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Where nature springs to life

After months of cattail removal, Pinellas County's newest park will be dedicated in a ceremony today.

By DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD
Published August 20, 2005

PALM HARBOR - A spring-fed stream, tidal swamp, upland mixed forest and seagrass beds make up the natural setting of Wall Springs Park, which will be dedicated this morning. One other "natural community," a large stand of cattails had to go, though.

County workers, who have battled Wall Springs' cattails for three months, pulled out the last remnants Wednesday, putting the finishing touches on Pinellas County's newest park.

From 9 to 11 a.m. today, county parks staffers will offer guided tours of the heavily forested park. One tour will point out fishing spots - the park has four piers. Another tour will feature nature trails and good bird watching spots. A third tour will check out the park's famous Wall Spring and its adjacent pond, which is teeming with wildlife, including otters.

Park visitors also will find that Wall Springs is a good place to watch birds and butterflies, enjoy views of the gulf and quiet walks on the nature trails.

The park's wildlife include gray squirrels, fox squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, opossum, coyotes, loons, pelicans, herons, ibis, egrets, vultures, ospreys, eagles, wood storks, doves, owls, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers, roseate spoonbills, snakes, gopher tortoises and marine invertebrates.

A network of boardwalks, a butterfly garden, picnic shelters and a 35-foot observation tower overlooking St. Joseph Sound are in the park.

A new playground is fully accessible to disabled visitors, county officials say.

From one boardwalk, a wide sidewalk loops through Picnic Island providing access to picnic shelters, restrooms, the piers and the tower.

No swimming is allowed in the park's spring, which produces crystal clear water from the Upper Floridan Aquifer, as much as 10.7-million gallons a day during periods of high rainfall.

To get the park ready for today's dedication, workers Richard Soderlund and Cassie Bryant used a johnboat on Wednesday to uproot the cattails that once ringed the park's large pond.

Workers had used chemicals and digging equipment since June to try to eradicate the long, wispy wetland plants.

The cattails had flourished in the outflow from the fresh water Wall Spring, a popular spa and swimming area from the 1900s to mid 1960's, when it was closed and fenced off.

The plants had become a nuisance, infringing on submerged and emergent plant habitat, according to park supervisor Don Wilson.

Cattails can take over habitat dominated by eel grass, pepper grass, spikerush, reducing water quality and damaging wildlife habitat, Wilson said.

"We will eventually replant the area with natives," Wilson said. "Cattails are not good to support a lot of wildlife."

With the cattails gone, wildlife likely will move into the pond, which already is home to a trio of large tarpon, tilapia and a pair of river otters.

"They come and go," Wilson said of the otters. "And they are pretty timid and tend to take off when you come around."

The pond is a mix of fresh water from Wall Spring and water from a nearby saltmarsh. It and the spring are just a part of the 195-acre park, which is bordered on the east by the Pinellas Trail, on the west by St. Joseph Sound and Boggy Bayou on the north.

Guided tours of Wall Springs Park, west of Alt. U.S. 19 in northwest Palm Harbor, are a part of today's dedication ceremony scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m.

[Last modified August 20, 2005, 01:28:04]