The Florida cabinet this week agreed to purchase over 17 thousand acres in Franklin and Wakulla Counties to protect it from development

The Florida cabinet this week agreed to purchase over 17 thousand acres in Franklin and Wakulla Counties to protect it from development.

The Cabinet approved a 17,080-acre land acquisition within the Dickerson Bay/ Bald Point Florida Forever project – the property is better known as the bluffs of St. Theresa.

The project includes uplands around the Ochlockonee Bay which provide foraging habitat for juvenile Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles as well as state or globally rare birds like the wood stork.

The uplands surrounding the three bays also support populations of rare animals like the Sherman’s fox squirrel and gopher tortoise.

This project will also enhance the western portion of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and buffer the nearby productive waters of the Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserve, Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve, and the Apalachicola Bay Aquatic Preserve providing a permanent means of protecting the estuaries that recreational and commercial fishermen rely on for finfish and shellfish species that are the economic lifeblood of the region.

The purchase has been a long time coming.

The land was first placed on the Florida Forever list in 1996.

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