Loxahatchee Greenways Project

Human Connections to Nature

More and more communities, both old and new, are recognizing the potential for greenways to serve as community amenities, raising the quality of life and property values. As part of the Loxahatchee Greenways Project, The Conservation Fund convened a series of meetings between planners from communities in the region to consider how their bicycle and pedestrian trail systems will connect with each other to create a system of recreational greenways throughout the region. (See map on page 13.) Linking these community greenways provides a network of recreational opportunities for the whole region.

The Loxahatchee Project's community efforts are geared toward providing opportunities for environmental education, bicycling, hiking, canoeing and horseback riding, while inviting people to experience and interpret the pristine natural environment. Neighborhood greenways help to restore a sense of nature to a city, providing linkages between urban areas and the regional greenway system. Four local greenway projects, Juno Beach Bike trail, Loxahatchee Nature Preserve, Limestone Creek and Abacoa, serve as models for the study region and as prototypes for the Loxahatchee Regional Greenways Project.


The Juno Beach Bike Trail: Connecting Coastal Communities

One of the keys to creating a "livable" community is a transportation system that allows people to get from place to place without using a car. Many people enjoy walking to shops and bicycling to the park, beach or library. They want safe places for kids to play, and pleasant places to talk with their neighbors. In Palm Beach County, the new Juno Beach Bike Trail is one of these places. This 10.5 mile long greenway links five communities and six parks, and will connect to passive recreational trails and environmental education opportunities at three important nature preserves -- Jupiter Ridge, Juno Hills Scrub and MacArthur Beach State Park. People from Juno Beach, North Palm Beach, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens can get on the greenway in their communities and walk or bike along some of the area's most beautiful oceanfront. They can visit the beach at any one of a number of access points, or patronize community restaurants and shops. The greenway is a joint project of the Towns of Juno Beach and Jupiter and the Village of North Palm Beach. It is being created with support from the federal government's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) enhancement fund and from the Florida Department of Transportation.



The Juno Beach Bike Trail will extend over 10 miles, from Carlin Park in Jupiter to MacArthur Beach State Park on Singer Island, overlooking some of Palm Beach County's most beautiful beaches. It will provide access to hiking trails in some of the last remaining coastal scrub sites in Palm Beach County.


Loxahatchee Preserve Nature Center: The Accent's On Water

The concentration of people on Florida's southeastern coast is a tremendous drain on water resources. Water managers face a constant struggle to maintain the delicate balance of supplying water for people, agriculture and wildlife. Water supply has been a critical issue in communities from West Palm Beach to Stuart since they were established. A dependable water supply was the impetus behind the creation of the City of West Palm Beach's Water Catchment Area, a 19.3 square-mile expanse of wetlands that captures and stores rainfall. In West Palm Beach, the city's drinking water reservoir doubles as a nature preserve, an outdoor classroom, and a recreation resource for citizens of the region. Helping people understand the critical balance needed to supply water for people, nature and agriculture is the mission of the Loxahatchee Preserve Nature Center, which is located in the northeastern corner of the Water Catchment Area. Its boardwalk system lets visitors explore a spikerush marsh, cypress stand and pine flatwoods. Interpretive signs explain how wetlands work, and why they are important to the county's residents and visitors. The observation deck and extensive hiking and canoe trails give visitors a first-hand experience with the vast wetland, and sometimes an opportunity to see ospreys, bald eagles and endangered snail kites on the wing.



In West Palm Beach, the city's drinking water reservoir doubles as an outdoor classroom.


Riverbend Park: Connecting Human and Natural History

Riverbend Park provides an important greenway connection between the Loxahatchee River and its watershed as well as opportunities to interpret the human and natural history of the region. Located at the beginning of the Wild and Scenic portion of the Loxahatchee, the park holds several Native American archaeological sites dating from the Seminoles to the Tequestas. The park is also the staging area for hiking and canoe trips along the river.


Recreational Opportunities

The greenways concept emphasizes connections between people and the environment, recognizing the need to conserve the region's "green infrastructure" in order to successfully build livable communities and sustain a high quality of life for the region's residents.





Limestone Creek Greenway: Preserving an Historic Community

Like many small communities in southeastern Florida, Limestone Creek is an island in a vast sea of development. Its 300 people live in homes bordered by lush native vegetation and crushed-shell roads. Children ride their bikes and walk along the quiet streets. Homeowners nurture fruit trees and tend gardens. A sense of a closely knit community pervades this quiet neighborhood, creating a unique sense of place. An enormous banyan tree stands like a sentinel in the center of the Limestone Creek community. It has kept watch over the community and served as a congregation point since it was planted in celebration of the completion of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church over 100 years ago. Sheltering children on their way home from the elementary school only a few yards away or residents waiting for the bus, the tree now also stands watch over the Limestone Creek Greenway. Planned by community residents, the Limestone Creek Greenway will encompass not just quiet streets, but several important natural resources as well. The C-18 canal, running just south of the community, is a popular spot for fishing, swimming and contemplation. Two areas along the canal are used for baptisms. The canal is bordered by a swath of mostly native vegetation, including mangroves with a mature oak hammock running along the original streambed of Limestone Creek to the north. The Limestone Creek Greenway will preserve a system of open spaces and trails that links the community's natural, cultural and historic resources. It will provide safe passage from homes to schools, shops and churches, offer rich native habitat for wildlife, and help maintain the green landscape of the neighborhood.




Abacoa: Planning the Future





The sketch, above top, shows a cross section of a greenway for Abacoa. The photo, above, is one of the Abacoa greenway's core natural preserve areas.

Abacoa is a new development under construction in Jupiter. Unlike South Florida developments over the past 50 years, however, this new town will provide a mixture of commercial, recreational, educational, environmental, and residential uses all within the same community. The neighborhood is organized around a greenway corridor planned to meet the needs of the environment as well as the needs of people. The greenway will restore the natural system within its 300 acre expanse, providing habitat for endangered species and will restore the site's natural water flow while simultaneously linking residential neighborhoods, community squares, parks and commercial areas with a network of bikeways and paths. The greenway will serve as the basis for an environmental education program linked to the community's schools. Abacoa is a new type of community for South Florida, one that respects our dependence on nature and our need for civic spaces.