In June 2025, the Southeast Quad Parcel at the Celery Fields was a blank field. On Friday, October 23, 2026, officials cut a ribbon in front of an acre of open water, a viewing gazebo and more than 21,000 native plants. Your Observer reported the ceremony the next day.
The parcel at Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road is the first finished piece of a larger plan. The parking lot, restrooms, picnic pavilion and children's play area all belong to a different parcel across Apex Road, and that one is still raising money. The Southeast Quad opened first, and the parcel built to welcome visitors comes later. The timing works out well for birding, though. The Southeast Quad is opening right as the Celery Fields heads into its strongest season for birds.
Eleven Acres That Were Headed for the Surplus List
The quads are four county-owned parcels that sit where Palmer Boulevard crosses Apex Road. According to Sarasota Audubon Society's October 2026 newsletter, Sarasota County had planned to sell three of them for commercial or light industrial use. Those three are the 11-acre Southeast, the 6-acre Southwest and the 11-acre Northeast. After a grassroots campaign, the county took the parcels off its surplus lands list. It then gave Big Waters Land Trust a conservation easement and signed a management agreement with Sarasota Audubon. The county kept the fourth parcel, the Northwest Quad, for its own use.
Christine Johnson of Big Waters Land Trust described the offer to the county this way in an interview with ABC7 Sarasota: "We offered them the opportunity to conserve it, place a conservation easement on it with us, Big Waters Land Trust, and then enter into a management agreement with Sarasota Audubon Society and allow us to rewild these parcels for people and nature."
Location explains why the partners wanted these acres in particular. The Celery Fields is a 440-acre county floodwater protection area that has become one of the best-known birdwatching sites in eastern Sarasota County. Jeanne Dubi, director of special projects at Sarasota Audubon, told Your Observer that the quads act as a buffer for the habitat already in place. "If you were to build a building here, what happens here," she said, "is that the animals all start to retreat into the center because they don't like noise, they don't like humans, they don't like traffic."
What Is Planted on the Southeast Quad Now
The first phase started in January 2025, and Johnson put its cost at about $3 million. Every plant is native. The Audubon newsletter lists what is on the 11 acres today:
- More than 21,000 native trees, shrubs and aquatic plants
- A 1-acre pond with more than 13,000 plants in its littoral zone, the shallow planted edge
- A gazebo overlooking the pond
- About 2 acres of native woodland with more than 800 trees
- A bioswale that takes pond overflow during the rainy season, planted with grasses that tolerate both wet and dry conditions
- A pollinator garden on the northeast corner
One piece is still to come. The southernmost acre is slated to become pine flatwood in a future phase, which will add a different kind of plant community to the parcel.
The birds have already found it. Dubi told ABC7 that the partners surveyed birds before planting and again near the end of the work. "We've actually increased bird populations by about 50%," she said.
The Parking Lot Belongs to the Parcel Across Apex Road
For the October 24 grand opening, organizers asked visitors to enter from Apex Road just south of the Palmer roundabout and to park in the vacant Southwest Quad across the street. That small 6-acre parcel is the one Big Waters Land Trust calls the future arrival point for visitors, with parking, restrooms and ADA footpaths. Here is how the three conservation parcels split the work:
| Parcel | Size | Planned or built features | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Quad | 11 acres | Pond, gazebo, woodland, bioswale, pollinator garden, trails | Opened October 2026 |
| Southwest Quad | 6 acres | Picnic pavilion with restrooms and water fountain, children's natural playground with shaded seating, shaded picnic tables, parking lot, multi-use lawn | Next phase, raising $2.9 million |
| Northeast Quad | 11 acres | Hundreds of trees and plants, littoral plantings, perimeter benches | Planned after the Southwest Quad |
The Southwest Quad plans also include a Celery Fields history walk along a winding path. According to the newsletter, rewilding all three parcels will cost more than $5 million, plus a separate $1 million maintenance fund, and $3.8 million had been raised as of fall 2026. In September, Big Waters Land Trust announced a $1 million community match to move the Southwest phase forward.
Taken together, the order of construction tells you what the new parcel is for right now. The Southeast Quad is habitat with trails and a gazebo. The picnic tables, the playground and the restrooms will arrive with the next parcel.
Winter Is When the Older Celery Fields Is at Its Best
The Southeast Quad sits next to a site that already draws birders from across the region, and its first season lines up with the wintering birds. Sarasota Audubon's online birding guide describes more than 10 miles of trails at the Celery Fields. It also describes two marsh boardwalks, one off Palmer Boulevard and one off Raymond Road, and trails up the observation hill. The Audubon Nature Center sits at the hill's southern base.
The same guide lists birds a winter visitor may find. Among the ducks are Ring-necked Duck, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler and Hooded Merganser. In the marsh grasses, Wilson's Snipe, Sora, Virginia Rail and American Bittern are possible, along with wintering wrens and buntings. A brand-new pond ringed with 13,000 littoral plants sits right beside those marshes.
From November 1 through April 30, Sarasota Audubon's 2026–27 schedule places volunteer naturalists at the Palmer and Raymond boardwalks every day from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, they are also scheduled at the Quads during those same hours. That means a weekend visit to the new parcel this winter can include someone who knows what is nesting in the new woodland and feeding at the pond.
Building a Morning Around the Schedule
The county lists the Celery Fields at 6893 Palmer Blvd., open from 6 a.m. to sunset, on its facility page. The Audubon Nature Center keeps shorter hours that change with the season:
- November 6 through December 31: 9 a.m. to noon daily
- January 2 through April 4: 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends
- April 5 through May 15: 9 a.m. to noon daily
The overlap is easy to plan around. Naturalists are on the boardwalks from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and the Nature Center opens at 9. A weekend morning can start at the Palmer boardwalk, move up to the Nature Center and finish across Palmer Boulevard at the Southeast Quad while the naturalist there is still on duty.
For a guided walk, the flyer sets these dates for the season, starting at 9 a.m.:
| Series | 2026–27 dates |
|---|---|
| Third Wednesdays | Dec. 16, Jan. 20, Feb. 17, Mar. 17 |
| First Sundays | Jan. 3, Feb. 7, Mar. 7, Apr. 4 |
| First Mondays | Jan. 4, Feb. 1, Mar. 1 |
| First Thursdays | Jan. 7, Feb. 4, Mar. 4, Apr. 1 |
| Fourth Saturdays | Jan. 23, Feb. 27, Mar. 27 |
The first guided walk on the calendar is Wednesday, December 16. By then the Southeast Quad will have been open for nearly two months, through its first stretch of wintering birds.
The Celery Fields and the new quads give the neighborhoods off Palmer Boulevard and Apex Road something many parts of Sarasota lack, which is a conserved buffer of open land that keeps growing. If you live near it or are thinking about a home on Sarasota's east side, Harriet Stopher would be glad to talk through what is planned nearby. Request a complimentary home valuation or market consultation with Harriet.
