Landfall Lake is a 12 acre impoundment that was constructed as an infrastructure to receive stormwater from upland areas within Landfall. Landfall Lake is now a richly diverse ecosystem that supports several kinds of fishes, frogs, and turtles, along with river otter, mink, and gray fox. The lake and its fringing wetlands also draws thousands of birds representing dozens of species including colorful hummingbirds and neotropical songbirds, migratory ducks, shorebirds, herons and egrets, along with fish-eating Osprey, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and other birds of prey.
Landfall Lake was designed and built to help collect and filter stormwater from upland areas, before it flows to the Intracoastal Waterway and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. This ecosystem service is a prerequisite for the lake’s management.
In conservation easement parlance, the Conservancy holds the protective easement for Landfall Lake (as Grantee). As the Grantor, Landfall owns the Lake and its edge habitat. Because Landfall Lake was established as a stormwater mitigation project, certain restrictions are in place regarding its use and management. As example, the Lake’s water level is established by the US Army Corps of Engineers, along with guidelines for vegetation diversity and abundance. The financial responsibility for maintenance of the Lake and its perimeter is the responsibility of Landfall itself, not the Conservancy.
The Conservancy is working to craft a long-range management plan and budget, for Landfall’s consideration. Plan objectives include habitat enhancements using wetland plants to filter water and provide food and shelter for fishes, turtles, and birds, while also increasing the visual appearance of the lake for the benefit of its visitors. The primary goal of this plan however, is ensuring the lake’s ecological condition remains within the guidelines of the conservation easement, as defined by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
This work is needed, as many residents have recently expressed, and the Conservancy is ready to move forward with developing a comprehensive habitat restoration and enhancement plan in the interest of creating an attractive and ecologically-functional hallmark Landfall feature.
This scale of effort will require financial support to achieve. We’ve pursued grants from various foundations and funding agencies but securing conservation funding from outside sources is highly competitive and not assured, especially for a project that is not accessible to the public.
We think the surest way to restore Landfall Lake to an attractive and welcoming condition will be accomplished with input and funding from Landfall community members and Associations that are the Lake’s direct beneficiaries.
Financial donations to the Conservancy are tax-deductible because they fund work that contributes to the common well-being of our community; a community that includes people, plants, and wildlife; and the habitats that support us all.