The 42-acre stretch of flatwoods along State Road 200 that Nassau County bought last year to block 26 homes from going up at the Amelia Island gateway now has a draft plan for how the public can use it.

Nassau County's Conservation Lands Acquisition and Management Committee met Thursday, Aug. 20, in Yulee to hash out the management plan for Piney Island Viewshed, the first property acquired under the voter-backed CLAM Program. The five-member citizen advisory panel, chaired by Bill Korn, asked county staff to build specific monitoring and reporting requirements into the plan before it advances.

Committee members pushed for defined timelines on photo-point documentation, vegetation transects and annual stewardship reports, according to a summary of the workshop. They also requested schedules for inventories of exotic, feral, nuisance and alien species. Staff agreed to add monitoring language and incorporate community science tools such as iNaturalist, which would let residents contribute wildlife observations.

The county acquired the 42.12-acre parcel in November 2025 after the CLAM Committee ranked it the program's top priority. The land had been entitled for 26 single-family homes. Instead of rooftops, the site preserves roughly 27.5 acres of mesic flatwoods, a habitat type the county describes as underrepresented, along with areas that buffer flooding and filter stormwater.

Nassau County said in a workshop announcement that the plan will guide long-term stewardship while balancing conservation with opportunities for passive public use. The county's CLAM program page calls Piney Island "the keystone acquisition" of the program, noting it will provide critical viewshed protections along SR 200.

How the CLAM Program got here

Nassau County created the CLAM Program in 2021 after data showed only 7% of the county's land was protected, compared with a 29% statewide average. Voters approved a $30 million bond referendum in November 2022. The bond passed with 68% support.

The Board of County Commissioners approved the Piney Island purchase agreement in November 2025, and on Jan. 21, 2026, approved 15 additional priority projects and 10 eligible projects for future acquisition.

Under program rules, a management plan must be prepared within one year of acquisition. That deadline puts the Piney Island plan on a track for completion by November 2026.

The CLAM Committee typically meets every other month on the third Thursday at the James S. Page Governmental Complex in Yulee. No date for a follow-up vote on the finalized management plan has been announced.