Region: Central Palm Beach County
Size: 123 acres
Hours: Daily from sunrise to sunset
Location:
6405 140th Avenue North, Loxahatchee, FL 33470 (not a mailing address). The natural area lies directly south of Acreage Pines Elementary School, adjacent to Acreage Community Park. Parking is available on the west side of 140th Avenue, approximately 1/3 mile south of Orange Boulevard, at Acreage Community Park.
Public Use Facilities:
None at present; facilities and trails are planned to be constructed in 2011, in conjunction with the development of additional facilities at Acreage Community Park. The facilities on the natural area are anticipated to include a kiosk with educational exhibits, a bicycle rack, an accessible nature trail and boardwalk with a wildlife observation platform, two natural-surface hiking trails, and an equestrian pass-through trail across the site. Hiking, photography, wildlife viewing, and other passive recreation activities are allowed on the site. Public access will not be allowed during construction of the facilities. Restrooms and drinking water are available at Acreage Community Park.
Site Information:
The natural area is a remnant of the pine flatwoods/wet prairie mosaic that once covered most of central Palm Beach County. It contains five native Florida ecosystems: depression marsh, hydric hammock, mesic flatwoods, wet flatwoods, and wet prairie. Mesic flatwoods and wet prairie are the dominant plant communities. The site was purchased by Palm Beach County in 2001. State Florida Forever matching funds for the acquisition were provided by the Florida Communities Trust. The natural area is managed by Palm Beach County with the assistance of the Indian Trail Improvement District. It lies within the Northeast Everglades Natural Area.
Plants:
Plant species observed on the site include saw palmetto, coastalplain staggerbush, wiregrass, chestnutleaf false croton, fireflag, St. John's-wort, yelloweyed grass, swamp flatsedge, flattened pipewort, and pond apple.
Wildlife:
Animal species observed on the site include pin-tailed pondhawk, squirrel treefrog, Florida softshell, snowy egret, hooded merganser, limpkin, great horned owl, red-shouldered hawk, pileated woodpecker, and raccoon.
Links:
Coastal
