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Comprehensive Plan Recreation and Open Space Element includes most of the county's environmentally sensitive areas, its resource based parks, and various conservation areas. The largest single area of pastoral open space in the county is the St. Johns River upper basin. Purchased by the St. Johns River Water Management District for conservation and water management purposes, the upper basin consists of 174,121 acres in Brevard and Indian River Counties. Of that, approximately 81,000 acres are located in Indian River County. While the upper basin area provides some recreation functions such as boating, airboating, fishing and others, it serves primarily as pastoral open space. Other conservation lands also provide pastoral open space. Through its Environmental Lands Program, the county has purchased over ±11,000 acres of environmentally important lands. Although those lands were purchased primarily for conservation, a limited amount of passive recreation is available at those sites. In addition to purchasing land, the county uses development exactions to preserve open space. Currently, county Land Development Regulations require developers of land containing native upland plant communities to preserve 15% of these communities or pay a fee -in -lieu. The preservation of that land is accomplished through a conservation easement. Through 2008, ± 8,937 acres had been preserved through such easements in Indian River County. Many recreation sites in the county can also be classified as pastoral open space. The largest among those is the Sebastian Inlet state park. Located in both Brevard and Indian River Counties, the park provides beachfront areas, camping facilities, picnic areas, fishing and swimming opportunities, and other recreation amenities. As primarily a passive park, the Sebastian Inlet state park can be classified as pastoral open space. Besides the state park, the unincorporated county has over 350 acres of river and beach park, resource based recreation facilities which can also be categorized as pastoral open space. Other pastoral open space areas in the county are privately owned areas. Included among these areas are the lands designated as environmentally sensitive by the county. Much of this land consists of the estuarine wetlands in the county. While some of this land has been impounded for mosquito control, other estuarine wetlands are unimpounded. There are also freshwater wetlands adjacent to the St. Sebastian River. All of these areas are considered pastoral open space. Another large area of pastoral open space is the Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge. Established by the federal government as the first wildlife refuge in the country, Pelican Island constitutes several islands and upland areas within the Indian River Lagoon in the northern part of the county. While inaccessible to the public, the refuge functions as a bird sanctuary and pastoral open space. Besides the refuge, there are 43 spoil islands within the Indian River that can be classified as pastoral open space. Community Development Department Indian River County 32