There are nearly 1,000 acres of depression marsh within the confines of Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park, nearly 20 percent of its total area. These marshes retain stormwater, allowing it to percolate slowly into the ground and recharge the aquifer that supplies us with drinking water or simply evaporates into the air as it has for eons prior. Even flatwoods hold water in the rainy season. Why is this important? Before Atlantic Ridge Preserve became a state park, it was pasture for cattle, and criss-crossed with ditches dug to rush water off the land and into the nearby St. Lucie River and Kitching Creek, and ultimately into the Indian River Lagoon, overloading that economically important estuary with fresh water and nutrients. The natural landscape also provides habitat for dozens of species of plants and animals, some of which are either considered threatened or endangered.
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