The Grand Opening of the Barr Hammock Levy Prairie Preserve was a Grand Success! It was a gorgeous day and over 150 people attended the event on Saturday. Thank you to Ramesh Buch, Kelly McPherson and Sandra Vardaman of the Alachua County Forever program for all of their hard work in preparing for the opening of the preserve.

The opening featured a ribbon-cutting by County Commissioner Mike Byerly and Ramesh Buch, Alachua County Forever program manager, at the trailhead at Southeast 11th Drive off Wacahoota Road in Micanopy. This trailhead provides access to 6½ miles of trails open for both hiking and biking. 

Overall, there are 5,719 acres to the preserve, making it the largest of the county's conservation acquisitions. The majority of its landscape is marsh and wet prairie that is hydrologically tied to Paynes Prairie; all part of a larger greenway system that connects conservation areas together throughout Florida. The Barr Hammock Levy Prairie Preserve is part of the greenway that connects the Ocala National Forest to the Goethe State Forest. The Conservation Trust was a partner in the grant applications and has agreed to assist Alachua County with field trips and educational programs at the Preserve.

Attendees at the Grand Opening learned all about the preserve at information exhibits and then went off on foot, bicycle, or on a hayride to see the lands and their flora and fauna firsthand.

Terri Mashour,  Gator Glob Nature Contributor, shared highlights from  the event on-line: "The comissioners described the property and it's karst characteristics, very thin limestone that allows rain water to seep directly into the Floridan Aquifer, our drinking water. They explained the greenway connection that Barr Hammock Preserve fills in, allowing linkages for our Florida black bears (YES! There are black bears in our county!), our deer, our birds to move about the area without being blocked by development. They explained the importance of the partnerships that gathered to find funding to purchase this great expanse of open space, in a time when funding for purchasing conservation lands is scarce."  
Read her whole article at http://www.gatorglob.com/en/staff-articles/item/2230-barr-hammock-preserve-gainesviles-miniature-everglades

Terri also operates Gainesville Ecotours, which hosted a hike during the event. Gainesville Ecotours will be working with CTF to bring 12 hikes to the public in the coming year. Thanks to Terri for sharing the photos from the event. 

The grand opening was covered by TV 20. Watch the news clip here:
http://www.wcjb.com/local-news/2013/02/huge-addition-alachua-countys-public-lands-levy-prairie

The Gainesville Sun also covered the event too:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130131/ARTICLES/130139892
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130202/ARTICLES/130209935

CTF sponsored the Sunshine Region Pony Club Winter Gala to help promote our "Protecting Horse Country" project to help conserve horse farms. Click here to learn more about the project. As you can tell from this article, the Gala was a big success.

Special thanks to Susan Woods for volunteering at the CTF booth at the Gala! Click here for a link to the photos of the event. CTF's logo is on the main banner where the photos were taken. 

CTF is honored to have Buddy MacKay and his wife Anne as members of our Advisory Board.

A Jan 10 article in the Gainesville Sun describes a recent meeting where Mircea and Ileana Garcea expressed their gratitude to MacKay for his efforts to reunite them with their daughters. As a congressmen in the 1980's, he and his staff were instrumental in bringing the Garceas' daughters out of Romania to join their parents in the US.

The Conservation Trust for Florida is proud to offer its newsletter, The POST.

In the Winter issue, read about the Wildlife Expedition and how the adventures of four explorers are raising awareness of Florida's natural heritage. You'll also learn of a special opportunity to support the work of CTF through the Felburn Foundation's challenge grant. This makes it the perfect time to donate to the CTF: Your efforts will be doubled!
Download The POST for printing here.

Want a hard copy? Donate to CTF and you'll receive your copy hot off the press, sent right to your door. 

Miss an issue? Visit the archive.

The Conservation Trust for Florida and the Florida's Water and Land Legacy campaign invites you help ensure funding for Florida Forever through the  Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment.

Join campaign staff and other local volunteers as they gather 500,000 signatures to place this important citizen's amendment on the November 2014 ballot.

Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn more about the Water and Land Conservation Amendment and how it will ensure permanent funding for acquiring, conserving and restoring Florida's cherished water and natural areas that is not subject to political maneuvering. The type of maneuvering that has essentially eliminated funding for Forever Florida and other conservation programs.

For more information, please visit the website or contact Jason Brady at (850) 629-4656 or Jason@FloridaWaterLandLegacy.org

The 2011 Annual Report provides a snapshot of a year of work to protect the rural landscapes of Florida. Download the report or view the on-line magazine to read about our accomplishments for 2011, and goals for 2012.

We also recognize our sponsors and supporters for their assistance in our efforts, and ask you to join us in thanking them for their generosity and committment to protecting Florida's landscapes and natural heritage. 

Planning for the Future of Your Family Lands

The CTF Planning for the Future of Your Family Lands Workshop Series was held in eight counties in north central Florida. The workshops were designed to provide participants with an understanding of their assets and estate and provide information about conservation easements and their potential tax benefits as an estate planning tool.

About the Workshops

The PART ONE workshop emphasized the importance of planning for the future of your land and provide information about private land conservation and the use of conservation easements as an estate-planning tool.

The PART TWO workshop provided an in-depth discussion on the valuation of conservation easements, the tax benefits available, as well as an overview of the availability of purchase programs.

The goal of this workshop was to educate landowners, particularly those in Marion and Levy Counties, about the importance of protecting our water resources. The May 3, 2012 workshop identified land uses that may impact water quality, and provided information for landowners on effective methods to promote increased water quality, particularly manure management systems used by horse farm owners, as well as the use of conservation easements in protecting springs and water quality.

Within a springs basin, easements help protect the rural and natural landscape which may help reduce water withdrawal (which causes reduced spring flow) or from excessive fertilization (which causes nitrate pollution of springs). This session provided a thorough discussion on the hydrogeology of the spring basins and the relationship between land uses and water quality. A short field-trip took participants to see active karst features to demonstrate the vulnerability of the aquifer to contamination.

View the Presentations On-line!

• Introduction by David Pais and Remarks by Former Governor Buddy Mackay - 11 Minutes
• Peter Colverson, former coordinator of the Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs Basin Working Group - Groundwater and Springs Protection - Background on Hydrogeology - 49 Minutes
• Dr. Robert Knight, Director, Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute - Water Quality and Flow at Marion County's Springs - 30 Minutes
• Charles Lee, Director of Advocacy, Audubon of Florida - Aligning the Interests of Landowners with Environmental Restoration - 27 Minutes
• Busy Kislig-Shires Byerly, Conservation Trust for Florida, Inc - Tax Benefits of Conservation Easements Introduction - 16 Minutes.
• Jamie Cohen, Farm Outreach Coordinator, University of Florida/IFAS Marion County Extension Service - Strategies to reduce excess Nitrogen and Sediment - 30 Minutes
• Question and Answer Session with Workshop Speakers - 49 Minutes

Download Speaker Bios and Contact Information here.

On February 21, the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, announced that the Conservation Trust for Florida, Inc. has been awarded accredited status.

"Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever," said Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. "The accreditation seal lets the public know that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and policies it uses to protect land."

CTF was awarded accreditation on February 21, 2012 and is one of 158 land trusts from across the country that have been awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation. Land trusts throughout the country have worked with willing landowners to save over 47 million acres of land.

"Receiving the 'seal of approval' from the Land Trust Accreditation Program has been a tremendous boost to the Conservation Trust for Florida and assures us that CTF is growing in the right direction. It's inspiring to know that our hard work has been recognized, and that we have a firm foundation for future growth," said Busy Kislig-Shires Byerly Assistant Executive Director.

Thank you to CTF's Board of Directors for their commitment to permanent land conservation.

Special thanks to CTF Staff Members Busy Kislig-Shires Byerly, Kristianna J. Lindgren, CTF Land Conservation Director, and former staff members Ellen Huntley Dube', and Vicki Leslie Duncan for their help compiling all the information for the application.