Conservancy Buys Habitat For Rare Species

Platted subdivision will not be developed, instead will be donated to become part of state reserve.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL — May 12, 2009 — Relict sand dunes, flatwoods and marsh in Levy County important to the survival of several rare and threatened species, particularly the Florida scrub-jay, were protected by The Nature Conservancy and will eventually become part of the Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve, it was announced today.

“This property has been identified as a priority for acquisition since 1981,” said Dan Pearson, a biologist for Florida State Parks. “It includes significant areas of scrub and scrubby flatwoods which provide breeding and foraging habitat for the Florida scrub-jay, the Eastern indigo snake, the gopher tortoise and the Florida mouse. The Nature Conservancy’s acquisition of this property will preserve a significant portion of the Florida scrub-jay habitat in the core of the range of the Cedar Key metapopulation.”

Levy County is home to the second-most threatened population of Florida scrub-jays in the state; the first is in northern Brevard County, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Nature Conservancy purchased the site using mitigation funds provided through a memorandum of understanding with the service.

The Cedar Key scrub is special due to the relict sand dune ridges that occur in this area of the Gulf Coast. The great Gulf Hammock, a region of low-lying coastal forests and hammocks, extends to the north and south of these isolated scrub ridges. Purchased in 1978 under the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, the Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve was acquired to preserve these rare natural communities and geological features. The 125 acres purchased by The Nature Conservancy are adjacent to the reserve.

The Nature Conservancy has worked since last July to buy the property, taken by judicial process from the previous owner. The Nature Conservancy will acquire fee title to the tract from the Justice Department and transfer it to the state within one year. The inland areas in coastal Levy County are important to the overall protection of the Big Bend area, and acquisition of the tract will abate the threats of habitat conversion and landscape fragmentation adjacent to the reserve.

Learn more about the Conservancy's work in Florida.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. With funding from the Florida Forever program and our generous donors the Conservancy has helped protect more than 1.2 million acres in Florida since 1961. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.