Property has links to three other conservation areas
The Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, which is based in Osprey, has facilitated the permanent conservation of 58 acres in suburban Manatee County, the nonprofit announced this week.
The property has links to three conservation areas buffering Gap Creek, a news release says: Manatee County’s 83-acre Braden River Park, the Girl Scouts’ 123-acre Camp Honi Hanta, and a 14-acre working farm that the Conservation Foundation — together with the Garst family— protected in 2021. Thus, the release notes, this latest conservation easement marks the second time that the Conservation Foundation has worked with the Garst family to conserve its family lands.
“We thank Bunny Garst for selling us the conservation easement at a deep discount and for her continued commitment to protecting Southwest Florida’s land and water,” said Christine P. Johnson, president of the Conservation Foundation, in the release. “We also thank the Bishop-Parker Foundation, the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, the Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, and the Bill and Mary Muirhead Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County for their leadership gifts to protect these 58 acres,” Johnson added.
“Expanding the network of conserved lands along Gap Creek safeguards water quality in the Braden River, which flows into the Manatee River and eventually, Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico,” the release points out. Conserving these 58 acres “also helps protect local residents from flooding by ensuring the land remains in a natural state so that it can clean and hold stormwater,” the release continues.
“Additionally, the varied landscape supports numerous native plants and animals,” providing the wildlife room to roam, “plus food and shelter in the midst of an ever-growing Manatee County,” the release notes.
The land remains privately owned, the release says. The conservation easement “protects the existing natural areas on site and contains designated building envelopes” that will permit future construction “for residential and agricultural needs and uses,” the release adds.
“In 2021, Garst generously donated a 14-acre conservation easement on an adjacent parcel in honor of her late husband,” Judge Claflin Garst Jr., the release points out. By request, following that protection, the release says, the 14 acres were sold to the adjoining landowners, James and Mary Parks, “for continued grazing and other limited agricultural use subject to the conservation easement.”
The Conservation Foundation “is committed to helping landowners navigate conservation programs and find opportunities to achieve their conservation goals,” the release notes. Landowners interested in learning how land conservation might work for them are encouraged to contact the Conservation Foundation by calling its office at 941-918-2100 or completing its online inquiry form at conservationfoundation.com/savemyland.