Thinning of trees will reduce Flatwoods hours for months

The wilderness park will be open only weekends until the logging operation ends in June.

By TIM GRANT

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 16, 2000

HUNTERS GREEN -- One of the area's most popular parks will be closed on weekdays for the next two months.

County officials announced that starting Tuesday, Flatwoods Wilderness Park will be closed from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday because of a logging operation at the park that will last into June.

Saturday and Sunday hours will continue to be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., said Parks and Recreation Director Ed Radice. Hundreds of walkers, bicyclists and skaters use the paved 7-mile loop through the park, which has entrances off both Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Morris Bridge Road.

"The reason we're closing the park is for safety," Radice said. "Trucks will be going in and out, and it would be a nightmare to (coordinate) trucks and people."

Flatwoods, east of Interstate 75, is owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, but managed by Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation.

Swiftmud spokesman Mike Molligan said the logging will help thin about 250 acres of slash pines that were planted to replace trees lost because of fires and logging operations in 1979.

"We planted a dense stand of trees, and the plan was to come back and thin that stand to a more natural density," Molligan said. He said the logging will reduce the tree density by about 50 percent.

The pine stands set for thinning back up to residential areas, including Hunter's Green, Arbor Greene and Cory Lake Isles.

The harvested trees will be sold for lumber and pulpwood. An estimated $32,000 profit from the sale will go toward land management activities, Molligan said.

Logging becomes necessary when trees grow too closely together. Their canopies form a tight roof that prevents sunlight from reaching the ground below. Reducing tree density allows more plants and animals to thrive on the forest floor.

-- Tim Grant can be reached at 226-3471, or grant@sptimes.com.

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