June 25, 2008

WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- It's one of the biggest conservation deals in U.S. history.

The nation's largest producer of cane sugar has reached a tentative agreement to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state of Florida.

Governor Charlie Crist says the $1.75 billion deal with U.S. Sugar Corporation is as "monumental" as the creation of Yellowstone National Park.

Under the deal, the state would buy U.S. Sugar's holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee. The company would be allowed to farm the 187,000 acres for six more years, after which it would go out of business.

The state would then protect the land from development, which has been encroaching on the Everglades for decades.

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