Prompted by a concern over significant tree canopy loss from the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes, Palm Beach County, through its Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM), has received a grant from the Florida Division of Forestry to plant native trees along a new five-mile multiuse trail to be constructed on the C-18 Canal management road that runs through a portion of the County’s Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area.
The trail begins at the City of Palm Beach Gardens’ Sandhill Crane Access Park located on PGA Boulevard west of the turnpike and continues north ending at the County’s Riverbend Park in Jupiter. The trail will be part of a system of trails and greenways connecting 145,000 acres of natural lands in northern Palm Beach County and southern Martin County as part of the Northeast Everglades Natural Area (NENA) program.
The grant provided for the purchase and planting of 345 native trees such as live oak and red maple along the trail. Already the trees are providing valuable shade for those hiking, biking or horseback riding along the trail. In addition to new landscaping, the trail will include a new surface, curves, a shade shelter and other amenities. The trail is expected to open in late 2008.
For more information about the tree planting project, please contact Matthew King at 561-233-2421. For more information about NENA, please contact Sally Channon at 561-233-2429 or Ginny Powell at 561-233-2452.
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Government
