The Machaba Balu Preserve is a nature preserve encompassing of protected lands in northeastern Florida, just to the northeast of Jacksonville, at the confluence of the Nassau, the St. Marys, and the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

s as they flow toward the Atlantic Ocean through a wide network of islands, canals, and

tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ( ...

es. The name ''Machaba Balu'' means "saved marsh" in the

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

of the

Timucua The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The var ...

people, who occupied the area in

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

times and met the first European explorers of the region; the Timucua never used this name themselves, however, as it is a modern language construct. The preserve, created with land purchased in 2002 mostly from Alcoma Corporation by the Nature Conservancy, includes 77 islands and numerous individual tracts of tidal marshland between the Nassau and the St. Johns Rivers. The largest clusters lie to the west of

Little Talbot Island State Park Little Talbot Island State Park is a Florida State Park located on Little Talbot Island, northeast of Jacksonville on State Road A1A. The park covers the entire island. Big Talbot Island State Park lies to the immediate north. The park contai ...

and on either side of Sisters Creek south of the large fork. The Nature Conservancy chose to preserve these lands as a region of significant biodiversity that supports an important fish hatchery and spawning area for commercial and recreational fishing in Florida; its

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

and tidal creeks provide habitat for manatees, dolphins, sea turtles and terrapins; numerous species of shorebirds and wading birds feed and nest there as well, some listed as threatened or as species of special concern. Hammocks of higher ground rise above the floodplain, with forests inhabited by rare species of plants and animals, including the Florida black bear and the red-cockaded woodpecker; bald eagles and ospreys are found in their stands of hardwood trees, and painted buntings in the underbrush. The entire ecosystem is vulnerable to pollution caused by surrounding coastal development.

References

{{reflist Nature reserves in Florida Northside, Jacksonville