Manatee County leaders voted this week to expand a local nature preserve with the purchase of 13 acres of island property near the mouth of the Braden River.
The $41,500 land buy will add a missing piece to the county’s 85-acre Pine Island Preserve, just south of State Road 64 and the Manatee River. It will be funded by Manatee County’s conservation tax that voters approved in 2020.
The Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Committee, a volunteer group that helps the county identify potential conservation lands, recommended the property for purchase last year…