| The 13.65-acre parcel (Nomination 428) is located at the northeast corner of Terry Street and Bonita Grande Drive in Bonita Springs and catty corner from the Pine Lake Preserve, a 131-acre Conservation 20/20 acquisition in 2000. (See attached location map.)
The acquisition of this property adds to the protection of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW). The CREW is a vast 60,000 acre area of interconnected swamps that spans Lee and Collier Counties. Its preservation is essential if such wildlife as the Florida panther and black bear are to survive. It also provides aquifer recharge, natural flood protection and water purification. About 15,500 acres of CREW lie in Lee County; an area that locals call the Flint Pen Strand after the Flint family who ran cattle there.
In 1989, the CREW Land & Water Trust was established as a nonprofit organization to coordinate the land acquisition, land management, and public use of the CREW. That same year, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) dedicated 0.2 mil for 3 years ($9 million) to acquire land from willing sellers in the Flint Pen Strand. The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) provided matching acquisition funds and has taken the lead as land manager. Twenty years later, and with various other state and local funding programs, the vast majority (13,330 acres) of the Flint Pen area has been acquired.
Most remaining parcels to acquire in the Flint Pen Strand are small, platted lots from the 1960s Sun Coast Acres land development. Although it is time consuming to buy small parcels, some individual lots are strategic for management and the collective whole is important to complete. In 2007, the CREW Trust initiated a multi-party agreement to try again to buy remaining lots. The Conservancy of SW Florida sought willing sellers for the Lee County Conservation 20/20 environmental land acquisition program, and the SFWMD agreed to manage new acquisitions. This acquisition is the first success from that effort. |
