The North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) and the Nassau County Planning Department are holding two meetings on Saturday to present their draft of the Conservation Lands Acquisition and Management (CLAM) Program.

NFLT and the county will host the meetings on Saturday, August 15. The first meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Yulee at the James S. Page Complex at 96135 Nassau Place in the outside tent area. The second meeting will take place in Callahan from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the West Nassau Museum of History in the outside tent area at 45383 Dixie Ave.

NFLT and the Planning Department staff have been working together to develop a plan to conserve lands throughout the county. They recently conducted a survey to get the public’s input to help determine what lands will best serve the county’s environmental needs. The survey asked the citizens for input in four categories; water issues, species and habitat protection, working lands, and outdoor recreation and quality of life. Those results were used to develop the draft version of the CLAM program that will be presented at the meeting.

“The county commissioners asked us to help them determine how best to spend the dollars that have been allocated for conservation,” said Jim McCarthy, president of NFLT. “We took the suggestions from the county’s citizens, along with the budget to determine where those dollars would be best used for conservation. We used ranking criteria to score future potential conservation land acquisitions and created this first draft of the plan. We encourage everyone to join us on August 15 to learn more about what’s ahead.”

The meetings are open to everyone. NFLT and the county hope to reach as many residents as possible on August 15.