Former 561-Acre Dairy Farm Near Outstanding Florida Spring Conserved

A former dairy located within the Devil’s Ear Springshed in Gilchrist County has been permanently protected through a conservation easement and will undergo a transition to lower impact farming over the next ten years. Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT), in partnership with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS), Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), and Stetson’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience (IWER), worked closely with the owners of Watson Farm to put their multi-generation family land into conservation and begin steps to reduce land use impacts through a conversion process that is one of the first agreements of its kind in Florida.

Watson Farm represents a long history of agriculture and industry in this region of North Central Florida. The 561-acre property was operated as a phosphate mine during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Large quarry pits and the remnants of an old railroad bed still exist on the landscape, where steam shovels were once used to extract minerals from the soil and immediately transport them offsite. The land surrounding the quarry pits was then transitioned to a diverse cropping operation for much of the 20th century. As agricultural operations in this area began to industrialize, the land use intensified to include a dairy operation and center pivot irrigation.

These land use activities came at a cost, not only to the landowner, who took on significant debt to keep up with rapidly changing agriculture practices, but also to the natural environment. Located along the northern portion of the Brooksville Ridge, the high, sandy soils on Watson Farm are vulnerable to nitrate leaching due to heavy rain events that occur during row crop season. The ridge is an area of high recharge to the Upper Floridan Aquifer, which discharges freshwater to 36 springs along the Santa Fe River, an Outstanding Florida Waterway and a priority conservation area for the State. The First Magnitude Devil’s Ear Spring, located along the Lower Santa Fe River, has experienced a steady decrease in flow and increased levels of nitrate since the 1960s due to increased regional water demands and nitrogen pollution.

When the Watson Family approached ACT about protecting the land while also being able to pay off farming debt on the property, the accredited land trust looked to its partners for a solution that would also ensure that the land remain undeveloped and environmental impacts reduced.

Photos: Top left - row crops on the farm to be retired; bottom right - sinkhole on the property.

Photo by Thomas Niemi.

Tickets on Sale for the 2024 Conservation Stewards Awards

Join ACT on Saturday, March 23rd from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the Annual Conservation Stewards Awards at Prairie Creek Lodge in Gainesville. This event honors individuals in our community who are influential in a wide variety of ways – the arts, historic preservation, and particularly, in protecting our wildlife and natural resources.

Tickets for the event are on sale now. This event has sold out quickly in the past few years, so don't wait to purchase tickets!

The 2024 event will celebrate the first 35 years of ACT’s conservation journey and honor several individuals who have helped make saving special places possible along the way. Conserving land is no small endeavor and ACT could not have accomplished so much over the last 35 years without support from so many. Our theme invites you to reflect on the moments that have defined a legacy of conservation across North Central Florida.

This year's honorees are the Gary Family and Anne & John Shermyen!

The event will include dinner, drinks and a musical performance from The Savants of Soul. Tickets for this event start at $100 and will increase to $125 after March 1st. All funds from the event will support Alachua Conservation Trust's work towards land conservation.

Learn more about the event and this year's honorees here.

2024 Florida Wild for All Scholarship: Applications Open Through April 1st

ACT is now accepting applications for the 2024 Florida Wild for All Scholarship. This scholarship seeks to amplify and celebrate the existing voices of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Multiracial People of Color interested in pursuing a career path in natural resources management or protection of the environment of Florida.

At least three recipients will be awarded $250-500 each for the 2024-2025 school year. These funds can be used for expenses as they relate to pursuing a career path in the environment and/or natural resource management fields.

Scholarship recipients will also have the opportunity to be featured in ACT’s biannual newsletter, extended an option to participate in an ACT internship, invited to an annual scholarship recipient gathering, and given tickets to attend the Conservation Stewards Awards with three guests of their choice. 

Applications will be accepted online or by mail from February 1st - April 1st. Award recipients will be notified by May 15th. The application may be completed online or by mail.

Interested in supporting opportunities for individuals with diverse backgrounds to engage in the conservation? Please consider making a donation towards the Florida Wild for All Scholarship Fund here.

Reserve Your Gopher Tortoise License Plate Today!

Our partners at Wildlands Conservation are now accepting orders for the specialty gopher tortoise license plate. In order to bring awareness to the plight of the gopher tortoise, they have created this specialty license plate and will use the generated funds for gopher tortoise habitat conservation, habitat management, education, and research. With your help, we can all help protect gopher tortoises and their upland habitat!

The gopher tortoise is a threatened species in the state of Florida, primarily due to the loss of upland habitat. A keystone species, gopher tortoises dig burrows that are used by more than 360 other animal species, including some that live nowhere else.

Upon approval by the Florida Legislature, a new specialty plate is required to sell a minimum number of reservations or vouchers. The gopher tortoise plate, with artwork by Matt Patterson, will be produced as soon as 3,000 vouchers have been purchased. Vouchers cost $33 each, of which $25 will directly go towards gopher tortoise conservation. If you’d like to monitor the progress of pre-sale voucher sales, you can do so by visiting this link.

If you hold a valid Florida Driver’s License or have a Florida-registered vehicle, you are eligible to purchase vouchers for your car, truck, trailer, and RV! Vouchers can be purchased at any time–you do not need to wait until your registration renewal date to order one. To reserve your plate and for more information, click on the button below.

Wildlands Conservation and ACT are partners in Forest to Gulf Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). This RCPP, awarded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, brings new conservation programs to landowners in Levy, Citrus, Marion and surrounding counties.

Upcoming Events

Walk & Talk at Santa Fe River Preserve (Main Entrance)

Friday, February 2nd from 3-4 p.m.

Join us for a guided hike and talk about the Santa Fe River Basin at Santa Fe River Preserve.

Wellness Walk at Tuscawilla Preserve

Friday, February 9th from 3-4 p.m.

Join us for a wellness walk at Tuscawilla Preserve in Micanopy with ACT's President and registered Mental Health Counselor, Laurel Nesbit.

Volunteer Workday at Tuscawilla Preserve

Saturday, February 10th from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Join ACT for a trail cleanup event at Tuscawilla Preserve in Micanopy.

Walk & Talk at Blues Creek Ravine Preserve

Friday, February 16th from 3-4 p.m.

Join us for a guided hike of the trails at Blues Creek Ravine Preserve.

Walk & Talk at Tuscawilla Preserve

Friday, February 23rd from 3-4 p.m.

Join us for a guided hike and talk about wetlands and birds at Tuscawilla Preserve in Micanopy.

2024 Conservation Stewards Awards: Celebrating 35 Years of Saving Special Places

Saturday, March 23rd from 5-9 p.m.

Join us at Prairie Creek Lodge in Gainesville for the biggest conservation event of the year.

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: Sandhill crane at Prairie Creek Preserve by Ema Olmos.