Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) provided OSFR with a guided tour of the newly acquired LITTLE AWESOME PRESERVE. It is 195 acres on the Lower Santa Fe River. Not yet open to the public but if you are lucky, you can sign up for a work day from their website.
Once there, a gently declining wooded path leads us to the river’s edge, ringed with small landforms held in place by cypress trees, creating an intimate place for the river to curl.
(see image on the ACT website https://www.alachuaconservationtrust.org/current-projects)
The land alongside the river’s edge was turned up by wild hogs, with deer tracks speckled throughout. We followed the river downstream by foot. The path was intersected by fissures, a small spring and finally Myrtle’s Fissure from which the water seeps out into the Santa Fe River through a landscape of slippery and sharp rock garden created by limestone.
This wetland could have become a housing development along the Santa Fe. Instead, the land was purchased by ACT to protect it from development and eventually, to make it accessible to all.
The following is the mission of Alachua Conservation Trust: To “protect the natural, historic, scenic and recreational resources in and around North Central Florida.” ACT protects land through purchase, donation, and conservation easements in 16 counties. Since its incorporation in 1988, Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) has helped preserve more than 56,000 acres of land in North Central Florida.
OSFR supports the work of ACT. Purchasing this land protects it from future development and unavoidable damage because of it’s unique geological features.
