County turns deaf ear to riders' pleas

Officials will recommend a ban of horses in the wetlands of Mobbly Bayou preserve, whose trails are used by a riding academy.

By MEGAN SCOTT
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 26, 2003

OLDSMAR -- For 14-year-old Kaitlyn Hartsock, the local hangout isn't Countryside mall or the AMC Woodlands theaters. Instead, the Oldsmar teenager spends her afternoons and weekends with friends on the trails near Hire a Pony Riding Academy.

"Some girls like to arrange a meeting at the mall to go shopping," said Kaitlyn, who rides her horse Silver on the trails. "We seem to meet there. We're always there. We always ride together and have such a great time."

For Kaitlyn and the other girls who make up the after-school crew, there's not much hangout time left at Hire a Pony.

That's because the company doesn't own the trails they use. Those trails lie inside the 380-acre Mobbly Bayou Wilderness Preserve, which is now being constructed.

Pinellas County officials are submitting a draft of a resource management plan to commissioners this week recommending that the county ban horses from the environmentally sensitive wetlands, effectively closing a large number of the nature trails now used by the riding school. Wetlands make up more than 70 percent of the preserve.

Kaitlyn, an eighth-grader at Carwise Middle School, was one of about 50 people who showed up at a public meeting Monday night to oppose the ban on horseback riding at the Mobbly Bayou Wilderness Preserve.

County officials have said horses' hooves alter the topography of the land, and their manure hurts the ecology of the bay. The riding school is on S Racetrack Road in Hillsborough County next to the eastern edge of the preserve's wetlands. Officials estimate 200 horses go through the preserve each week.

"That translates to 1,000 pounds of manure going straight into the bay," said Karen Hill, senior environmental specialist for Pinellas County. "That's a big problem."

The meeting was the latest round in the fight over saving horseback riding in the preserve. Riding school owner Armando Gort and other academy supporters have lobbied for two years to keep the trails open for horseback riding. On one occasion, they brought protesters on horses to a City Council meeting.

More than 70 people showed up at a public meeting in April, bringing with them a petition with 2,000 signatures.

The issue over horseback riding in the wetlands arose after city and county officials agreed to combine their land to create the Mobbly Bayou Preserve. Under an agreement between the city and county, the city will manage the preserve's recreation areas and facilities such as restrooms.

The county will manage the environmentally sensitive areas.

In October, the city put up "no riding" signs at the preserve, but the riders have been allowed to use the trails until further notice.

"We wanted to let them know sooner or later that the wetlands were going to be off limits," said Oldsmar Mayor Jerry Beverland.

Beverland said he has no problem with Gort using the upland areas of the preserve, about 4 acres. But there are few trails there.

"The trails are moneymaking," said Gort. "If we lost the trails (in the wetlands), I wouldn't be able to stay here. We'd have to move somewhere else.

"There's no places to ride hardly. There's not many places where you can ride horses. Land is too valuable."

Riders pleaded with county officials Monday to come up with some sort of compromise, such as allowing the trails to be used for horseback riding and hiking.

But county officials said those plans were not feasible.

"If you're a hiker and you don't mind walking through pounds and pounds of manure, it might be okay," Hill said.

"It's a relatively small preserve to try to accommodate hikers and horseback riders," said David Sumpter, land management coordinator for the county.

County Commissioner Susan Latvala said she supports a proposal banning the horses on the wetlands. But she said she hopes the city will work with the horseback riders and help them develop trails on the uplands part.

Latvala said she encourages city officials to submit an application for some of the grant money the county has earmarked for recreational use.

"I think what they're doing there is a wonderful thing," she said. "They offer horseback riding at a reasonable rate. But they've been doing this on county- and city-owned land for free.

"It's kind of bizarre that it ever happened," Latvala said. "The government doesn't have the responsibility to provide lands for him to run his business."

At Monday's meeting, Gort offered to pay for the trails. But officials said they still cannot support it.

"We have a commitment to state agencies that have given us money that we have to manage the preserve in the most environmentally sound manner that we can," Hill said.

For Kaitlyn, closing the trails means she will have nowhere to ride Silver. She has been riding horses for eight years.

"I won't be able to go anywhere if they close the trails," she said. "I can't travel 30, 40 minutes away to ride my horse. We may have to move."

-- Megan Scott can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or mscott@sptimes.co .

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