Region: Southern Palm Beach County
Size: 39 acres
Hours: Daily from sunrise to sunset
Location:
7300 High Ridge Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33426 (not a mailing address). The entrance is located on the east side of High Ridge Road, 1/2 mile south of Hypoluxo Road. High Ridge Road is approximately 1/2 mile west of I-95.
Public Use Facilities:
Facilities include a parking area for five cars and one bus, a bicycle rack, a kiosk with educational exhibits, an accessible nature trail leading to a covered observation platform, and a natural-surface hiking trail. There are no restrooms or drinking water on the natural area.
Site Information:
The natural area contains two native Florida ecosystems: scrub and scrubby flatwoods. The southern portion of the natural area contained a mango orchard from the 1920s up to 1950. By 1950 the orchard had been cleared and the central portion of the site was being mined for sand for road-building activities. Native vegetation is recolonizing the deep pit left after mining activities ended in 1965. More than 2,000 cabbage palms and live oaks were planted on the site as part of site restoration activities. The lands that form the natural area were purchased in four separate acquisitions in 1998 and 1999. State matching funds for several of the acquisitions were provided by the Florida Communities Trust through its Preservation 2000 Program. The natural area is managed by Palm Beach County.
Plants:
Plant species observed on the site include powder-puff lichen, gray nicker, seabeach eveningprimrose, partridge pea, Florida rosemary, Feay's palafox, narrowleaf silkgrass, saw palmetto, sand pine, and live oak.
Wildlife:
Animal species observed on the site include yellow garden spider, cicada, American bird grasshopper, gulf fritillary, coachwhip, gopher tortoise, Cooper's hawk, red-bellied woodpecker, prairie warbler, and eastern gray squirrel.
Links:
Coastal
