Pictured: Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve. Photo courtesy of Lemon Bay Conservancy.

About 35 miles south of Sarasota, located on the Cape Haze peninsula in Charlotte County, lies an oasis. For it is there, within the grounds of a long-defunct 18-hole golf course that one can find the Lemon Bay Conservancy’s Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve, an 80-acre property that truly encapsulates the wild spirit of Florida’s natural wonders. The Conservancy, which has been around since 1971, is dedicated to preserving the habitats and water quality of the Lemon Bay and Gasparilla Sound Watersheds and has done so through a combination of acquiring undeveloped land, working to restore the habitats of those areas and educating the public about the importance of habitat preservation.

“We really focus on activities to improve water quality in Lemon Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the surrounding estuaries in addition to preserving the habitats that are part of the watershed, the surrounding wetlands and uplands. We do a whole range of environmental education and acquisition programs around those two zones,” says Eva Furner, one of the directors of the Conservancy and the chair of the Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve Committee. The Wildflower Preserve, which was bought by the Conservancy in 2010, is home to all types of native plant and animal species and has been the site of a major environmental restoration by the Conservancy. “We discovered a creek, called Lemon Creek, on the west end of the preserve that feeds out into Lemon Bay. We found out that juvenile Tarpon come back into that creek area after they’re born. We’ve been working with Florida Fish and Wildlife for years now studying the juvenile Tarpon and Snook populations in the creek,” says Furner. “Part of the restoration work we did was to expand the estuary area on the west side of the preserve to produce a better habitat for all of the fish and wildlife that use the estuary.”

On Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year, volunteers can join members of the Conservancy to do maintenance and enhancement projects on the preserve. Starting in October and continuing throughout the winter season, guided walks throughout the Preserve will be offered to the public.

3120 Gasparilla Pines Blvd, Englewood, 941-830-8922.

Pictured: Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve. Photo courtesy of Lemon Bay Conservancy.

For more information click here