A 2-mile stretch of beautiful wetlands in Frank H. Howard Park near Tarpon Springs has been cleared and will open Saturday to kayakers and canoeists for the first time.
By KELLY VIRELLA
Published December 3, 2003
TARPON SPRINGS - Just outside the kayak, the water is clear enough to see the occasional snook or tarpon. The branches of mangroves and pines form a canopy overhead. Eagles, osprey and herons nest in the trees.
For 47 years, this is a scene at Fred H. Howard Park that the public has been banned from seeing. But Saturday, when the park opens the first segment of a new kayaking and canoeing trail in these wetlands, that will change.
A 2-mile segment looping through the mangroves, to St. Joseph's Sound into Lake Avoca is opening for the public. The grand opening is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the northeast side of Howard Park's beach.
"We spent six months whacking the trees out, taking a machete to them, making a clearance through them so you can paddle through them," said Kim Doehleman, a volunteer who helped construct the trail segment. "It's real secluded."
Because volunteers did much of the work, creating the trails cost the county nothing, said Bob Zakrzewski, the park's supervisor.
The park used to be an orange grove. When it opened in 1966, the 42 acres of wetlands where the trail is opening were closed to the public.
"The ecosystems were so sensitive that they pretty much fenced that area off," Zakrzewski said. "They didn't know what to do with it."
The wetlands contain sea grass beds, mangrove estuaries and salt flats, where birds and fish live. With 2-million park visitors per year, providing access to pedestrians would have let people trample the habitats. But kayaking and canoeing are ideal, Zakrzewski said.
"They won't be walking on them. They'll be paddling through them," he said. "Plus kayakers are environmentalists. They pick up trash when they find it in the water and bring it back."
Kayakers and canoeists can picnic, watch birds or fish at designated rest stops. But motorboats and personal watercraft will not be allowed.
Park employees and volunteers began mapping the trail in April. Two months later, they began pruning the mangroves but did not extract any, Zakrzewski said.
The trails follow the mosquito ditches that were dug there in the 1950s and did not require dredging. Tired kayakers and canoeists can get out of their boats and rest on the mounds of sand dug from the mosquito ditches.
At Saturday's grand opening, kayaks will be available for rent. A biologist will also be leading tours of the trails. With kayak rental, the tour costs $30.
All the proceeds will go to the Friends of Howard Park, which plans to use the money to buy signs to mark the trail and benches for the rest stops.
By next August, the park plans to open another 10 miles of trail.
Eventually, the trail could connect to similar trails in other Florida counties, which are part of a project to build kayak trails along the entire state shoreline.
"If we want to go for the tourist dollars, we've got to give the people something they can use," said Doug Metko a board member of Florida Guides Association, a professional association for fishing guides.
