The Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) recently acquired 20 acres in Gilchrist County, including 2,000 feet of frontage along the lower Santa Fe River, to create a corridor of protected lands along the waterway.
According to a recent ACT release, the property contains two fourth-magnitude springs, wetlands, a spring run and a hardwood forest and is a well-known area for public recreation and wildlife habitat.
The 2,000 feet along the riverbank and 150-foot spring, located within the Suwannee River Water Basin Management Action Plan and cited as a priority area by the Florida Ecological Greenways Network, includes various species of reptiles, amphibians, fish and wading birds. It also includes the northernmost range of the Florida manatee, a keystone species…