Region: Northern Palm Beach County
Size: 52 acres
Hours: Daily from sunrise to sunset
Location:
6570 Church Street, Jupiter, FL 33458 (not a mailing address). The site is bordered on several sides by the Town of Jupiter. The parking lot is located on the south side of Church Street, just west of Central Boulevard.
Public Use Facilities:
Public use facilities include a parking area for five cars and one bus, a bicycle rack, a kiosk with educational exhibits, an accessible nature trail leading to a covered observation platform and a fishing pier, and a natural-surface hiking trail. A multipurpose loop trail is being developed that will run along both sides of the C-18 Canal and connect to a future canoe/kayak launch area. That trail is still under construction and is not yet accessible by the public. Two unpaved parking areas are being designed that will be located on the south side of the C-18 Canal-one near Island Way and one near Central Boulevard. There are no restroom facilities or drinking water on the natural area.
Site Information:
The natural area contains four native Florida ecosystems: mesic flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, hydric hammock, and mangrove swamp. Most of Limestone Creek, a small blackwater stream, was lost when the C-18 Canal was dug along the creek channel in 1956 and 1957, but two tributaries to that creek still flow intermittently through the natural area. Palm Beach County purchased 22 acres of the site in three separate acquisitions in 2002 and 2003. State Florida Forever matching funds for these acquisitions were provided by the Florida Communities Trust. The County also manages 30 acres owned by the South Florida Water Management District that are located on both sides of the C-18 Canal. Restoration projects have been completed on both the north and south banks, including the creation of several oxbows and planting of native vegetation. The natural area is part of the Northeast Everglades Natural Area.
Plants:
Plant species observed on the site include pinebarren goldenrod, Florida sensitive briar, shortleaf wild coffee, southern dewberry, gallberry, Simpson stopper, bracken fern, hammock snakeroot, and red mangrove.
Wildlife:
Animal species observed on the site include horseshoe crab, Carolina wolf spider, black pondhawk, spotted eagle ray, scarletsnake, American kestrel, black-and-white warbler, and West Indian manatee.
Links:
Coastal
