Buck Bay Flatwoods

Rapid Ecological Project Assessment

Alachua County Forever

Draft Date:                             October 22, 2002

Matrix Score:                         6.58 of 9.44

Size:                                        15,192

Number of parcels                 243

Number of owners                  145

 

LOCATION / DESCRIPTION: 

The 15,192 acre Buck Bay Flatwoods (BBF) Project is located between the City of Gainesville and the Santa Fe River; County Road 225, County Road 231, NW 39th Ave and NW 218th Ave border the site.  The BBF project is immediately north and east of the Murphree Wellfield Conservation Area and is nestled between the Alachua County Forever (ACF) Austin Cary Flatwoods, Northeast Flatwoods, Burnett Lake and Santa Fe River Projects, Map1.

The BBF project is a combination of two projects from the Alachua County Ecological Inventory Project (KBN Study); Buck Bay Flatwoods and Monteocha Creek, KBN 1996.  The purpose of the KBN Study was to identify, inventory, map, describe, and evaluate the most significant natural biological communities, both upland and wetland, that remain in private ownership in Alachua County and make recommendations for protecting these natural resources, KBN 1996.  The Buck bay Flatwoods project was ranked 20th of 47 projects evaluated in the county, and categorized as average, and the Monteocha Creek project was ranked 39th and categorized as below average, KBN 1996.

              The KBN Study summarized the Buck Bay Flatwoods project by stating that, “This is a large site of commercial pine flatwoods and associated wetlands directly north of Gainesville (adjacent to the GRU well field conservation easement).  It is a major headwaters area, rather like a miniature Green Swamp, supporting the following creek systems to varying degrees: Rocky Creek, Monteocha Creek, Rhuda Branch, Hatchet Creek, Little Hatchet Creek, and a bit of Hogtown Creek”, KBN 1996. 

The Monteocha Creek project is summarized in the KBN Study by the following paragraph,

“This is a tributary of the Santa Fe River. Its floodplain areas and some adjacent uplands serve as both high quality wildlife habitat and an important wildlife and water flow connector for large areas of pine flatwoods forest in the northeastern part of the county. The upland communities are mostly in poor condition, but are restorable. This is a better site than the low rating would indicate (Simons, personal opinion)”, KBN 1996.

Protecting Water Resources:                                   

The Buck Bay Flatwoods site is located in the confined aquifer zone of Alachua County.  This zone of relative aquifer confinement stretches from north-central Alachua County southeastward comprising most of the eastern half of the county.  It is a region of higher elevations underlain by at least 10 feet of clays or clayey sands which form an aquiclude to the Floridan Aquifer System, Macesich, 1988. 

Although the project site is shown as a high to moderately high aquifer recharge area on the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) Aquifer Recharge Map and the Aucott map, Aucott, 1988, new data indicates that this area of the county does not serve a significant aquifer recharge function, personal communication Robin Hallbourg, Environmental Engineer, Water Quality Division, Alachua County Environmental Protection Department.

Approximately 48% of the BBF project is wetlands, contains hydric soils, or falls within the FEMA 100 or 500 year flood hazard zone.  About half of the BBF is within the Murphree Wellfield protection zone.  The Murphree Wellfield is the source of drinking water for the most populated portions of the county, including the City of Gainesville.

The BBF site is the headwaters area for many stream systems.  “This site is underlain by the relatively impermeable Hawthorn Formation which restricts percolation of water down into the Florida Aquifer.  The main body of this site has flat topography with abundant wetlands that store large supplies of surface water.  It is mostly between 155 and 175 feet in elevation above mean sea level.  The drainage is to many different creek systems.  Rocky Creek and Monteocha Creek drain to the north into the Santa Fe River.  Hatchet Creek and Little Hatchet Creek drain into Newnans Lake which in turn drains, in part, into Alachua Sink on Paynes Prairie, where the water enters the Floridan Aquifer, and in part into Orange Lake, where some water enters the Floridan Aquifer and some goes into the St. Johns River Basin.  Rhuda Branch, which is entirely on the site, drains into Sunshine Lake, which has no outlet and presumably percolates down into the Floridan Aquifer.  A small area drains into Hogtown Creek, which flows into Hail Sink, where it enters the Floridan Aquifer”, KBN 1996, Map 2.

As part of their 2003 Legislative Agenda, Alachua County is considering requesting that the entire Orange Creek Basin be included in the State’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program.  This area includes Paynes Prairie, Newnans Lake, Lake Lochloosa, Orange Lake, and the impaired urban streams and lakes in the City of Gainesville.  At this time Newnans, Lochloosa and Orange Lakes have shown increased levels of degradation.  The Chlorophyll A concentration in Newnans and Lochloosa Lakes exceeds levels reported for Lake Apopka prior to restoration.  Lake Lochloosa, Paynes Prairie and Orange Lake were designated an “Outstanding Florida Water”.

A Portion of the BBF project is in the proposed SWIM area.  It contains the headwaters for Hatchet Creek and Little Hatchet Creek which discharge into Newnans Lake.  Protecting the creeks and their headwaters, enhancing the riparian buffers and reducing some of the negative effects of agricultural practices in the surrounding uplands will help improve the quality of water entering Newnans Lake.

Protecting Natural Communities and Landscapes:

Natural Communities

Sandhill

Old Field Pine Plantation

Former Sandhill

Upland Mixed Forest

Wet Flatwoods

Mesic Flatwoods

Hydric Hammock

Wet Prairie

Bog

Baygall

Seepage Slope Forest

Bottomland Forest

Floodplain Forest

Floodplain Swamp

Basin Marsh

Depression Marsh

Basin Swamp

Dome Swamp

Flatwoods/ Prairie Lake

Sinkhole Lake

Swamp Lake

 

Other

Rough Pasture

High Impact Development

Improved Pasture

Low Impact Development

Site Conversion Pine Plantation

Row Crops

The above list of natural communities is from the KBN Report, KBN, 1996.  Most of the uplands are bedded slash pine plantations, and the wetlands are in fair condition, KBN 1996. 

The Project site is adjacent to the Murphree Wellfield Conservation Area, and three ACF projects, Austin Cary Flatwoods, Northeast Flatwoods, Burnett Lake and the Santa Fe River, Map 1. 

Approximately 50% of the project site is within the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN).  About 45% is in an un-named priority 6 project area that connects San Felasco Hammock State Park to the Santa Fe River, and the remaining 5% is in the priority 5 Santa Fe River project.  The Florida Ecological Greenways Network is a decision support model to help identify the best opportunities to protect ecological connectivity statewide.  It was developed by the University of Florida for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.  GIS data on land use and significant ecological areas were integrated in a process that identified a statewide Ecological Greenways Network containing all of the largest areas of ecological and natural resource significance and the landscape linkages necessary to link these areas together in one functional statewide network, Hoctor et al. 2002. 

Protection of the Rayonier tracts within the BBF project would connect the Murphree Wellfield to the Austin Cary Flatwoods and the Northeast flatwoods and make the connection to San Felasco Hammock possible.  The Monteocha Creek portion of the project is too narrow, subdivided and developed to be a high quality connector. 

 Less than 5% of the BBF Project falls within a wading bird Strategic Habitat Conservation Area. Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas were developed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC).  They are private lands containing habitats critical to the continued survival of populations of inadequately protected plants and animals, Cox et al. 2000.  These lands are essential to providing some of state’s rarest animals, plants, and natural communities with the land base necessary to sustain populations into the future, Cox et al.1994. 

Approximately 50% of the site is in the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) priority 5 Habitat Conservation Priorities.  FNAI’s Habitat Conservation Priorities prioritize places on the landscape that would protect both the greatest number of rare species and those species with the greatest conservation need, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, June 2001.

About 10% of the BBF project is delineated as pine flatwoods, an Under-represented Natural Community.  Under-represented Natural Communities are those natural community types that were inadequately represented on conservation lands in Florida.  A natural community is considered to be inadequately represented if less than 15% of the original extent of that community is currently found on existing conservation lands.  Under-represented natural communities include, seepage slope, upland hardwood forest, pine rockland, tropical hardwood hammock, sandhill, scrub, upland glades, and pine flatwoods. This data was developed by the Office of Environmental Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and FNAI, FNAI, December 2001. 

PROTECTING PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES:

Common Name                     Endemic/ Large                   Fed/State               FCREPA/FNAI             Observed

                                                Home-Range                         Status                    Designation

Amphibians

Eastern Tiger Salamander                   -/-                            -/-                            SU/S3                                     SM

Gopher Frog                                          -/-                            -/SSC                      T/S3                                        SM

Striped Newt                                         -/-                            -/-                            R/S2S3                                   SM

Reptiles

Alligator Snapping Turtle                   -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S3                                   SM

American Alligator                              -/-                            T/SSC                     -/S4                                         SM

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake    -/-                            -/-                            -/S3                                         SM

Eastern Indigo Snake                          -/-                            T/T                         SSC/S3                                   SM

Florida Crowned Snake                       X/-                          -/-                            -/-                                            SM

Florida Pine Snake                               -/-                            -/SSC                      SU/S3                                     SM

Gopher Tortoise                                   -/-                            -/SSC                      T/S3                                        K

Peninsula Mole Skink                          -/-                            -/-                            -/-                                            SM

Short-tailed Snake                                X/-                          -/T                           T/S3                                        SM

Spotted Turtle                                      -/-                            -/-                            R/S3?                                      SM

Birds

Black Rail                                               -/-                            -/-                            R/S3                                        SM

Cooper’s Hawk                                     -/-                            -/-                            SSC/S3                                   SM

Great Egret                                            -/-                            -/-                            SSC/S4                                   SM

Hairy Woodpecker                              -/-                            -/-                            SSC/S3                                   SM

Little Blue Heron                                  -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S4                                   SM

Osprey                                                   -/-                            -/-                            T/S3S4                                   SM

Snowy Egret                                         -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S3                                   SM

Southern Bald Eagle                            -/L                           T/T                         T/S3                                        F

Tricolored Heron                                  -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S4                                   SM

Wild Turkey                                          -/L                           -/-                            -/-                                            F

Wood Stork                                          -/-                            E/E                          E/S2                                        SM

Mammals

Bobcat                                                   -/L                           -/-                            -/-                                            F

Florida Black Bear                                X/L                         -/T                           T/S2                                        F

Northern Yellow Bat                            -/-                            -/-                            SU/-                                        SM

River Otter                                             -/-                            -/-                            -/-                                            SM

Round-tailed Muskrat                         X/-                          -/-                            SSC/S3                                   SM

Sherman’s Fox Squirrel                       -/-                            -/SSC                      T/S3                                        F

X= Endemic, L=species with large home ranges according to the Closing the Gaps in Florida’s Wildlife Habitat System, S= observed by Alachua Co. EPD staff and/or an LCB subcommittee member, SM= documented on the Species Models maps created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, F= Focal species used for the most detailed analyses in the Closing the Gaps in Florida’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation System, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, 1994, N= Florida Natural Areas Inventory Element Occurrence, P= potential for species based on habitat types, K=documented in the Alachua County Ecological Inventory Project.

Catesby’s Lilly, royal fern, and cinnamon fern were noted on the property in the KBN Study.  FNAI lists Chapman’s Skeleton grass for the property in its Element Occurrence data.

The FFWCC 2001 bald eagle nest data shows one bald eagle nest on the BBF site and no additional nests within 2 miles.

Approximately 60% of the site is within Regional Biodiversity Hotspots. The purpose of the Regional Biodiversity Hot Spots maps, developed by FFWCC, is to “convey more detailed information on the known locations of as many components of biological diversity as possible, regardless of whether or not they fall within proposed Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas, to help meet the need for conservation information at regional and local levels”, Cox et al. 1994..

Chinese tallow was observed on the project site, and taro was observed within 200 feet of the project site, KBN 1996.  ACF staff observed a moderate infestation of air potato, Chinese tallow, taro, Japanese climbing fern, and castor bean on the southern portion of the site.  The southern portion of the site is vulnerable to continuing problems with invasive plants due to its location near residential and commercial development.

Achieving Social and Human Values:

About 15% of the BBF is a Priority 1-5 Natural Resource-based Recreation Area, Knight, et al. 2000, and about 50% is a priority 5 or 6 Ecological Greenway.  The Natural Resource-based Recreation map was developed by FNAI in collaboration with DEP, FFWCC and DOF.  The recreation potential of a site depends on available road access, presence of a water body or beach, proximity to urban areas, and size of the site.  “These criteria were applied to Potential Natural Areas delineated by FNAI using aerial photography and revised using the 1995 Water Management District land cover data. Sites were ranked by recreation potential.” Knight, et al. 2000. 

The BBF Project is part of the Emerald Necklace Land Conservation Initiative - “a publicly accessible, connected, and protected network of trails, greenways, open space, and waterfronts surrounding the Gainesville urban area”. 

The project would enhance recreational opportunities in the northern part of the county.

Management Issues:

            Invasive plant control and the reintroduction of prescribed fire into the system will be necessary for the effective management of this site.  The southern portion of the site is vulnerable to continuing problems with invasive plants because it is located near residential developments.

Economic/ Acquisition Issues:

There are 243 parcels and 145 ownerships in the 15,192 acre BBF Project.  The property appraiser shows 141 buildings on their parcel database.  Three ownerships make up 9,095 acres or 60% of the project acreage; the remaining 6,097 acres or 40% of the project is divided between 142 owners.  The Alachua County Property Appraisers 2002 Just Value or land value for the entire project is $21,532,500 or $1,417/ acre. The ACPA’s total value (Just, Miscellaneous and Buildings) for the project area is $27,909,200 or 1,837/acre.  These figures are for comparative purposes between nominated properties, and are not necessarily an accurate reflection of the true cost of the property if acquired by the Alachua County Forever Program. 

The Rayonier tracts are the keystone parcels in this project, Map 3.  The 4,892 acre Rayonier Tracts are adjacent to the Murphree Wellfield Conservation Area, and if acquired would connect the Wellfield Conservation Area to the ACF Austin Cary Flatwoods Project through Hatchet Creek, and to the southwest corner of the Northeast Flatwoods Project.  These tracts are the most valuable in the project because they make critical connections to other natural areas within the county, and as such have by themselves more value than the overall score reflects.  These parcels should be the priority within this project area.

            The BBF site falls within unincorporated Alachua County, with the exception of about 700 acres that are in the City of Gainesville.  The majority of the site is zoned agriculture except the southern area which has the following zoning:

Administrative and Professional                         60 acres

Single family Residential                                    235 acres

Manufacturing and Processing Industrial            294 acres

Light Industrial                                      203 acres

Highway Oriented Business                               1 acre

Business and Professional                                 4 acres.

            The future land use is very similar to the existing zoning.  Approximately 800 acres are within the Urban Services Line, and about 500 acres are in the City of Gainesville’s Urban Reserve.  There is a great deal of residential development along Monteocha Creek and the north central area of the project.  Development pressure is moderate in this area. 

Other:

There are two archeological sites within one mile of the BBF Project as listed on the Division of Historic Resources Florida Master Site File.

Literature Citations

Aucott, W. 1988. Water Resources Investigation Report 88-4057. USGS.

 

Cox, J., R. Kautz, M. MacLaughlin, and T. Gilbert. 1994.  Closing the Gaps in Florida’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation System, Office of Environmental Services, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Tallahassee, Florida.

 

Cox, J. and R. Kautz. 2000. Habitat Conservation Needs of Rare and Imperiled Wildlife in Florida. Office of Environmental Services, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, Florida.

 

Florida Natural Areas Inventory. June 2001. Florida Forever Conservation Needs Assessment Technical Report

 

Hoctor, T.S., J. Teisinger, M.G. Carr., P.C, Zwick. 2002. Identification of Critical Linkages Within the Florida Ecological Greenways Network. Final Report. Office of Greenways and Trails, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Tallahassee, FL.

 

Knight, G., A. Knight, and J. Oetting. 2000. Florida Forever Conservation Needs Assessment Summary Report to the Florida Forever Advisory council. Florida Natural Areas Inventory.

 

KBN, A Golder Associates Company. 1996. Alachua County Ecological Inventory Project. Prepared for Alachua County Department of Growth Management, Gainesville, Florida.

 

Macesich, M. 1988.  Geologic Interpretation of the Aquifer Pollution Potential in Alachua County, Florida, Open File Report – 21.  Florida Geologic Survey, Tallahassee, Florida.

 

Florida Natural Areas Inventory. December 2001. Florida Forever Conservation Needs Assessment Version 1.1 Supplement to the technical Report June 2001. Tallahassee, Florida.