The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners pledged $275,000 to the North Florida Land Trust Tuesday for the joint acquisition of the Oar House property located along Mickler Road.
The $275,000 will come from the St. Johns County Tree Bank Fund, which was created to mitigate the negative environmental effects of tree removal.
Under the partnership ownership will be shared between the trust and the county. The partners will work together to make the property a public access point to the northern Guana Preserve, Lake Ponte Vedra and the Florida Wildlife Commission property. Preservation of the property will provide environmental protection that will protect water quality and natural habitats in the area.
The project will be managed by the North Florida Land Trust in three phases. Phase I calls for fundraising to acquire the front parcel that contains the existing structure, phase II includes the redesign and renovation of the facility and phase III calls for the acquisition of the adjacent parcel.
The trust, founded in 1999 to preserve natural areas in North Florida, anticipates the need to raise approximately $800,000 to complete the project.
The Guana preserve includes approximately 65,000 acres of salt marsh, mangrove tidal wetlands, oyster bars, estuarine lagoons, upland habitats and offshore seas in St. Johns and Flagler Counties.
