The Bogey Creek Preserve park in Jacksonville will reopen on Tuesday for the first time since mid-March, when it was closed due to the coronavirus.
The North Florida Land Trust, which manages the park, said it will be open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week.
The 75-acre public park on Cedar Point Road on Jacksonville’s Northside neighbors Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park and the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.
The preserve has more than a mile of trails that wind through a mix of maritime hammock forest, seep-fed cypress swamps, and mixed pine-oak forest, and it protects nearly a mile of critical marshland on Clapboard and Bogey creeks.
Visitors are being asked to stay at least 6 feet apart while on the trails or in picnic areas.
“We are glad we can now reopen this beautiful property for public use, but we urge everyone to please remain safe as they visit,” said Jim McCarthy, president of the land trust. “We have rearranged our picnic areas to keep visitors a safe distance apart.”
Since it opened the preserve to the public last year, the NFLT had been leading birdwatching trips, naturalist tours, hikes, nature yoga, and other programs until it shut down in March.
“Our usual programs and tours that we host at the preserve are still on hold for the time being. We are currently looking at safe ways we can bring those back to the community,” McCarthy said.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
