built a small clapboard house, dug a well and used propane, not electricity.

Construction crews are scheduled fill in canals and dismantle roads on the land later this year, restoring the area to its natural state and connecting it with existing Florida-owned forest and wildlife reserves. The $8.4 billion project seeks to restore the slow-moving “river of grass” that once stretched uninterrupted from a chain of lakes near Orlando to Florida Bay. Millions of acres are owned by the state, in addition to federally-managed Everglades National Park.

Though Florida environmental conservation efforts are constantly hampered by sky-high real estate costs, the Everglades plan continues to move forward. As one of the most unique and fragile ecosystems in the world, it is often at odds with the human population. The next decade and a half will be critical for the area’s survival, with already-strong South Florida real estate demand expected to grow, and less land available on which to expand.