As I drive through parts of Manatee County, it’s no surprise to me that it is the 10th fastest growing county in the United States. Development is springing up in places I never thought would see a grader or pavement, let alone houses so close together you couldn’t have windows on one wall.
Places that I once thought would be woods in perpetuity are now so diminished in size that they have become pocket parks of sorts. I am grateful for the preservation of even the smallest tracts of land for the plants and animals that can retain one tiny piece of Manatee. I am grateful to organizations such as the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, which has had the temerity to target land for conservation and to raise the money to make it happen.
Manatee County is preparing to unveil one of their latest successes — Johnson Preserve at Braden River, a 44-acre preserve between Lakewood Ranch and Braden River Woods. The Conservation Foundation worked with Manatee County to turn this acreage into a small preserve sandwiched between the two large subdivisions.
While the preserve isn’t large it is a biodiverse ecosystem with three types of habitats and it is home to a variety of birds and animals. I recently toured the park with Aedan Stockdale, Programming, Volunteer, and Education Division Manager for Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources. During our tour we saw hawks, swallowtail kites, deer tracks, owls, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers, cardinals, butterflies, songbirds, a gopher tortoise and a variety of plants and flowers.
The 44-acres is made up of Pine Flatwoods, Oak Hammocks and Riparian River habitat that touch the Braden River. There are bromeliads, ferns, lichen and a stream flowing through the land to the Braden River. It’s a beautiful and magical place that is home to a surprising amount of wildlife given its size. The riverfront and floodplain forests are part of a corridor linking natural habitat along the Braden River. It took an entire community to make it happen.
Carlton Bergstresser bequeathed more than 11 acres to the Conservation Foundation for preservation. The Foundation donated the land to Manatee County after the county voted to buy 33 acres from Neal Communities for preservation. The Floyd C. Johnson & Flo Singer Johnson Foundation gave a $500,000 challenge grant to help raise the money needed to buy the land from the Neals, and community gifts, including one from the Manatee Fish & Game Association Conservation Foundation, raised significant money for the purchase. The Manatee County Commission accepted more than $1 million in community donations through the Conservation Foundation and used tax revenues to pay the balance of the $3 million appraised value to preserve this property.
The community’s efforts for this project is definitely a message that preservation matters.
