The North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) has expanded the Bogey Creek Preserve in North Jacksonville by 12 acres thanks to an anonymous donor.
The anonymous donor gave the nonprofit land conservation organization $100,000 to help them reach the $150,000 needed to buy the land from the McGehee family.
NFLT president Jim McCarthy said the anonymous donation actually went above and beyond what they needed for this project and the leftover funds will go towards the Amelia Forever Campaign, which buys land on Amelia Island for conservation.
“The community has been very supportive of our efforts to preserve this beautiful piece of property which will expand the trails at Bogey Creek for everyone to enjoy,” said McCarthy. “We are happy we will finally be able to purchase this land from the McGehees who have been trying to sell the land for preservation for many years.”
The public park is a mix of maritime hammock, mixed pine-oak forest and seep-fed cypress swamps. The preserve, which is right next to Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park and the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, protects nearly a mile of critical marsh front on Clapboard and Bogey Creeks.
Bogey Creek Preserve was bought in 2017 with funding from community donations and it opened to the public in 2019.
The additional 12 acres will officially be acquired by the NFLT in January.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
