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- Fort Matanzas National Monument is at the southern end
of Anastasia Island and covers about 300 acres.
Within those 300 acres, there are a series
of remarkable, unique and beautiful ecosystems.
To the east is the Atlantic Ocean,
a beautiful Atlantic beach,
extensive sand dunes and what is called a dune meadow.
In addition there is a coastal scrub environment,
a maritime forest and an estuary
which is the Matanzas River.
Each of these environments is absolutely unique
and only certain kinds of plants and animals can live
in each of them.
Principally because of the affect of just a few things.
Water, wind, waves and salt.
And those things in combination will define
what plants can possibly survive, for example,
on the front of the dune, facing the ocean,
very few plants can survive
because of the high heat in the summer,
the lack of nutrition in the soil,
the high winds and the salt that is carried by those winds.
And as you move further away from the ocean,
the plants begin to become more diverse and larger,
again because of avoiding the affects of salt.
Once you get to the maritime hammock,
which is a coastal canopied forest,
you find a completely different set of plants
because again it is further away from the ocean
and here you begin to find large live oaks,
eastern red cedars and many other types of plants.
And then we have an estuary
which is basically a semi-enclosed body of water
that has both fresh water and access to the sea.
In the case of the estuary that is adjacent
to the national monument,
the route to the sea is through Matanzas Inlet.
The estuary is extraordinarily important, extremely rich
in lifeforms, tremendous biodiversity ranging
from the microscopic all the way up to bottlenose dolphins
and, in warmer weather, even manatees.
The estuary is a source of about 80% of all of the food
that we consume from the ocean.
The food that we consume from the ocean spends some time
in the estuary, either breeding, laying eggs,
being young fish or shrimp or crabs,
or whatever the case may be.
So the health of the estuary is extremely important
to all of us.
One of the important things I think to remember
as you walk on the inlet is
that you never walk on the same beach twice.
Every tide changes the beach, every week the beach changes,
every month and every year.
And when you see the inlet you will have an opportunity
to explore some of the powerful forces
that are at work on the inlet, that shape it
and make it the beautiful place that it is.
We hope that you will take advantage
of the beautiful nature trails and paths and walkways
that lead to and along the beach at Matanzas Inlet.
It is an absolutely remarkable environment
and well worth your time to visit and explore.
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