By Candis Harbison
The Panhandle’s only land trust, the Panama City-based Bay County Conservancy (BCC), has expanded and re-named a nature preserve on Jenks Avenue near 26th Street. A new sign has been installed with the name “Ed and Lisa Keppner Preserve for Panama City Crayfish and Other Living Things.” Dr. and Mrs. Keppner spent much of their lives finding and documenting the creatures and plants that live in the Panhandle, adding to scientific databases and increasing the enjoyment of all nature-minded citizens.
When the 10-acre property was first acquired, BCC cooperated with US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to turn it into habitat for the Panama City Crayfish. Trees were removed and water levels adjusted to make it suitable for the crayfish, an operation that was successful. It was because of Dr. and Mrs. Keppner’s pursuit of the listing of the Panama City Crayfish as a species worthy of preservation efforts that special funding for protection occurred. This crayfish species is found nowhere in the world except in Bay County, in a habitat that is rapidly disappearing.
For many years, the owner of adjacent property, which included mostly wetlands, was actively seeking to develop that property. BCC worked with government agencies to try to prevent this and to try to find a way to acquire that property. Finally, in 2017, Bay County government bought it to use for a retention pond to contain stormwater from the newly improved Jenks Avenue. They constructed and fenced the stormwater pond, and then gave the 20-acre remainder of the parcel to BCC in 2025. Thus, the property is now the 30-acre Ed and Lisa Keppner Preserve.
The public is invited to visit the preserve. There is no trail on this wet property, but it can be observed from the edges with binoculars. Red-headed Woodpeckers, hawks, Wood Ducks, small mammals, and even coyotes have been seen there.
RSS
