Help Preserve NEIGHBORHOOD NATURE in North Port

You’re invited to help PRESERVE NATURE by donating to the purchase of Lot 23, Armour Terrace in North Port that houses 1 Gopher Tortoise and is in an active Florida Scrub-jay zone, by The Environmental Conservancy of North Port And Surrounding Areas, a 501c3 nonprofit neighborhood land conservancy (www.ecnorthport.com).

The Environmental Conservancy already owns the parcel adjacent (Lot 22) known as the Kathleen Belleville Nature Preserve. Acquiring this parcel would raise the conservation area protected to ½ acre.

We have been trying for the last few years to contract to acquire this parcel; we once had an agreement with the prior owner (a builder) to fundraise to purchase it, but the builder backed out before a contract was signed, choosing to hold on to its inventory instead; we kept periodically trying thereafter without success; the builder ultimately sold to someone else after some unexpected changes within the company occurred; and we were finally able to secure a contract with the current owner instead just now.

SEE MORE PHOTOS BELOW this write up.

HOW: RAISE $15,500 by May 31, 2025

Donations can be made:

Via this GoFundMe

or

Via Venmo: Environmental Conservancy NP - @NPconservancy

or

Via PayPal on our website: www.ecnorthport.com

Or

Via check payable to The Environmental Conservancy of North Port, Inc. and mail to 3465 Alfred Road, North Port, FL 34286.

WHY: As development progresses, North Port neighborhood natural habitat for Florida Scrub-jays, Gopher Tortoises and other wildlife is being slowly erased. Gopher Tortoises are being relocated and Scrub-jays and other wildlife are left to fend for themselves as their habitat shrinks. Our land acquisitions provide natural "stepping stone” habitat pockets in neighborhoods which is the best way to help ensure wildlife (including migrating birds) will always have a place to call home, eat, drink, rest and raise their young and that native plants/trees will remain to help sustain them.

The “woods” in our neighborhoods are just an illusion and will continue to disappear unless we buy or otherwise acquire land and permanently protect it.

Every parcel on every block is owned by someone different be it an individual, investment company, builder, etc. and all are subject to complete clear-cutting for development at any time. There is no City ordinance that can stop this from happening.

WHO: We are a 501c3 non-profit that acquires and permanently conserves neighborhood land in North Port AND Surrounding Areas (Charlotte/Sarasota Counties to date) for preservation of, and education and research about, neighborhood wildlife, native plants, trees and soil as our population continues to grow at a rapid pace. In other words, WE SAVE NEIGHBORHOOD NATURE.

Since we began our mission in early 2020 we have acquired and protected 18 parcels in North Port and 28 parcels across different areas of Charlotte County for a total of 46 to date.

QUESTIONS? Email us at [email redacted]. Visit our website at www.ecnorthport.com Facebook at www.facebook.com/ECnorthport/ or Instagram @npconservancy to learn more about us. Tax ID Number 84-4132468

A view inside the parcel.

Open sandy spots are useful to Scrub-jays who will bury scrub oak acorns here to sustain them during the winter.

The active Gopher Tortoise burrow on the parcel.

With every parcel acquisition we are saving a variety of native plants that get bulldozed for development daily; few to none are planted back.