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Teen a natural as preserve's leader

Mathew Poling, the 16-year-old director of the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve, has always had a zest for nature.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published May 8, 2006

[Times photo: Theresa Blackwell]

Mathew Poling, an honors student at East Lake High School, has long enjoyed hiking through Brooker Creek Preserve, walking among the cypress trees and surveying the varied habitats of the native wildlife.

EAST LAKE - Barely 16, high school sophomore Mathew Poling is by far the youngest person in the room when the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve meet.

He is also at the helm of the group's board of directors, which includes Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris and Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala.

Poling can't sign legal documents for the Friends, but he sets the agenda and presides over meetings.

When he became the group's leader last year, Poling was still 15. Choosing a teenager to lead a nonprofit organization with a board that includes more than a dozen accomplished adults is unusual.

But then, so is Poling.

The board of 18 members wanted him to be their leader, but state law requires that the chairman of the board for a nonprofit organization be at least 18 years old, Poling said. So the Friends skirted the issue by creating a "senior executive" position and electing Poling to hold it.

"It was an overwhelmingly unanimous thing when it came up at our meeting," said Cathie Foster of East Lake, chairwoman of the Friends board. "Everyone just thought it was a wonderful idea."

She said Poling brings to the Friends a talent for research using new technology. He arrives at their monthly meetings, agenda in hand. He manages their discussions with the skill of an adult, cutting off rambling conversations without offending.

"He is very polite and respectful and very well prepared," Foster said.

* * *

Poling, an honors student at East Lake High School, has a passion for wildlife and nature that preceded his ability to talk.

His parents, Steve and Carole Poling, had a deck of 40 animal cards. They would hold 1-year-old Mathew in their laps and tell him about each animal.

One day, Steve Poling spread the cards out on the floor, called out the names of animals and asked his son to choose the corresponding card. Mathew chose the right card every time.

At about age 5, Mathew got his first pet: a corn snake that slithered into their garage.

"We kept it for several years before we let it go," Steve Poling said.

While a student in the gifted program at Ridgecrest Elementary, Mathew liked science.

Neighbors in the Stag Thicket Estates subdivision, just east of Tarpon Woods, called Mathew whenever they needed a snake moved. Dad came along if it was poisonous, but Mathew knew what to do.

"Be very careful," he would say.

Before long, father and son joined the Brooker Creek Preserve Saturday hikes. Mathew remembers the thrill of his first hike, wading through water up to his waist.

The Polings hiked the trails regularly as Mathew continued his education at Safety Harbor Middle School.

Foster was one of the guides for the Saturday hikes and remembers Mathew when he was about 8.

"He was intensely interested in the wildlife," she said, "anything amphibious or reptilian."

As he got older, she said, he could spot the tiniest frog immediately and identify it. After attending a camp in the preserve for fifth-graders, Poling returned as a camp counselor for the next two years.

Before long, he was leading Saturday hikes with his father.

* * *

He led a reporter on a short hike last week through a section of the Brooker Creek Preserve, which sits just behind his home.

"We'll see what we can see," he said.

Walking stick in hand, he unlocked the gate and started down an access road, quiet and sure.

Motivating the public to assume stewardship of the precious acres of the preserve is one of Poling's goals.

As Pinellas becomes more built-out and undeveloped land is scarce, he hopes the public will pay attention and be vigilant in protecting Brooker Creek.

Access to the county-owned preserve is limited, so the public often forgets about it and reacts slowly to development proposals, Poling said. People react much quicker to projects proposed at parks, such as Fort De Soto Park, a destination for residents and tourists.

"For a long time, there hasn't been anything here," Poling said about the preserve he loves. "So I think that's one of the reasons that they don't appreciate it as much as they would a park."

Poling turned off the access road and onto a sandy firebreak that cut through the pineflatwoods, bordering a cypress swamp. Then he turned into the woods.

This part of Brooker Creek was bought with a Florida Preservation 2000 grant, Poling said. The state has placed restrictions on what can be done with the 40-acre parcel.

When he finds time from his schoolwork and leading the Friends, Poling directs Holly Greene, an East Lake High School senior, in a volunteer project. They are mapping out the roughly 140 parcels that make up Brooker Creek Preserve.

About 40 parcels have been mapped for the project so far. Greene and Poling developed a package for each that includes the most recent deed, the property appraiser's report, grant and funding information with the restrictions on land use, and a cover sheet. The cover sheet gives general information such as the number of acres, the location, and the habitats and protected species on site.

When that project is completed, the Friends will have a blueprint for what kind of development and activities are allowed where - an invaluable aid for protecting the land.

As he walked along, Poling identified trees, from slash pines to water oaks, cypress trees and wax myrtles. He named varieties of grass and land features like the small sinkholes.

"That's Baton Rouge lichen on a Tupelo tree," he said, pointing to a red lichen covering a swath of a tree trunk. "That supposedly means good air quality."

Wildlife wasn't visible in the warm, early afternoon. But the creatures' homes were drilled in the trees and their footprints surrounded a puddle that is a lake in wetter times.

Poling stopped to uproot a Brazilian pepper, the worst of invasive exotics. In the distance, wild turkeys roamed behind a home, and Poling's thoughts turned back to the role of the Friends.

For several years, the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve focused on opening the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center. When the center opened in 2004, members returned to their basic mission: protecting the 8,283 acres of the preserve.

"We're finding our voice on issues related to the preserve," Poling said, quoting another board member. "We realize that we are the only ones really watching out for the place."

--Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or 727 445-4170.

[Last modified May 8, 2006, 02:30:18]