Location:

Gulf County

Acreage:

5,019 acres

Contact:

Dylan Shoemaker, Preserve Manager
St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve Center
3915 State Road 30-A
Port St. Joe, FL 32456
(850) 229-1787
Dylan.Shoemaker@dep.state.fl.us

Chapman's rhododendron (Rhododendron chapmannii)

• St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve provides an essential buffer to St. Joseph Bay that helps protect the bay's water quality, natural productivity and critical habitats.
   
• St. Joseph Preserve State Buffer Preserve protects an intact natural coastal landscape with one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in the Southeast, including globally-imperiled species such as Chapman's rhododendron, Telephus spurge (Euphorbia telephoides) and pinewoods aster (Aster spinulosus).
   
• Money Bayou is an unusual tidal creek that flows directly into the Gulf of Mexico instead of an intervening bay or sound.
   
• St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve contains 20 known archaeological and historical sites, dating from prehistoric times to the 20th century.
   
• The dune/swale system formed by sand dunes created during ancient changes in sea level in St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve is one of the most stable and clearly defined of such topographic features found anywhere.
   
• Additional Information about St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve