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Thanks To State Money, Park Will Soon Be Open

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 7, 2008

GOWERS CORNER - A new park at the headwaters of the Pithlachascotee River soon will be open for hikes and family picnics now that the state has kicked in its share of the purchase price.

Known as the Upper Pithlachascotee River Preserve, the 122.6-acre tract is virtually undisturbed and features a large bald cypress tree estimated to be more than 200 years old.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Community Affairs announced it was cutting a check for just over $786,000 to reimburse Pasco County for half of the acquisition cost.

The county's environmental lands manager, Rene Wiesner Brown, said the money will be spent on converting a house on the property into a nature center; to construct nature trails and picnic pavilions; and for a few amenities such as horseshoe pits and a tetherball court as part of a nature-themed playground.

"We've very excited. Staff has been working hard on a natural trail system and to renovate the house into a nature center," Brown said Friday.

Groups such as the Florida Master Gardeners already have used the preserve for meetings, and it is expected to be staffed and opened to the general public in early 2009, Brown said.

The preserve is the first to be created through the Pasco Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, which uses Penny for Pasco sales tax proceeds to lure matching state and federal grants, Brown said.

It is also the first time the Florida Communities Trust has kicked in a 50 percent share of the cost of buying land for preservation in Pasco County, Department of Community Affairs spokesman Jon Peck said.

The new preserve is north of State Road 52 and west of Fivay Junction and will be accessed via Kent Grove Road. It includes a pond that was used by the short-lived Fivay turpentine production camp in the early 1900s, Brown said, and its scrub and sandhill habitats support species such as gopher tortoises, bobcats, deer and, hopefully, scrub jays.

The unusually large bald cypress has a hollow area running up through its trunk, and environmentalists believe that flaw spared it when loggers came through the area about the same time the turpentine camp was in operation.

To date, the Florida Communities Trust has provided more than $687 million to help local governments throughout the state to purchase land.

The Penny for Pasco, approved by voters in 2004 in part to fund the county's environmental lands program, is expected to raise about $39 million over 10 years for land acquisition.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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