complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Unit Name:
Acres: 11,950 Managing
Agency:
Description:
Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve / St. Joseph Bay State Buffer
Preserve
DEP/CAMA . Current Management Plan
Approved:
302
ANERR -
December 1998
SJBSBP –
August 1997
The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR) is located in Franklin, Gulf and
Liberty counties, on the Florida panhandle, approximately 75 miles southeast of Tallahassee and 60
miles east of Panama City. With nearly 250,000 acres within the ANERR boundaries, it is the
second largest National Estuarine Research Reserve in the NERR system. ANERR includes
Apalachicola Bay, one of the most productive estuarine systems in the Northern hemisphere and
the estuarine systems, riverine systems, and floodplain systems associated with the Apalachicola
River. The ANERR has direct management responsibility for Little St. George Island (2,233 acres),
a portion of the tidal marshes at the mouth of the Apalachicola River (4,429 acres), several
separate small units of Apalachicola Bay shoreline (263 acres) and the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer
Preserve (SJBSBP)(5,025 acres), located on St. Joseph Bay south of the town of Port St. Joe.
Accomplishments:
Resource Management:
Reintroduction of fire in SJBSBP’s fire-dependent natural communities that have been fire
suppressed has been a main management focus during this reporting period.
Capital Improvements:
A new office complex and environmental learning center in Apalachicola is under construction
and scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.
Additional Explanation:
SJBSBP is managed as a separate unit of ANERR with the expectation that it will adjoin ANERR
once a key parcel of the St. Joe Timberlands Florida Forever project is acquired. Management
plan updates for SJBSBP and ANERR are being developed at this time.