Region: Northern Palm Beach County
Size: 154 acres
Hours: Daily from sunrise to sunset
Location:
East side of Island Way, approximately one mile north of Indiantown Road, in the Town of Jupiter. Parking is available at the north end of Jupiter Community Park.
Public Use Facilities:
None at present; a kiosk with educational exhibits is planned to be installed at the north end of Jupiter Community Park in 2011. Hiking, photography, wildlife viewing, and other passive recreation activities are allowed on the site. Restroom facilities and drinking water are available in Jupiter Community Park.
Site Information:
The site contains four native Florida ecosystems: mesic flatwoods, wet flatwoods, depression marsh, and dome swamp. Palm Beach County purchased the 131-acre main portion of the site in 2000. State Florida Forever matching funds for the acquisition were provided by the Florida Communities Trust. The County also manages a 9-acre cypress head in Jupiter Community Park as part of the natural area and owns a 14-acre wildlife/greenway corridor on the west side of Island Way, north of the Rialto residential community, that connects on the west to Jonathan Dickinson State Park. An adjacent 6-acre wildlife/greenway corridor in Martin County is anticipated to be donated to Palm Beach County by the developers of the Bridgewater Preserve as a condition of development approval for that site. Both corridor tracts formerly were agricultural land; they have been planted with native species to provide habitat for wildlife. A wildlife crossing structure has been installed under Island Way to provide safe passage for animals under the road. The natural area is part of the Northeast Everglades Natural Area.
Plants:
Plant species observed on the site include red maple, pickerelweed, bog button, Virginia chain fern, pink sundew, wiregrass, rabbitbells, Catesby lily, beggarticks, and saw palmetto.
Wildlife:
Animal species observed on the site include orchard orbweaver, great pondhawk, mole skink, gopher tortoise, mottled duck, great horned owl, whip-poor-will, pileated woodpecker, common yellowthroat, and Virginia opossum.
Links:
Coastal
