Blue Head Ranch Airport

The airport was a private airstrip, and its closure was due to abandonment rather than a specific incident. This is common for private airfields and was likely a result of changing needs or ownership of the Blue Head Ranch. The owners may have ceased their aviation activities, sold the property, or decided the cost and liability of maintaining an airfield were no longer justified. The subsequent sale of over 18,000 acres of the ranch to the State of Florida for conservation in 2014 permanently sealed its fate.

The airport is permanently closed and has been reclaimed by nature. The former turf runway is heavily overgrown and is now indistinguishable from the surrounding pastureland, used for cattle grazing. The faint outline of the runway is still visible in high-resolution satellite imagery, but there are no remaining aviation facilities or markings. The site is part of the larger Blue Head Ranch, a significant portion of which is now under a conservation easement as part of the Fisheating Creek Ecosystem, managed by the state of Florida.

Blue Head Ranch Airport was a private airfield exclusively serving the large, historic Blue Head Ranch, a major cattle and agricultural operation in Highlands County. Its primary purpose was to provide convenient air access for the ranch's owners, managers, and guests. When active, it featured a single, unpaved 4,000-foot north/south runway (Runway 18/36). Operations would have consisted of general aviation aircraft, from single-engine planes to light twins, supporting the business and recreational activities of the ranch. It may also have been used for agricultural aviation, such as crop dusting or seeding.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening the airport. The land's current use for agriculture and its inclusion in a state-managed conservation area make the re-establishment of an airfield highly improbable. The focus for the property is on ecological preservation and cattle ranching, which is incompatible with aviation operations.