Burnette Lake

Rapid Ecological Project Assessment

Alachua County Forever

Draft Date:                             December 11, 2002

Matrix Score:                         6.93 of  9.44

Size:                                        17,149 acres

Number of parcels:                392

Number of owners:                205

Number of buildings: 164

 

Location/Description:

            The 17,149-acre Burnette Lake (BUR) Project extends from San Felasco Hammock State Park to the Santa Fe River.  It is adjacent to the Hasan Flatwoods, Santa Fe River and Buck Bay Flatwoods Alachua County Forever (ACF) Projects, Map 1.  Approximately 2,554 acres are within city limits; 371 acres are within La Crosse, 1,324 acres are within Alachua and 854 acres are within Gainesville. 

The BUR project is a combinations of four projects from the Alachua County Ecological Inventory Project (KBN Study); South Lacrosse Forest, Rocky Creek, Hague Flatwoods, and North San Felasco Hammock (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 South Lacrosse Forest project was ranked 39th of 47 projects evaluated in the county, and categorized as below average, the Rocky Creek project was ranked 31st and categorized as below average, the Hague Flatwoods Project and the North San Felasco Hammock were both ranked 23rd and categorized as average (KBN 1996).

The KBN Study summarized the South LaCrosse Forest as having a “high diversity of topography, habitats and conditions.  There is pasture, pine plantation, pine flatwoods, basin swamp, dome swamp, mesic hammock, slope forest, a creek, and several ponds.  Some of the hammock and slope forest is impressive mature forest, but most of the flatwoods is in poor condition.  Most of this area has endured significant human disturbance in the past, some of which is now healing.  There are several houses and other buildings within the site.” 

 Rocky Creek was described as follows, “This site is a connector that consists mostly of Rocky Creek and its tributaries along with a narrow strip of stream valley and upland along the streams. It is one of the most far-reaching and narrow connectors in the county. The vegetation along the stream is mostly hardwood forest.”

The Hague Flatwoods project is summarized in the KBN Study by the following paragraph, “This is an area of pine flatwoods forest used for commercial forestry that has mostly been bedded and planted with slash pine (Pinus elliotti).  There are also large areas of basin swamp and many cypress domes. The area is part of the headwaters of both Rocky Creek and Turkey Creek.  The Deerhaven Power Plant is within this site.”

The North San Felasco Hammock is described in the KBN Study as an “area of creeks, ponds, hardwood forest, pine plantation, and pasture on the north side of San Felasco Hammock State Preserve.  The two creeks both flow into the preserve from this area.”

Protecting Water Resources:

Seventy-nine percent of the Burnette Lake site is located in the confined aquifer zone of Alachua County, and the remaining 21% is located in the perforated zone.  The confined aquifer zone is defined by Macesich as a zone of relative aquifer confinement that 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.  The perforated zone is an area underlain by clays of the Hawthorn Group perforated by numerous karst features that allow direct access to the aquifer (Macesich 1988).

The BUR site is shown as having high to moderately high aquifer recharge on the St. Johns River Water Management District’s (SJRWMD) Aquifer Recharge Map. 

Approximately 48% of the BUR project is wetlands, contains hydric soils, or falls within the FEMA 100 or 500 year flood hazard zone. 

The BUR site contains the headwaters for Rocky Creek which flows north to the Santa Fe River and Turkey Creek which flows into San Felasco Hammock State Park and then into the Floridan Aquifer through a swallow hole and cave system in Sanchez Prairie.  The western area of the BUR project is bisected by SR 327.  “West of this road, the topography is hilly and has a creek system that has carved some moderately steep slopes.  East of the road, the topography is flat.  Under both sides is a clay layer that keeps water from easily seeping down into the Floridan Aquifer.  However, this layer gets less thinner to the west, allowing for sinkhole formation.  The drainage of the western 70% of the area is to Burnetts Lake near Alachua, which in turn drains into the Floridan Aquifer.  The eastern end of this site drains into Rocky Creek which flows north into the Santa Fe River” (KBN 1996).

Protecting Natural Communities and Landscapes:

Natural Communities

Former Sandhill

Slope Forest

Upland Mixed Forest

Upland Pine Forest

Sinkhole

Wet Flatwoods

Mesic Flatwoods

Hydric Hammock

Bog

Baygall

Seepage Slope

Seepage Slope Forest

Bottomland Forest

Swale

Basin Marsh

Depression Marsh

Basin Swamp

Shrub Swamp

Dome Swamp

Flatwoods/ Prairie Lake

Seepage Stream

Sinkhole Lake

Old Field Succession Pine

Blackwater Stream

Sandhill

Other

Rough Pasture

Row Crops

Farm Pond

High Impact Development

Improved Pasture

Low Impact Development

Old Field Pine Plantation

The above list of natural communities is from the KBN Report (KBN 1996).  The quality of the natural communities ranges from good to poor (KBN 1996). 

The Project site abuts San Felasco Hammock State Park and the Santa Fe River, in addition to the Buck Bay Flatwoods, Millhopper Flatwoods and Hasan Flatwoods ACF projects, Map 1.  The project is bisected by four significant Roads, US Highway 441, State Road 121, State Road 235, and County Road 237. 

Fifty-one percent of the project site is within the Florida Ecological Greenways Network (FEGN).  Forty-six percent is in two un-named priority 6 project areas.  One connects San Felasco Hammock State Park to the Santa Fe River via the Hague Flatwoods, Murphree Well field and the Northeast Flatwoods.  The other priority 6 area extends south approximately three miles through Rocky Creek from the priority 5 Santa Fe River project.  Five percent of the Santa Fe River FEGN Project is contained within the BUR 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). 

Less than one percent of the BUR Project falls within a wading bird Strategic Habitat Conservation Area. Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas were developed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).  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). 

Fifty-four percent of the site is within 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 (FNAI June 2001).

Less than 10% of the BUR project is delineated by FNAI as either pine flatwoods or upland hardwood forest Under-represented Natural Communities.  FNAI 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             Noted              Observed

                                                Home-Range                         Status                    Designation

Amphibians

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

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

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

Southeastern Slimy Salamander        -/-                            -/-                            -/-                                                                            P*

Reptiles

American Alligator                              -/-                            T/SSC                     -/S4                                         SM,K                      C

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake    -/-                            -/-                            -/S3                                         SM,N                      C

Eastern Indigo Snake                          -/-                            T/T                         SSC/S3                                   SM,N,K                  P

Florida Box Turtle                                X/-                          -/-                            -/-                                                                            C

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

Florida Pine Snake                               -/-                            -/SSC                      SU/S3                                     SM,N,K                  N

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

Loggerhead Musk Turtle                    -/-                            -/-                            -/-                                                                            P*

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

Suwannee Cooter                                 X/-                          -/SSC                      SSC/S3                                   SM                          P

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

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

Southern Hog Nosed Snake               -/-                            -/-                            -/S2                                                                         C

Birds

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

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

Great Egret                                            -/-                            -/-                            SSC/S4                                   N

Little Blue Heron                                  -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S4                                   SM,N,K

Louisiana Waterthrush                       -/-                            -/-                            R/S3                                        SM

Osprey                                                   -/-                            -/-                            T/S3S4                                   SM

Snowy Egret                                         -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S3                                   SM,K

Southeastern American Kestrel         -/-                            -/T                           T/S3                                        F,K

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

Swallow-tailed Kite                              -/L                           -/-                            T/S2                                        F

White Ibis                                             -/-                            -/SSC                      SSC/S4                                   N,K

Wild Turkey                                          -/L                                                                                                           F

Wood Stork                                          -/-                            E/E                          E/S2                                        SM,N,K

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron            -/-                            -/-                            SSC/S3?                                 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.

 

Information in the “Observed” column was provided by local experts.  David Auth, Ph.D. provided the information on amphibians and reptiles.   This data was based on a series of maps made by Dr. Auth using location of capture of specimens in museums of the United States dating back to before 1900, and to a lesser extent, to visual sightings by Dr. Auth and other professional biologists.  “P”=Present, indicates at least one museum record or visual sighting of the species in the project area. “C”=Close, indicates a museum record or visual sighting within one mile of the project border.  “N”=Not Present and Not Close, indicates all map records for the species lie outside the one mile limit.  “*”= Rare in County, while not on any list, these species have been determined to be rare in Alachua County by Dr. Auth.

 

Listed plants noted in the KBN Study include poppy mallow, royal fern, cinnamon fern and greenfly orchid. 

            Exotic plants found within the project area via the KBN Study include Chinese golden bamboo, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese wisteria, Chinese tallow, air potato, mimosa, chinaberry, camphor tree, Boston fern, English ivy, and white-flowered spiderwort.  Additional observations by staff in the project area include tungoil tree, glossy privet, Chinese privet and downy maiden fern.

The ecological quality within the BUR Project varies from good to poor. 

The FWC 2001 bald eagle nest data shows no bald eagle nests on the BUR site and one nest within a quarter mile of the project area.

Approximately 48% of the site is within Regional Biodiversity Hotspots. The purpose of the Regional Biodiversity Hot Spots maps, developed by FWC, 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).

Achieving Social and Human Values:

Thirty percent of the BUR site is a priority 1-5 Natural Resource-based Recreation Area, Knight, et al. 2000, and 51% is a priority 5 or 6 Ecological Greenway.  The Natural Resource-based Recreation map was developed by FNAI in collaboration with DEP, FWC and the Florida Division of Forestry.  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 BUR 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, and could link recreational opportunities in San Felasco Hammock to other areas via hiking and biking trails.  Because much of the project area would be pursued for acquisition through conservation easements, it would very likely limit public access in the project area.

Management:

The BUR project will require intensive management due to the level of invasive plants existing on the property and the level that can be anticipated in the future, the need for prescribed fire in portions of the project area, the amount of fragmentation, the high edge to area ratio, and the need for restoration of some areas.  Because acquisition of the project area will be pursued largely through conservation easements, it is questionable whether or not this management / restoration is feasible.

Economic & Acquisition:

There are 392 parcels and 205 ownerships in the 17,149-acre BUR Project.  The property appraiser shows 164 buildings on their parcel database.  The Alachua County Property Appraisers 2002 Just Value or land value for the entire project is $26,370,800 or $1,538/ acre. The ACPA’s total value (Just, Miscellaneous and Buildings) for the project area is $47,049,200 or 2,744/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 protection of the Plum Creek, City of Gainesville and the IFAS tracts in the Hague Flatwoods area would lay the foundation to connect San Felasco Hammock State Park to the Santa Fe River through either Rocky Creek or the Murphree Well Field Conservation Area and the Northeast Flatwoods.  San Felasco Hammock State Park could be connected to this area via the northeastern portion of the park through Cellon Creek by the acquisition of the Pinkoson, Freeland & Freeland, Bethea, Givens & Lighter, and Moltech properties.  Portions of the Pinkoson and Freeland & Freeland parcels are on the State Parks Acquisitions and Inholdings list.  The digital ortho photography and the County’s tax parcel coverage in the area surrounding Cellon Creek between San Felasco Hammock State Park and the US 441 box culvert may not be properly aligned.  If this is the situation, the keystone parcels will be amended to include the parcels around the Creek.

Protection of the Hague Flatwoods area would provide a second possible connection to San Felasco via the Millhopper Flatwoods ACF project. 

The keystone parcels in the BUR project are first to establish the connection between San Felasco Hammock State Park and the US 441 box culvert through Cellon Creek, and then make the connection to the Murphree Well Field:

Pinkoson                                  05949-005-000                       431.11 ac

Freeland & Freeland                 05955-000-000                       161.48 ac

Plum Creek                              05943-000-000                       190.39 ac

                                                05882-000-000                       64.3 ac

                                                05946-000-000                       469.96 ac

                                                05973-000-000                       394.66 ac

05974-000-000                       44.8 ac

05868-000-000                       822.87 ac

06013-000-000                       305.96 ac

05896-000-000                       610.47 ac

05871-000-000                       120.73 ac

05821-000-000                       165.97 ac

05864-000-000                       43.81 ac

                                                07781-000-000                       871.69 ac

                                                07813-000-000                       481.74 ac

                                                07814-000-000                       496.51 ac

IFAS                                        05825-000-000                       552.38 ac

05863-000-000                       472.16 ac

05757-000-000                       114.91 ac

City of Gainesville                     05884-000-000                       325.89 ac

                                                05943-001-000                       156.11 ac

                                                05882-004-000                       405.67 ac

                                                05946-003-000                       209.93 ac

                                                05871-002-000                       18.31 ac

Bethea, Givens & Lighter          05858-000-000                       38.26 ac

Moltech                                    05855-000-000                       126.97 ac

Due to the size of this project and the amount of development within its boundaries, it is recommended that the protection of the project area be pursued predominately through conservation easements.

The following parcels have already been placed on the active acquisition list by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners: Temple of the Universe, Durando, Joseph & Schultz, Fuentes & Schultz, Newman, Barber and McAllister.

The City of Alachua, in cooperation with the Santa Fe Land Trust, has been awarded a Florida Communities Trust grant for the acquisition of several parcels on the northwest side of San Felasco Hammock, Map 3.

There are 15,315 acres of the BUR project zoned agriculture. The future land use is very similar to the existing zoning.   The higher use zoning and future land use designations are within the City of Alachua.  Seven hundred and eighty-six acres of the project area are within the City of Alachua’s Urban Reserve area.

Development appears to be moving out from the City of Alachua.

 

Other:

            The BUR project area is rich in archaeological resources with 15 Division of Historical Resources Master Site File locations within its borders.

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