North Florida Land Trust

A 716 acre conservation easement in Putnam County has been donated to the North Florida Land Trust, the largest conservation easement donation the nonprofit has received within the Ocala to Osceola Wildlife Corridor.

 The city of Fernandina Beach has bought three acres of land for conservation on Amelia Island.

The North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) is getting a $450,000 grant from the Houston-based EJK Foundation to support efforts in the Ocala to Osceola Wildlife Corridor.

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 Florida Cabinet voted Tuesday to approve a $2.8 million conservation easement on Wetland Preserve in Putnam County.

The North Florida Land Trust says an endangered woodpecker recently found at Camp Blanding in Clay County proves that a big preservation project is working.

Monday on First Coast Connect we spoke with Democratic Attorney General candidate Sean Shaw, who is currently a state representative (01:20).

Homes along Black Creek in Clay County were among some of the hardest hit by the flooding that followed Hurricane Irma. 

Friday on “First Coast Connect,” our weekly media roundtable included David Cawton from the Financial News and Daily Record and blogger Fred Matthews (00:57). We spoke with “1A” host Joshua Johnson (33:30) and heard about the latest effort to preserve public land from North Florida Land Trust President Jim McCarthy (44:15). 

The North Florida Land Trust conservation group has secured funding to purchase 63 acres of land to turn into a public park bordering the Timucuan Ecological area.

Two anonymous donors helped clear the $1 million bar to buying what’s called the Bogey Creek Preserve.

Tuesday on “First Coast Connect," we spoke with North Florida Land Trust President Jim McCarthy (1:02) about the legislature moving to zero out Florida Forever funding despite the passage of Amendment 1, the law voters approved in 2014 to earmark preservation dollars. Vicky Gunning  (24:24), managing partner of the Dallas office of Locke Lord and co-chair of the firm’s real estate and real estate finance practice, previewed her talk Tuesday about closing the pay gap with Jacksonville’s Commercial Real Estate Women. Terrell Hogan attorneys Matt Sowell and Fadi Chakour (35:25) talked about the dangers of brain stem strokes and Florida Theatre executive director Numa Saisselin (41:57) talked about the venue’s 90th anniversary. 

The North Florida Land Trust tripled its lifetime land ownership in 2016, preserving more than 12,000 acres of undeveloped terrain.

Land Trust Executive Director Jim McCarthy said it was the best year in the environmental organization’s 18 years.

On First Coast Connect Thursday we spoke with the owner of Jacksonville’s minor league baseball team Ken Babby about the team’s controversial name change. We also spoke with North Florida Land Trust Executive Director Jim McCarthy about a way landowners can receive an additional tax deduction for 2016.   

The North Florida Land Trust announced Tuesday it expects to take over a Spanish-American War Fort off Fort Caroline Road in November.

But the organization must first come up with $21,000 dollars over the next month.

The North Florida Land Trust is launching one of its most ambitious plans yet — it’s aiming to preserve more than 112,000 acres at once.

The trust is asking businesses and philanthropists for help raising the estimated $215 million required. But environmentalists said that’s because lawmakers are underfunding the state’s conservation program.

North Florida Land Trust

The North Florida Land Trust is launching an ambitious project to conserve more land in North Florida.

The nonprofit is planning to create a 112,000 acre "Preservation Portfolio" of land they say is in critical need of preservation. This includes territory in Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Putnam, and St. Johns Counties.

The estimated cost of purchasing the acreage is $216 million.

Jim McCarthy, executive director of the North Florida Land Trust, joins us to discuss the project and how they are raising funds for it.