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Park plans raised boardwalks, no cages By Barbara Behrendt ©St. Petersburg Times,  The article below was published by the St. Petersburg Times. We thank them for their coverage and assistance in keeping the pubic aware of the Parks' many activities and events. |
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS -- The key is to use the imagination.
Where long gravel pathways now wind through cages and woods, soon there will be raised boardwalks with open-air exhibits for cougars and bobcats to roam in a natural setting and visitors to watch without squinting through wire mesh.
On Friday the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park unveiled the detailed plans of Phase II of the park's Wildlife Walk project, a series of park improvements that could be under construction by early 2003 and open to visitors by summer.
Using maps and fluorescent paint markings and ribbons, park officials, architects, volunteers and members of the park's support organization led the media through a tour of park exhibits to be upgraded during the project.
Included in the improvements is the replacement of 800 feet of limerock trail by about 900 feet of boardwalks and bridges, construction of new enclosures for wildlife, the opening of a new reptile building and a new wildlife encounter pavilion, and construction of rain shelters and restrooms.
The majority of the money for the project comes from $180,000 raised by the Friends of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park along with another $120,000 from a state matching program.
Plans are about 95 percent complete and the park still must seek county and water management district permits and go through a final series of state reviews before the first boardwalks can be nailed into place. But while the start of the work may be months away and after the park's busy holiday season, already park officials are thinking about what benefits the new configurations would provide for visitors and for animals.
More than a year ago, the park demolished the old wildlife encounter area. Since then park workers have held those programs, which allow visitors a closer look at animals, in the Garden of the Spring. When the new 40 by 40 foot pavilion opens, it will be near the current bear exhibit.
That spot backs up to the behind-the-scenes complex in the heart of wildlife care at the park, making it more convenient to move animals into and out of the public viewing area.
Wildlife care supervisor Art Yerian gestured to the cages where the park's fox squirrels and opossum now live. "We're going to get rid of all this chain-link, roadside attraction stuff," he said.
The cougar exhibit will more than quintuple in size, running about 80 feet deep and 110 feet wide. That is enough area for the park's two Western cougars but also enough for one or two more cats. While there are no plans to add cougars, both Yerian and park manager Tom Linley said they would have room if the state ever offered them a Florida panther for display.
The extremely rare panther is nearly identical to its western cousin except in its genetic makeup.
An existing shelter which leads out of the bird park will be demolished and new rain shelters constructed in the area. Just past the otter exhibit, which might also be upgraded, the boardwalk will lead in a slightly different path up to the new reptile building.
Inside the building, which is raised so that it will meet the elevated boardwalk, volunteers were busy building the display areas where visitors will be able to see snakes, turtles and alligators. Now lumber frames the viewing area where glassed-in habitats will someday house Florida reptiles.
A wide deck is planned around the structure and large windows in the front will allow visitors to look out at the panorama of the park or look inside to tanks of baby alligators and crocodiles.
The building is more than two and a half times the size of the old reptile building and will be large enough to house 19 exhibits.
Linley, the park manager, is especially pleased by the work going on inside the building. It has been done completely by volunteers. He also has high praise for the Friends organization which has worked since Phase I of the project opened in 1998 to raise the money for Phase II.
From large fundraising activities such as the annual Celebration of Lights to small projects such as selling small arts and crafts items reflecting the park, "They've been very creative in their fundraising and it's been wonderful," Linley said.
Volunteers from a variety of sources will also be put to work helping with the other projects on the drawing board. And when Phase II of the project is done, Linley and his work force are already thinking about what Phase III might hold, including construction of a bridge to parallel the long-river bridge, more boardwalks and an updated enclosure which houses rare Key deer. Homosassa Springs is the only park in the country permitted to keep the tiny deer, which live only in the Florida Keys.
An isolation pool for manatees is on the drawing board and Linley said he hopes the $800,000 project will proceed soon. The pool will be near where the other new manatee treatment pools opened several months ago. Work is also in progress to reconnect the circle of pathways near those pools allowing visitors to loop around the entire park instead of having to double back and retrace their steps since the area by the long-river bridge is closed.
Overall the park has identified $9-million in needed improvements, ranging from the replacement of the Fishbowl Observatory to construction of a new front entrance to the park on U.S. 19. Linley said he doesn't expect that everything on the drawing board will be done soon.
"There will always be something," he said. |
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