Manatee Festival

Where to go for educational information

By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 10, 2003

CHASSAHOWITZKA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE COMPLEX HEADQUARTERS: The administrative office for the refuge has a small visitor center with educational displays of an original bald eagle nest and manatees in an underwater habitat display of Kings Bay. Visitors are welcome to enjoy a picnic or bird watch along the dock.

The office is open weekdays 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and will be open on the weekends starting this month.

Getting to the refuge: On the west side of U.S. 19, look for SW Paradise Point Road, one turn north of the intersection for County Road 44 West or Fort Island Gulf Trail. At the stop sign, continue straight and the road will make a bend to the right. The office is immediately on the left.

MANATEE EDUCATION CENTER AT THE HOMOSASSA SPRINGS WILDLIFE STATE PARK: A partnership project between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida State Park Service, the education center is located at the visitor center of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, 7 miles south of Crystal River on the west side of U.S. 19 in Homosassa.

Visitors can become acquainted with the National Wildlife Refuge System and the Chassahowitzka and Crystal River National Wildlife refuges. A 900-square-foot exhibit area is accessible to the disabled, providing many interactive displays for all ages. Manatee Education Center hours are 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. daily and visitors do not have to pay a park entrance fee to see the displays.

Manatee experts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State Park Service are on hand to answer questions.

Other displays available at the park's visitor center include:

• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's migratory bird interpretive exhibits;
• history of the Homosassa area from the mid-1800s through now with panels of photos and articles that span the inside front wall of the center;
• diorama with a working model of the Mullet Train telling the history of old Homosassa;
• exhibit of reproductions of famous American artist Winslow Homer's watercolors of Homosassa painted during a visit in February 1904;
• life-size reproductions of crocodile and alligator by Gary Mills of Wildlife Art;
• and the Citrus County Tourism Information Center with brochures and maps featuring Citrus County tourism businesses and information on the Florida State Parks.

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