The 93-acre conservation area includes the remaining privately owned area of the historic Hallstrom Farmstead and adjacent areas of sand pine scrub, maritime hammock, scrubby flatwoods and bottomland forest. The Hallstrom Farmstead is an example of a family farm in the early agricultural settlement known as Oslo. This area was settled in the 1800's by Scandinavian immigrants who developed farms, many based on the cultivation of pineapples, that later developed some of the earliest citrus groves in this region of Florida. Axel Hallstrom was a Swedish horticulturist who arrived in the United States in 1898. In 1908 he purchased 40 acres near the Hallstrom house and built his home and began a pineapple plantation. The original house and farm structures located on Old Dixie were built in 1910. The brick home that now sits atop the hill on the west side of Old Dixie (now referred to as the Hallstrom Home) were built in 1918. Axel Hallstrom died in 1966 and his daughter Ruth continued the citrus operation into the late 1980's. In July 2000, Ruth Hallstrom willed the main house and surrounding 5 acres of the Hallstrom Historical Society for the purpose of preserving the house, its immediate grounds and an extensive collection of personal items.
Approximately 30 acres of the Conservation Area is composed of sand pine scrub, a globally imperiled natural community. It is located on the Atlantic Ridge of Florida, a critical habitat area for the Federally Threatened Florida Scrub Jay and the Gopher Tortoise, a state recognized Species of Special Concern. The site also contains a small population of Lakela's Mint, a federally and state listed endangered species only found in St. Lucie and Indian River County. Additional natural resources of significance on the site include the presence of a small area of forested wetlands and additional old field and grove areas, some of which may be restorable to scrub vegetation under long-term management by the County.
Planned improvements include a small parking area, restroom, interpretive education shelter, farm demonstration area and prescribed burns. This year, the County has worked with the Florida Division of Forestry to install firebreaks around the perimeter of the Conservation Area. By Fall 2003, the entire perimeter of the Conservation Area will be fenced to protect the area from heavy ATV use by the surrounding neighborhood areas. The site is not currently open to the public.