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Location:
Just east of Tampa in Riverview on the south bank of the Alafia River.
Size:
60 acres
Site Selection:
The site was chosen because of it is one of the few remaining natural tracts of land on the lower Alafia River. As part of the Alafia corridor, it will remain a refuge for small animals and birds and numerous native plants and trees.
Tampa Bay Conservancy's Role:
The TBC is protecting and managing the preserve for native plants and animals. The TBC is developing and maintaining a hiking trail that is open to the public.
Bell Creek runs a meandering course through the Myron and Helen Gibbons Nature Preserve.
It passes pinewoods, oak and palmetto hammock, as well as the bald cypress and hardwood wetlands
and even a small area of sandhill oak scrub. This natural area is a refuge for wildlife and
contributes to the protection of water quality in the Alafia River as it includes about 1/2 mile
of Alafia River shoreline that like the rest of the preserve will now be protected from development forever.
The remains of an old dirt road from the late 1800's is part of the trail system on the property. On the southern boundary of the site is a wooden bridge built in the 1960's by the Gibbons family.
Bell Creek is a small tributary to the Alafia.
Water the color of tea ripples over a white sandy bottom and numerous limestone protrusions.
