Southern Living, March 21, 2022,  By Kaitlyn Yarborough Photos by Brown Cannon It’s a cool and breezy morning on Blackbeard’s Ranch in Florida’s Myakka River Valley. Clouds conceal the early hints of sun and allow the dew to nestle a bit longer on the grass. It’s quiet, barring the rustle of droopy palm fronds in the wind and the distant lowing of grazing cows. You’d never guess that the powdery beaches and bright blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico are less than an hour’s drive to the west. This land is lush, green, and untamed. Jim Strickland sits under a traditional Native American c ..read more

by Cathy Lockman April 17, 2022 Jim Strickland, owner of Strickland Ranch, is a cowboy and a conservationist. A Manatee County native, he grew up ranching with his father on Florida’s west coast. He bought his first cows when he was 13 and took over the family ranch four years later when his father died unexpectedly. For six decades, he has been committed to the cattle, the woods and the wildlife. “I’ve been a rancher my whole life. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” he says. “To me, doing it well means taking a big picture view that includes not only a strong passion for the work but also a ..read more

Excerpt from: https://floridatrend500.com/living-legends/jim-strickland/ “I’ve been a rancher my whole life, and it’s all I ever wanted to do. I love the cows, the woods and the wildlife,” says Jim Strickland. A Manatee County native, Strickland comes from a family that has been ranching in Florida since before the Civil War. He took over his family’s ranch when he was still a teenager, following the death of his father. “Ranchers need to constantly evolve and adapt to outside pressures that affect our ability to do our job,” he says. “Balancing these growth and development pressures with our ..read more

Excerpt from Craig Pittman: https://www.flamingomag.com/2021/10/18/how-these-ranchers-are-carrying-on-the-little-known-legacy-of-florida-cowboys/ On a steamy August morning, as the temperature rose with the sun, Jim Strickland stood on a raised cypress board in a rugged cow pen at Blackbeard’s Ranch near Myakka City, looking down on a series of brown, black and reddish cows scooting through a cattle chute. They flickered by like images in a clattering movie projector. Strickland, the ranch’s managing partner, wore a sweat-stained cowboy hat, a once-white fishing shirt with the sleeves rolled u ..read more

Excerpt from Mary Wozniak: https://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/articles/500-years/ IT ALL BEGAN THAT WINTER DAY in 1521 when Ponce de León came ashore near Charlotte Harbor on Southwest Florida’s coast, looking to create a permanent settlement. It was his second voyage to the land he had dubbed La Florida and this time he had 200 men, about 50 horses and six cattle, hardy Andalusian stock that came from Spain. They were the first cattle to arrive in North America and became the foundation of what became Florida cattle ranching. Ponce de León’s effort was short-lived and ill-fated. He was morta ..read more

Excerpt and photo from Mary Wozniak: https://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/articles/ranchers-carry-on-history-family-legacies/ This is a tale of two ranches. They are completely different, but each provides a brief glimpse into the cattle rancher’s way of life and a window into the ecosystem services they provide — benefits conservationists consider vital to protect remaining Florida ranchlands from development. They are only two of the more than 15,000 cattle ranches, large and small, that make up Florida’s 500-year-old cowboy culture. Blackbeard’s Ranch, Manatee County Splish splash. The cattl ..read more

Excerpt from: https://floridaconserve.org/2021/04/16/floridas-ranches-play-a-significant-role-in-combatting-the-threats-from-the-warming-climate/ I consider myself blessed to live and work as a rancher in Florida. As a caretaker of the land, I have both the privilege and the obligation to protect the habitat and wildlife on our ranchlands. Florida ranches are part of the solution to protect Florida’s environment. Ranchers engage in conservation practices that maintain grasslands, healthy soils, and healthy watersheds. These practices also have a role in combating the effects of climate change ..read more

Excerpt From: https://www.environmentalstewardship.org/winner-gallery/inductees/blackbeard-ranch DENVER (July 30, 2019) – Blackbeard’s Ranch, in Myakka City, Fla., has been selected as one of seven regional finalists of the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP). The award, announced during the 2019 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting July 30 recognizes the operation’s outstanding stewardship and conservation efforts. This year’s regional winners will compete for the national award, which will be announced during the 2020 Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in Februar ..read more

Excerpt from Virginia Gewin: https://www.biographic.com/raising-nature-on-florida-ranchlands/ Blackbeard’s Ranch in southwestern Florida is hardly classic cattle-rustling terrain. Rumbling across his land in a swamp buggy, Jim Strickland steers past alligators and maneuvers through a dense mix of pines and saw palmettos. Cabbage palms soar in the distance. Strickland points out threatened sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), crested caracaras (Caracara cheriway), wetlands he restored to help improve drinking water, and gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) thriving after he burned invasive exot ..read more

Excerpt From: https://www.environmentalstewardship.org/winner-gallery/inductees/blackbeard-ranch DENVER (July 30, 2019) – Blackbeard’s Ranch, in Myakka City, Fla., has been selected as one of seven regional finalists of the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP). The award, announced during the 2019 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting July 30 recognizes the operation’s outstanding stewardship and conservation efforts. This year’s regional winners will compete for the national award, which will be announced during the 2020 Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in Februar ..read more