Osprey Acres Stormwater Park and Nature Preserve is an 83.7 acre park created in 2019 at a cost of $7.4 million dollars. It serves the primary function of removing nitrogen and phosphorous from Osprey Marsh next door and from area canals. Since 2015 Osprey March has been removing dissolved nutrients from canal water and from the South County Water Treatment Plant's reverse osmosis brine discharge. Osprey Acres was going to be a 400 home development but was saved from development when Indian River County purchased the land to create a stormwater treatment facility to clean the water before it enters the Indian River Lagoon.
While the main purpose of the park is to clean the reclaimed water, a welcome byproduct is that it attracts a lot of wildlife. Wetland parks are some of my favorite kind of parks because they attract a variety of wildlife including wading birds, migrating birds, lizards, turtles, and alligators. Osprey Acres preserved over 60 acres of native upland habitat and created 17 acres of aquatic habitat for fish and waterfowl. Some of the animals you might see here are gopher tortoises, osprey, southern black racer, alligator, river otter, coral snake, marsh rabbit, bobcat, water moccasin, great horned owl, racoon, and eastern indigo snake.
Natural earth walking trails traverse through Florida ecosystems that include uphill pine, mesic oak hammock, a small scrub area, and manmade wetlands. There are five hiking trails totaling about 3.8 miles: a 1.8 mile main trail, two .6 mile trails called Marsh Rabbit Run and Bobcat Run, and two .4 mile trails called Woodpecker Way and Gopher Tortoise Trail.
Osprey Acres brings together much needed stormwater treatment with recreational and wildlife viewing opportunities making them accessible to the community. Osprey Acres is open every day except Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Note that there are no restrooms and dogs are not allowed. read more