An organization has donated 4 acres of environmentally sensitive land near the coastline to the North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) near the Matanzas Inlet in southern St. Johns County.
St. Johns Wildlife Care Inc. offered the land to the NFLT for conservation. The land itself is in a tidal area and is actually a salt marsh. The property is in the Matanzas Inlet Beach subdivision just to the west of the Summer Haven subdivision on the coast.
The stretch of property is in the middle of heavy vegetation. The property is enveloped with black mangrove, southern red cedar, oak, Indian blanket flower, sabal palm and other plants. NFLT officials said in a news release that keeping the property in its natural state will help foster habitat wildlife that should be able to thrive in those conditions.
“This land is in an area that is very attractive to developers, but thankfully the property owners realized the value in keeping this land in its natural state,” said Allison DeFoor, President and CEO of NFLT. “We appreciate that they reached out to us to take ownership and preserve this land because it is now or never. This is a real win for community conservation.”
NFLT officials say the coastal property falls in line with the organization’s Salt Marsh and Climate Resilience Priority Preservation Area. That program focuses on protecting salt marshes and other coastal habitats that foster environmental benefits to the community.
In addition to the natural habitat and community benefits, NFLT officials said protecting such coastal stretches assists with climate resilience.
It also has the practical advantage of providing a natural buffer to stem tidal surges and flooding during hurricanes, other storms and tidal events such as King Tides, which are unusual high tides when a full moon is closer to the earth than normal. Those tides recently caused heavy damage to some coastal areas of Florida.
The NFLT will add signs marking the protected area near the Matanzas Inlet at the southern end of St. Johns County. The group will also organize a volunteer effort to clean up any debris or refuse in the area as the transfer is completed.
