The State of Florida, in conjunction with a suite of conservation partners, has paid $43 million for the Bluffs of Saint Teresa, a strategic 17,000-acre tract on the Gulf of Mexico in North Florida. Dean Saunders, founder and managing director of SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate, brokered the sale on behalf of Ochlockonee Timberlands. Sanders worked with The Nature Conservancy, which contributed $2.25 million toward the purchase price. The US Department of Defense kicked in $2.19 million. The acquisition boosts the total of protected landscape in Florida’s Big Bend area to more than one million acres.

The Bluffs of Saint Teresa share a continuous border with Bald Point State Park and remain one of the most expansive tracts of undeveloped land on the Gulf Coast. In addition to 17 miles of waterfront, the landholding includes interior lakes, wetlands, floodplain swamp, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and dunes. Plus, the habitat is home to rare plants and endangered species.