"We don't like the Florida panther, and we don't like the Florida panther preservation program."

In a move that has never been tried before by the federal government, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials want to pay big landowners to maintain their property as good panther habitat.

They unveiled a possible pilot program on Thursday, one that would spend $500,000 to pay landowners to preserve about 26,000 acres for 10 years — roughly 10 percent of all the South Florida land that might eventually be covered, according to wildlife service officials.

The program — dubbed Payment for Ecosystem Services — has been tried in some states but never by the federal government, and never involving a wide-ranging predator like the panther, said Kevin Godsea of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

Read more at the Tampa Bay Times.