St. Lucie County issued the following announcement on Oct. 21.
Teague Hammock Preserve will be closed for several months, beginning Monday, Nov. 1 as St. Lucie County’s Environmental Resources Department begins a hydrologic restoration project. The Paleo Hammock Preserve and the Hackberry Hammock Preserve portions of the Steven J. Fousek Preserve Complex will remain open to the public throughout the duration of the project.
The Teague Preserve Hydrologic Restoration Project is an Indian River Lagoon - C23/C24 CERP buffer project that will provide an additional 300-acres of groundwater recharge and natural area storage that will reclaim agriculture water discharge, restore priority wetland habitat for threatened and endangered species. Historically, this area was heavily impacted by the installation of drainage and conversion for agriculture, which fragmented historic drainage patterns. The project is located within the C-24 canal drainage basin, which is considered a major contributing source to the impairment of the lower St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon Estuaries. Restoration of wetlands reduce nutrient concentrations to downstream waters, attenuate flooding, increase storage and hydroperiods, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. Additionally, this project will reduce the future costs to manage invasive/exotic vegetation. County partners on this project include the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Section (FWC AHRES) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), which provided $1 million in grant funding for the project design and construction with no required local match.
Once completed in early January 2022, this project will reclaim and store agricultural runoff before it reaches the C24 drainage basin. By restoring wetlands in the preserve, St. Lucie County can help clean surface water impacted by agricultural operations before it reaches tributaries to the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon. The newly restored wetlands will significantly reduce unwanted nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, helping to improve water quality as this runoff is slowly released back into the estuaries.
Teague Hammock was purchased for preservation with Florida Forever funds and holds unique natural and historic resources.
Original source can be found here.
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