Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) maintains the Porter-Russell Pine Rockland Nature Preserve, a 7-acre property in South Miami-Dade County, one of the few remaining tracts of globally imperiled Pine Rocklands habitat remaining outside of Everglades National Park (ENP). The preserve is a vestige of the 180,000 acres of Pine Rocklands that historically spanned the oolitic limestone Miami Rock Ridge that spans Miami-Dade County on a NE/SW diagonal.
Located in Goulds on 124th Avenue between 222nd and 223rd streets, about 1 block west of Cauley Square, the preserve was donated to TAS in 1998 by William M. Porter of Annapolis, Maryland. The donation was part of a complex agreement between the Department of Environmental Resources Management, a developer and TAS. The parcel was then considered too small to become part of Miami-Dade County’s park system, yet was worthy of preservation because of its high-quality pineland plant community. Today, it is hemmed by a housing development.
In 2003, the Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) conducted an inventory of the flora at the preserve, recording 99 native plant species, including three species endemic to South Florida: Everglades Squarestem (Pineland Black Anthers), Mosier’s False Boneset and Pineland Jacquemontia (Pineland Clustervine).
IRC has conducted exotic plant control at the preserve, with grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, focusing on exotic hardwoods and grasses such as Burma Reed. In an effort to maintain the property and educate the public about the importance of threatened Pine Rockland habitat, the late Tropical Audubon Board Member Lewis “Brother” Milledge was instrumental in securing a grant from National Audubon Society with support from Toyota to form the Toyota Green Initiative. The grant allowed TAS to open the area for monthly volunteer work days, while educating the participants about the pine rockland habitat.
Tropical Audubon President José Francisco Barros leads a nature walk at the Porter-Rusell Pine Rockland Preserve.
The late Lewis “Brother” Milledge, TAS Grounds Chair who formed Friends of Porter-Russell Pine Rockland Preserve and dedicated countless hours to maintaining the property.
In 2012, Milledge formed Friends of Porter-Russell Pineland, involving neighborhood organizations in the maintenance of the property and arranging neighborhood picnics and nature walks. Partner conservation groups have also visited the property to learn about the unique habitat and TAS field guides conduct seasonal bird walks there.
Because the preserve sits just west of the US-1 retail corridor, it serves as a welcome “green island” oasis for a variety of songbirds, raptors, water birds and other wildlife. TAS Advisory Board Member Rafael Galvez has observed more than 100 bird species on the site, including: Blackburnian and Bay Breasted Warbler, Black-whiskered Vireo, Bobolink, Cave Swallow, Cedar Waxwing, Downy Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron, Peregrine Falcon, Scarlet and Summer Tanager, Short-tailed Hawk, Swallow-tailed Kite, White-crowned Pigeon and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
In 2020, the Land Acquisition Selection Committee of Miami-Dade County approved the preserve for purchase by the County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) program. The proposed acquisition will next go before the Board of County Commissioners.
To learn more about the Porter-Russell Pine Rockland Nature Preserve, email Amy Creekmur at volunteer@tropicalaudubon.org.
