JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – North Florida Land Trust has facilitated the donation of 33 acres of land to the city of Jacksonville to expand McGirts Creek Park.
A large portion of the now 123-acre park preserves the environmentally sensitive area around McGirts Creek.
Recommended Videos
The donor asked to remain anonymous but thanked North Florida Land Trust, Misenar Environmental Consulting, LLC and Peacock Consulting Group, LLC for their assistance with this addition to the McGirts Creek Park Expansion.
“Facilitating acquisitions is part of the services we offer at North Florida Land Trust when the acquisitions fall in line with our preservation mission,” said Jim McCarthy, executive director of NFLT. “While these types of transactions don’t happen very often, we are happy to assist a land owner with the transfer of their land to another conservation organization or government agency. Throughout the years we have facilitated the acquisition of more than 250 acres of land in Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties. This latest transaction in Duval County brings the acres we have preserved through facilitated acquisitions to nearly 300.”
The 33-acre parcel of land has been added to the 90-acre park located on 118th Street on the city’s Westside. The donated land will add to the preservation of the McGirts Creek and the Ortega River system.
The property is a restored floodplain wetland that had been taken over by Chinese Tallow Trees, one of our worst local invasive species. The trees have been removed and the natural swamp forest can be restored.
The park already includes a community center, basketball courts, playground, picnic areas, trails, three youth baseball fields and two soccer fields.
North Florida Land Trust works with individual land owners who are looking to permanently preserve their property. Facilitating acquisitions is just one of the ways to achieve those goals. NFLT also accepts the donation of conservation easements or the outright sale or donation of the property.
