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Brooker Creek has youth on its side

The 16-year-old chief of its preservation board leads with passion and wisdom beyond his years.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published May 14, 2006

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 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 18 board members wanted him to be their leader, but state law requires the chairman of the board for a nonprofit organization to be at least 18, Poling said. So the Friends created a "senior executive" position and elected 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 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.

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

His parents, Steve and Carole, 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 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.

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

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

As 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.

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.

Soon he was leading Saturday hikes with his father.

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Poling led a reporter on a short hike recently 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, Poling said. People react much more quickly to projects proposed at parks like Fort De Soto, 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 pine flat woods bordering a cypress swamp. Then he turned into the woods.

This part of Brooker Creek was bought with a Florida Preservation 2000 grant, he said. The state has restricted 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 the 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 to 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."

For years, the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve focused on opening the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center. When it opened in 2004, members returned to their basic mission: protecting the 8,283-acre 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 14, 2006, 10:35:20]