The state takes notice of the Chinsegut Nature Center's value and plans to bolster its programs and facilities.
By DAN DeWITT
Published May 10, 2004
[Times photo: Kevin White]
Chinsegut Nature Center director Kristin Wood, left, points out a young woodpecker in its nest for students from Pasco-Hernando Community College.
BROOKSVILLE - Michael Wollam, a biology professor at Pasco-Hernando Community College, passed out long-handled nets to a group of students who had walked with him to the edge of the marsh at the Chinsegut Nature Center.
"Stick them in the water and see if we can come up with anything of interest," Wollam said.
They did, almost immediately.
Wollam pointed out that a wormlike parasite had attached itself to a crawfish by passing through a tiny gap in its shell. He showed how the fish-snaring jaw of a dragonfly larva can extend half the length of its body. From one net, he retrieved a meaty-looking tadpole that covered most of his palm.
Judging from its size, he said, "it's probably a pig frog."
Such instant, memorable lessons about wildlife are the specialty of the nature center - 408 acres of pine forest and wetlands about 5 miles north of Brooksville.
It is the only Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission property that is devoted to education and what the state calls passive recreation - hiking, bird-watching and plant identification.
Because these activities did not fit in with the commission's central mission of managing land and protecting wildlife, Chinsegut was threatened with closure during the state's budget crisis three years ago.
But in recent months, the commission's position has changed entirely, said Kristin Wood, the center's director. The commission now plans to bolster Chinsegut's programs and facilities and possibly replicate its approach across the state.
"They would like to make this place a model for the agency," Wood said.
The commission has reorganized recently, partly because it realized education supports its other goals, said Jerrie Lindsey, the commission's recreation services coordinator.
A short time with someone like Wood or Wollam, for example, can give a new appreciation for the variety of life in a few scoops of pond water.
"We want people to understand why these areas are special, so they leave knowing more about them and caring more about them and, hopefully, take action to support wildlife conservation," Lindsey said.
One of the first steps will be to increase the number of volunteers at Chinsegut and offer them enough training to develop specialties, including leading nature tours, removing exotic plants and maintaining trails.
The first 11-week course for volunteers will begin later this month, said Geoff Brown, the commission's community partnership coordinator.
With more, better-informed helpers, the center, which is now closed to the public except for arranged tours and special events, might open for part of each week.
Though no money has been added to the center's annual budget of about $33,000 (excluding Wood's salary), Lindsey said, the commission is developing plans for improvements such as picnic areas and trails with self-guided nature tours.
Lindsey said the commission would eventually like to construct a new building at the center with the help of community groups and grant money.
The center has a history of such cooperative efforts.
The land was originally part of the Chinsegut Hill estate owned by Col. Raymond Robbins, who donated it to the federal government when he died in the mid 1950s.
Stephen Fickett, a member of Hernando Audubon and a former commission biologist, helped convince state officials in the early 1970s that the land should be used for conservation. The main building at the center was built in 1986 with the help of $31,000 donated by another Audubon member, Lisa von Borowsky.
Jeanne Brown, a Hernando Audubon board member, said the group has discussed raising money for a new building, as well as providing volunteers.
"We'll take the same position we've always taken - total support," Brown said.
The barrage of e-mails and telephone calls from Brown and other Audubon members - as well as lobbying by local legislators - helped save the center when the commission announced plans to close it in 2001.
Many of the messages to the state mentioned Wood's commitment to her job. Though Chinsegut was long designated as an education center, it was Wood's arrival a decade ago that allowed it to function in that capacity, Brown and others said.
"I think we're all very pleased that Kristin's going to get more help," Brown said.
Wood has organized special events, including a running race every winter and the Welcome Back Songbirds Festival every spring. And she has guided or help guide countless groups such as the class of PHCC elementary education students Friday.
Wollam said the reason he brought his students to Chinsegut was to meet Wood and learn about the center so they might bring their own students there in the future.
He told his students before the walk started that besides appreciating wildlife, they should appreciate the center.
"Two to three years ago, they came close to pulling the plug on this place," Wollam said. "As you walk around, you might notice how important a place like this is, especially if you want to teach elementary school."
