North Florida Land Trust holds event marking quarter century of environmental protection

Marshlands in Jacksonville Beach the North Florida Land Trust wants to acquire. Image via North Florida Land Trust.

The North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) has been responsible for acquiring some key environmentally sensitive lands and prevented development on those ecosystems. And the organization wants to celebrate all its supporters who have helped in those objectives in the past quarter century.

The 25th anniversary of the organization will be marked on Saturday with a celebratory event in Keystone Heights, in Clay County. The 25th Anniversary Celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Smith Lake Preserve on Christian Camp Road.

The preserve is one of the tracts of land that the NFLT saved from development just five years ago. While the organization wants as many people to attend as possible, officials are asking those who want to attend to register beforehand at their website so they can get a fix on how many people will show up.

“We invite everyone to join us at Smith Lake Preserve, home to our stewardship department, to tour the property that we preserved in 2019 and to celebrate all that we have accomplished since our inception in December of 1999,” said Allison DeFoor, President and CEO of NFLT.

“We have preserved over 40,000 acres over the last 25 years and are nowhere near done. We remain steadfast in our focus to preserve the most ecologically, agriculturally and historically significant lands in North Florida. It is now or never.”

In addition to the celebration, the North Florida Land Trust will launch their end-of-the-year fundraising campaign. Land Trust officials hope to raise $525,000 within that campaign and those funds will be used for more sensitive land acquisitions.

“NFLT’s board of directors has offered a match for the first $25,000 of donations received. The nonprofit land conservation organization depends 100 percent on community contributions for its operating costs. To contribute to the campaign and become a part of the mission to save natural spaces, visit our website,” a NFLT news release said.