County agrees to buy 600 acres for nearly $10.5 million

FORT MYERS — For the second time in the past two weeks, Lee County commissioners have approved land purchases as part of the Conservation 20/20 program.

One deal is for 193.82 acres on Four Mile Cove Parkway, Cape Coral, adjacent to Four Mile Cove Ecological Park to the south and the Caloosahatchee River and creek frontage along the easterly boundary, according to a statement. The purchase price is $6.05 million, plus closing costs. The property includes pine flatwoods, mangrove swamp, saltwater marshes, cabbage palm hammock, palmetto prairie, hardwood/conifer mixed, mixed wetland hardwoods and live oak. The river and creek habitats are home to species including bald eagle, manatee and smalltooth sawfish, the release adds.