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Committee weighs three South Fork Blueways nominations; staff recommends bundled grant approach
Summary
Three adjacent South Fork of the St. Lucie River parcels (Jane Wilde, Burstein, Kresser) were presented as low‑impact, mostly wetland/mangrove properties with high ecological value; staff suggested packaging them in a single Florida Communities Trust grant and discussed limited land‑based access but potential canoe/kayak landings.
Staff presented three nominated parcels along the South Fork of the St. Lucie River — identified in the presentation as the Jane Wilde parcel (red), Burstein (blue) and Kresser (yellow) — and urged the committee to consider them together for conservation and potential grant funding.
Mike (staff member) described the three properties as primarily wetland‑dominated with maritime hammock and mangrove habitats; he said the parcels are among the last privately owned undeveloped lands along the South Fork and would protect shoreline and rare oxbow habitats important for fish and invertebrate diversity. He said upland patches are limited, access would often be by boat, and some invasive species removal would be necessary, but management needs would otherwise be modest compared with upland restoration.
Committee members and staff discussed the difficulty of providing public access required by some grant programs; Mike explained that access can be provided by water (kayak launches) rather than land in some grant scoring systems, and Merritt (committee member) advocated submitting the three parcels as a single Florida Communities Trust application so a single public‑access feature could satisfy grant requirements across the combined property.
Speakers stressed the ecological value of the oxbows and mangrove shoreline: Merritt said the South Fork's oxbow depth variation creates rare habitat, and others noted the parcels would support manatees and could host other sensitive species (staff noted mangrove and hammock habitat and potential associated species). The committee discussed potential amenities limited to low‑impact features (kayak pullouts, picnic shelters) and agreed packaging the properties in one grant application would be efficient.
Ending: Staff recommended pursuing a bundled grant application to the Florida Communities Trust (or similar funders) to acquire the three parcels together, provide targeted water‑based access, and protect remaining undeveloped shoreline habitat along the South Fork.
