The Long Mountain ridge is one of the largest remaining green open spaces within the Kingston and St Andrew Metropolitan Area. It is largely considered to be a dry limestone forest containing endemic and endangered flora and fauna and home to the rare and endangered endemic species, Trachymyrmex jamaicensis - a leaf-cutting mushroom ant. The ant is restricted to this geographical range and is recorded nowhere else in Jamaica. Migrant and resident bird species also utilise the area. In a 2000 botanical survey of the area (Oberli, 2000), Long Mountain was described as having "high plant and animal diversity and, in parts, good quality primary and secondary forest". The Town and Country Planning (Kingston and Saint Andrew and the Pedro Cays) Provisional Development Order, 2017, describes the area as "an important green area with high amenity value for the Kingston and St. Andrew metropolitan area, its protection and preservation depend on careful management of the natural environment. Therefore, only compatible activities that will not destroy or compromise the ecological functions of this area would be supported by the planning authorities."

The area attracts significant public interest, which is documented in the print media published in prominent local media houses throughout the last two decades, primarily as objections to the development of the area.