More Green(space) in Alachua County

Three properties for a total of 229 acres are now protected as conservation lands in Alachua County!

Thank you to the Sheffield, Sherouse, and Winchester families for their dedication to seeing these lands protected. All three families worked with the Alachua County Forever program to place their land in conservation, which will benefit three waterways across Alachua County, including Watermelon Pond, Little Orange Creek, and Lake Alto.

ACT is a non-profit partner with Alachua County and the Alachua County Forever program to protect lands in Alachua County. The Wild Spaces & Public Places voter-approved sales tax provides support for the purchase of conservation lands. The program has provided funding support for the conservation of 34,506 acres over the last 24 years!

Photo & maps credit: Alachua County Forever

THANK YOU for Making Sure This Place Matters!

$24,885 Raised for the Restoration of Historic Orange Lake Overlook Orange Shop

The 33-hour Give4Marion campaign wrapped up last week and YOUR support was outstanding! Your donations towards the restoration of the Huff Citrus Shop that sits atop Marjorie A. Hoy Memorial Park at Orange Lake Overlook (OLO) once again exceeded our expectations. 

It is always inspiring to watch how swiftly our friends and neighbors rise to the challenge when the call for help goes out. Can you believe that this community pooled together gifts that exceeded $24,000 in less than 2 days!?! With your generous contributions combined with Match Challenges, Power Hours, and our overall special matching donor, The McIntosh Seedlings Garden Club, ACT is on its way towards fully restoring this historic property to its former glory!

But, just like OLO itself, the climb to the top is steep and we have more funds to raise to match our Florida Division of Historical Resources (FDHR) grant. To date, we are still shy of roughly $103,000. In short order, architectural renderings and storyboards will appear to help us appeal to an even greater audience of preservationists and conservationists. Envisioning the completed restoration will help motivate more of our community to ACTION! Please follow us for updates and help spread the word.

We couldn’t have made it this far without your support! And while this is just the beginning of the road to restoring OLO, we’re off to a great start!

Be a Part of Saving Land for the Santa Fe River

Remember the excitement of opening a brand-new jigsaw puzzle? You’d flip it over and let all the pieces tumble onto the coffee table and then start sorting them out, mostly by color. Blues in this pile and greens over there. The finished picture on the lid was your only guide. If you persevered, had a little help from friends and didn’t lose any of the pieces along the way, you’d likely recreate the scene on the box top. 

Land conservation is a lot like a very complicated jig-saw puzzle with, unfortunately, a lot of the pieces missing. Those missing pieces were once blue and green. Now they’re the color of concrete and asphalt, lost forever behind the living room couch. So, when you find one of the remaining pieces that fits, it’s high-fives all around.

Sitting along nearly half a mile of the beautiful Upper Santa Fe River is a 55-acre Union County parcel that is one such remaining piece awaiting your help to complete more parts of our regional conservation puzzle. To its west lies Pareners Branch Conservation Area and to its east, Chastain-Seay Park & ACT’s 1,000-acre Santa Fe River Preserve. Almost squarely between them, this parcel is largely floodplain forested wetlands with a smaller portion of uplands and boasts large live oaks, towering bald cypress, river birch and spruce pine trees. Importantly, this intact bottomland contributes greatly to a larger network of protected lands.

The Santa Fe River is the largest tributary to the Suwannee and home to several threatened and endangered species including the Florida Black Bear, gopher tortoises, alligator snapping turtles and several varieties of freshwater mussels like the Oval Pigtoe and the Moccasinshell. Protecting this property would help ensure that these creatures have a fighting chance to search for food, habitat, potential mates and a place to raise their offspring. Additionally, perpetually conserving this property preserves important surficial contribution areas, safeguarding our regional drinking water supply.

We’ve already secured $210,000 towards acquiring this unique gem. To fully protect this critical linkage along the ancient and storied Santa Fe River we need to raise another $85,000. Friends, neighbors, and people like you can help us reach this goal and make a tremendous impact in the present and for the future of North Central Florida.

Won’t you help complete this conservation puzzle?

Select the "Rise Up for the Santa Fe River & Springs Acquisitions Fund" to support this important conservation project.

A Special Gift

We would like to recognize the following individuals for whom donations have been made in memory of over the last few months:

Bob Simons

Sara Eoff

Marilyn Hutchinson

Clyde Kiker

Joel Brewer



You can pay tribute to family and friends through a memorial or honorary gift to Alachua Conservation Trust. Your gift to ACT can be made in memory of a deceased relative or friend, or it can be made in honor of a special occasion such as a birthday or wedding. Your gift will help that special person play an important role in protecting the natural, historic, scenic and recreational resources in and around North Central Florida. Learn more here.

Photo credit (above): Tedd Greenwald

Upcoming Events

UF Campaign for Charities

September 3rd-October 18th

UF employees, you can designate ACT as your charity of choice to receive a donation as part of the university's payroll deduction program during this campaign. Learn more here.

Satchel's Round Up for Charity: CrEEK

September 3rd-October 31st

Visit Satchel’s Pizza’s and Round Up for Charity to help support ACT's CrEEK Program. All you have to do is order food, enjoy your meal, and round up to the nearest dollar at checkout to support our program!

Weekly Walk & Talk at Tuscawilla Preserve

Friday, October 4th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join ACT staff for a guided hike at Tuscawilla Preserve in Micanopy. Parking is available across the street at the Micanopy Native American Heritage Preserve.

Community Craft Day at Bubbe's Secret Garden

Sunday, October 6th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Come out and join ACT for an arts and craft event! Bring whatever projects you’re working on to enjoy the park and collective creativity.

Weekly Walk & Talk at Santa Fe River Preserve - South

Friday, October 11th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join ACT staff for a guided hike at Santa Fe River Preserve - South Entrance.

Visit ACT's Booth at the McIntosh 1890s Festival

Saturday, October 12th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visit the ACT table to learn more about current efforts to Keep Florida Wild. Click here for festival info.

Viva Orange Lake Overlook Wildflower Planting

Friday, October 18th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Come plant wildflowers with ACT at Orange Lake Overlook, wildflower funding provided through the Florida Wildflower Foundation’s Viva Grant.

Weekly Walk & Talk at Orange Lake Overlook

Friday, October 18th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join ACT staff for a guided hike at Marjorie A. Hoy Memorial Park at Orange Lake Overlook near McIntosh.

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice at Rockwood Park

Sunday, October 20th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Join ACT for pumpkin carving and tasty treats at Rockwood Park. Pumpkins will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

Weekly Walk & Talk at Santa Fe River Preserve

Friday, October 25th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join ACT staff for a guided hike at Santa Fe River Preserve - Main Entrance.

Visit ACT's Booth at the 49th Annual Micanopy Fall Festival

October 26th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. & October 27th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Enjoy the fall weather as you browse local vendor booths throughout downtown Micanopy. Visit the ACT table to learn more about nearby nature preserves and ongoing programs and projects. Click here for festival info.

Bee City Pollinator Garden Planting at Bubbe's Secret Garden

Saturday, November 2nd from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Come join ACT for a pollinator garden planting in support of the Florida Wildflower Foundation’s Bee City project.

You make conservation possible! 

Thank you for donating your time, money, and energy to making ACT's work a success.

Please donate today - or consider including ACT in your estate planning - to save wild spaces, train the next generation of land stewards, and open up new public preserves to your community.

THANK YOU!

Alachua Conservation Trust

Phone: 352-373-1078

Email: info@alachuaconservationtrust.org

Website: www.alachuaconservationtrust.org

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Banner image: Photo by Alison Blakeslee.