Now Viewing: Places Related to Triple Diamond Ranch
Located 100 miles south of Orlando in the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge, the Triple Diamond Ranch property is situated in one of the most biologically rich grasslands in the world.
The nearly 4,000-acre property is home to rare species including the Florida grasshopper sparrow and the federally listed gopher tortoise, as well as the indigo snake, crested caracara, red-cockaded woodpecker, and a range of wading birds.
In 2015, the Open Space Institute was challenged by the Wyss Foundation to identify large swaths of land available for conservation in the Eastern US that abutted existing public land, with an eye toward expanding wilderness in the dense and fragmented part of the country. In just four years, OSI’s Eastern Lands Initiative successfully met this challenge — protecting five large properties totaling more than 37,000 wilderness acres and connecting to nearly 2.7 million acres of protected land. This project was protected as a part of the Eastern Lands Initiative which continues to practice largescale conservation in the Eastern US.
The refuge is a key part of a matrix of lands filtering water for the Kissimmee River and, ultimately, Lake Okeechobee — the source of water for one in three Floridians.
In 2018, the property was conserved after OSI, with the support of the Wyss Foundation, acquired it and transferred it to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. With its conservation, the land was added to more than 200,000 adjoining protected acres — an expanse that will harbor wildlife even as habitats shift from climate change.