Local group urges purchase of at‑risk riverlands as Martin County sales tax starts to fund land conservation

Greg Braun, a consultant with the conservation initiative, told the Town of Jupiter Council that his group is working to buy private parcels along the Loxahatchee River before they are developed and converted to uses that harm hydrology and habitat. “If you drive down Bridal Road, you see for sale sign, for sale sign, for sale sign, and then notice of proposed development,” Braun said. “Our initiative is to go in before those get turned into some sort of development and purchase them for conservation.”

The project’s stated priorities include restoring natural hydrology, preventing urban sprawl and reconnecting parcels to state parks and regional water‑management projects. Braun said the initiative has raised private donations to acquire three tracts so far: a two‑mile stretch on the north side of Bridge Road (closed October 2021), a roughly 20‑acre tract to the west, and a second 20‑acre parcel for which the group is fundraising and that abuts Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

Why it matters: Braun told the council that keeping and restoring wetlands on those parcels would slow runoff, increase percolation to groundwater…