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http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBM4755UWE.html
Building Upon Nature
By BILLY TOWNSEND The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 12, 2007
LAKELAND - The Circle B Bar Reserve has become the heart of Polk County's environmental lands program: 1,267 acres of oak hammock, marsh and one-time ranchland nestled against Lake Hancock, Polk's largest lake.
Visitors hike trails traveled by bobcats and fox squirrels to the only publicly accessible stretch of waterfront on Lake Hancock. There, alligators sometimes are plentiful enough to make it seem that you could walk across the lake on their heads.
Purchased jointly for $7.4 million in 2000 by Polk County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, Circle B is in the center of the population triangle formed by Lakeland, Winter Haven and Bartow.
The county is about to build on those attributes, literally.
County commissioners Wednesday voted unanimously to approve almost $7 million for the construction of an environmental education center in the heart of the property, which already has been used for annual outdoor festivals and other environmentally themed events.
"It's the centerpiece of our environmental lands program," county Commissioner Jack Myers said.
The center will consist of four pieces: an exhibit hall, indoor and outdoor classrooms and a meeting facility. In addition to hosting school-age students, the county plans to hold adult education classes in subjects such as birding and photography, said Gaye Sharpe, Polk's natural areas manager. It's tentatively scheduled for completion in the summer of 2008.
The center will be similar to, though less extensive, than Pinellas County's Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs.
The buildings make up about half the total cost of the project. The rest of the money will go to provide utilities and a paved driveway and parking lot.
Sharpe said the county has meticulously sought to avoid taking down trees in designing the entryway and parking lots. She said only one or two may have to go.
For now, Circle B, which opened to the public in 2003, primarily caters to hikers and bikers. Several long trails meander beneath the gnarled oak canopy and along the lakefront.
The property sits just off State Road 540, a heavily traveled route between Lakeland and Winter Haven. After just a few minutes' hike into the woods and meadows, though, virtual silence envelops a visitor most days, with only a very distant whoosh of vehicles lingering.
"It's so primitive," said Eddie Rizer, a birder, photographer and regular visitor to the property from Winter Haven. "It's almost like Jurassic Park back here."
Rizer is not opposed to the idea of an education center, but he hopes it won't diminish the sense of remoteness within Circle B. Sharpe acknowledges that the center could intrude somewhat on that sense of solitude, particularly near the entrance of the property.
She said the center is being designed and constructed to be as unobtrusive as possible.
She added, "With over 1,000 acres, there are plenty of areas [within Circle B] to feel remote in."
Students who come through the center may get to watch environmental science and engineering unfold firsthand.
The 4,519-acre Lake Hancock marks the headwaters of the Peace River, which flows south through Polk and Manatee counties before emptying into Charlotte Harbor. In its lower reaches, the river provides drinking water for Charlotte County.
Groundwater pumping, however, has diminished the river's flow. In periods of drought, large stretches of the Peace River in Polk often go dry. Swiftmud wants to restore a healthy, sustainable flow level. As a result, it plans to raise Lake Hancock, ensuring that more water will flow into the Peace.
Officials also hope that restoring natural wetlands, both on the Circle B property and other lakefront properties the state owns, will help clean up the lake, which is polluted from years of runoff.
Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.
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Did you see "Boat Launch" or "Hunting Activities" anywhere in the story?
I did see $7 $MILLION Dollar$ mentioned and environmental use. How about "The role of hunting & the hunter in the environment" as part of their educational effort? Or "Conservation efforts by local Sportsmen Clubs?"
I wrote a couple of letters a few years back about providing a boat landing. Like anything else, squeaky wheel......
This lake is used heavily for commercial fishing, alligator hunting, duck hunting, frogging and occasionally, crow hunting.
The only semi-public access is via a ditch on the South side of CR 540 which is a good place to trash your trailer or have your truck vandalized.
I hope someone takes an interest in this lake or ALL SPORTSMEN & BOATERS will lose as I have not heard of any interest from the local sportsmen club. Contact either the WMD or the County Commission and start squeaking. If you don't, no one will.
PW
Building Upon Nature
By BILLY TOWNSEND The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 12, 2007
LAKELAND - The Circle B Bar Reserve has become the heart of Polk County's environmental lands program: 1,267 acres of oak hammock, marsh and one-time ranchland nestled against Lake Hancock, Polk's largest lake.
Visitors hike trails traveled by bobcats and fox squirrels to the only publicly accessible stretch of waterfront on Lake Hancock. There, alligators sometimes are plentiful enough to make it seem that you could walk across the lake on their heads.
Purchased jointly for $7.4 million in 2000 by Polk County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, Circle B is in the center of the population triangle formed by Lakeland, Winter Haven and Bartow.
The county is about to build on those attributes, literally.
County commissioners Wednesday voted unanimously to approve almost $7 million for the construction of an environmental education center in the heart of the property, which already has been used for annual outdoor festivals and other environmentally themed events.
"It's the centerpiece of our environmental lands program," county Commissioner Jack Myers said.
The center will consist of four pieces: an exhibit hall, indoor and outdoor classrooms and a meeting facility. In addition to hosting school-age students, the county plans to hold adult education classes in subjects such as birding and photography, said Gaye Sharpe, Polk's natural areas manager. It's tentatively scheduled for completion in the summer of 2008.
The center will be similar to, though less extensive, than Pinellas County's Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs.
The buildings make up about half the total cost of the project. The rest of the money will go to provide utilities and a paved driveway and parking lot.
Sharpe said the county has meticulously sought to avoid taking down trees in designing the entryway and parking lots. She said only one or two may have to go.
For now, Circle B, which opened to the public in 2003, primarily caters to hikers and bikers. Several long trails meander beneath the gnarled oak canopy and along the lakefront.
The property sits just off State Road 540, a heavily traveled route between Lakeland and Winter Haven. After just a few minutes' hike into the woods and meadows, though, virtual silence envelops a visitor most days, with only a very distant whoosh of vehicles lingering.
"It's so primitive," said Eddie Rizer, a birder, photographer and regular visitor to the property from Winter Haven. "It's almost like Jurassic Park back here."
Rizer is not opposed to the idea of an education center, but he hopes it won't diminish the sense of remoteness within Circle B. Sharpe acknowledges that the center could intrude somewhat on that sense of solitude, particularly near the entrance of the property.
She said the center is being designed and constructed to be as unobtrusive as possible.
She added, "With over 1,000 acres, there are plenty of areas [within Circle B] to feel remote in."
Students who come through the center may get to watch environmental science and engineering unfold firsthand.
The 4,519-acre Lake Hancock marks the headwaters of the Peace River, which flows south through Polk and Manatee counties before emptying into Charlotte Harbor. In its lower reaches, the river provides drinking water for Charlotte County.
Groundwater pumping, however, has diminished the river's flow. In periods of drought, large stretches of the Peace River in Polk often go dry. Swiftmud wants to restore a healthy, sustainable flow level. As a result, it plans to raise Lake Hancock, ensuring that more water will flow into the Peace.
Officials also hope that restoring natural wetlands, both on the Circle B property and other lakefront properties the state owns, will help clean up the lake, which is polluted from years of runoff.
Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.
*****************************************
Did you see "Boat Launch" or "Hunting Activities" anywhere in the story?
I did see $7 $MILLION Dollar$ mentioned and environmental use. How about "The role of hunting & the hunter in the environment" as part of their educational effort? Or "Conservation efforts by local Sportsmen Clubs?"
I wrote a couple of letters a few years back about providing a boat landing. Like anything else, squeaky wheel......
This lake is used heavily for commercial fishing, alligator hunting, duck hunting, frogging and occasionally, crow hunting.
The only semi-public access is via a ditch on the South side of CR 540 which is a good place to trash your trailer or have your truck vandalized.
I hope someone takes an interest in this lake or ALL SPORTSMEN & BOATERS will lose as I have not heard of any interest from the local sportsmen club. Contact either the WMD or the County Commission and start squeaking. If you don't, no one will.
PW
