A snarl of date palms and non-native plants tangled over decades-old garbage pits along Marsh Creek is a fast-disappearing scene.
Hillsborough County, which owns the property along the creek - part of Common Good Park, has teamed up with the state's Surface Water Improvement and Management program, or SWIM, to clear out the hodgepodge and allow long-dormant native plants to once again emerge along the creek's banks.
If Mother Nature doesn't restore native vegetation, the county is prepared to step in and do some planting.
The creek's shoreline hasn't always been so bad.
When Jack Kickliter moved to his property on Third Street Northwest in 1955, the nearby land bordering Marsh Creek was filled with native pines, palmettos and oaks, he said.
Kickliter and his daughter-in-law, Madeline Kickliter, who lives next door, say they're happy to see a restoration project in the works. But they worry that removing the non-native plants will cost them a security buffer zone.
"I agree it needed to be cleaned out, but the fact that it's opened it up so much worries me a little," she said.
That shouldn't last for long, said Richard Sullivan, manager of the county's nearby Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, who is helping oversee the project.
"You've got to make it ugly to make it beautiful. And it will be beautiful once the native vegetation comes back," Sullivan said.
"This has the potential to be a beautiful, linear park through downtown Ruskin," said Brandt Henningsen of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Henningsen oversees the SWIM program in this region.
Once work on the non-native plants are cleared out, the restoration team will assess what to do next, he said. Future work could include planting additional native species and creating several wetlands along the creek's shoreline.
RUSKIN
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