12/29/99 FACT SHEET

Price’s Scrub and the Northwest Marion Greenway

BACKGROUND:

Price’s Scrub is an ecologically valuable and highly diverse forested area of about 1,000 acres near Shiloh in northwest Marion County. The property lies along the west side of I-75 between CR 320 and the Alachua County line. The site includes stands of champion-size sand pines, red oak woods remnants, and rich hardwood forests, as well as flatwoods ranging from pond pine pocosins to xeric scrubby flatwoods. At the north end of the site, a high bluff overlooks a scenic lake rimmed with waterlilies. Brownlee Creek originates on the tract and flows through hardwood-lined ravines, over waterfalls, and under I-75 via a huge culvert. The site's numerous wetlands include sinkholes, gum swamps, and flatwoods ponds, and a lake used for swimming and fishing.

Both The Nature Conservancy and the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission have identified the Shiloh Forest - Price’s Scrub area as a conservation priority. The site is also highlighted as a conservation priority in the Natural Areas Inventory of Marion County. Rare/endangered species resident in the area include fox squirrel, kestrel, sandhill crane, gopher tortoise, indigo snake, alligator, pondspice, florida spinypod, greenfly orchid, and green adder’s-mouth orchid. Bald eagles and wood storks and other wading birds feed here. Bears and panthers occasionally move through this wildlife corridor and bear experts believe the culvert under I-75 here may be significant for dispersal between coastal and interior populations.

Price's Scrub is envisioned as the keystone component of the Northwest Marion Greenway, which will link Paynes Prairie to Goethe State Forest and the Cross-Florida Greenway. Data generated by the Florida Greenways Program shows that this is an important corridor with significant greenway potential. The Northwest Marion Land Trust is working with a coalition of conservation, recreation, and historic preservation interests to map this greenway and secure it through a combination of land purchases, conservation/trails easements, and landowner agreements. Ultimately, this key local corridor will be tied into networks of neighborhood greenways so that these trails can be accessed from horse farms, ranchettes, and communities throughout northwest Marion County and adjacent areas of Alachua and Levy counties. Horse trails will be the primary focus, but most of the system will be managed on a shared-use basis and open to a variety of non-motorized users. Dedicated hiking and bike trails will be developed where appropriate.

The Marion County Parks and Recreation Land Acquisition Advisory Committee (PELAAC) has recommended that the county purchase Price's Scrub with money available from the Pennies for Parks bond issue. Now the Florida Communities Trust has evaluated the site and awarded the county a $1,030,800 matching grant to purchase the property. On January 4, 2000 the county commissioners must commit the Pennies for Parks share of the matching funds.

The Northwest Marion Land Trust is a non-profit organization promoting preservation of the traditional scenic character and environmental quality of the northwest Marion County landscape through preservation and/or enhancement of environmentally valuable and/or sensitive areas, historic features, agricultural lands, and open space of aesthetic and/or recreational significance. NWMLT has a group of dedicated volunteers including conservation and real estate professionals, trail construction/maintenance crews, and experienced land managers. The organization's land management capacities will be developed so that the greenway can be managed by local people utilizing extensive volunteer labor, thereby minimizing the longterm costs and responsibilities of the numerous entities who will own the lands composing the greenway. Working with the University of Florida Law School's Conservation Clinic, NWMLT is developing programs to educate local landowners, attorneys, realtors, property appraisers, and tax specialists about conservation easements. They are also assisting families in tailoring such voluntary land conservation commitments to meet their specific needs for estate planning, tax relief, and longterm land use.

KEY POINTS:

• Price's Scrub is unquestionably an ecologically valuable area. The project site was identified by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI 1993) as one of the county’s top dozen priority sites for preservation of biodiversity. It lies within lands regarded as a Strategic Habitat Conservation Area by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (FGFWFC) and includes an area FGFWFC has mapped as a "hot spot" for 7+ focal species (Cox et al. 1994).
• This project has met all requirements for purchase under the Pennies for Parks program. It was identified as a high priority by the county's environmental lands inventory. The county's recreational study showed that horseback riding trails, which will be the primary recreational use of the site, are the type of recreational facility most wanted by the citizens of the northwest quadrant of the county. Studies have shown that the northwest part of the county is seriously deficient in park lands. The PELAAC committee has recommended purchase of the site. FCT has evaluated the plan and chosen this project to receive over a million dollars in state funds.
• If the commissioners do not vote to purchase Price's Scrub on January 4th, the site will be developed. A clouded title blocked development of the tract for over for over twenty years, but the owners cleared the title several months before and have applied for a subdivision plat. If the county does not immediately move to purchase the land, the owners will promptly break it into smaller parcels and sell it.
• Although this site is called Price's Scrub, scrub is only one of the many habitats represented there. Much of the land is hilly and covered with wonderfully scenic hardwood forests All the natural communities (native vegetative communities) listed in A Natural Areas Inventory of Marion County occur on the Price's Scrub property. These include Scrub, Xeric Hammock, Upland Hardwood Forest, Upland Mixed Forest, Upland Pine Forest (Red Oak Woods), Mesic Flatwoods, Scrubby Flatwoods, Wet Flatwoods, Depression Marsh, Marsh Lake, and Sinkhole Lake. Other than the red oak woods, which need restoration work, the on-site examples of all these communities are currently in good ecological condition.
• Scrub is a threatened habitat ranked G2/S2 by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory. There are 190 acres of this community in good condition on the Price's Scrub property.
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• This tract will be a keystone public acquisition in a matrix of privately owned greenway lands, some of which are already open to the public. NWMLT is in the process of placing conservation easements on these lands to assure longterm preservation of important ecological and scenic features and controlled public access to the trail network. With the impetus this project will provide, NWMLT expects to acquire conservation and trail access easements on thousands of acres of additional land and extend the greenway to the north and west. SJRWMD has already expressed the intent to secure conservation easements on over 7,000 acres of linked land in Alachua County if Marion County will purchase this tract.
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• The actual cost of buying the property will probably be significantly less than the amount budgeted. The Marion County Parks and Recreation Department's budget for this acquisition values the land at the owner's asking price of $2,500/acre. County and FCT policies prohibit purchasing such lands for more than appraised value and it its expected that the appraisals will come in closer to half that price.
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• The development and maintenance costs in the parks department budget are also far in excess of what actually needs to be spent. The citizens do not want elaborate facilities on this park. NWMLT is eager to assume responsibilities for trail construction/ maintenance and land management and can use expert professionals and local volunteers to provide these services at a much lower cost.

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