Polk’s trail network is expanding again.

The first phase of the Panther Point Trail along the eastern shore of Lake Hancock is now officially open.

The five-mile section runs from the edge of the Marshall Hampton Reserve south to a point near the southern edge of Lake Hancock.

The ultimate design, which will be an 8.7-mile trail that will link to the Fort Fraser Trail along U.S. 98 on the north side of Bartow, will have to wait completion of the construction of the new boat ramp on Saddle Creek near the water control structure.

The construction timeline is still up in the air, pending a series of permits involving everything from wetlands mitigation to getting access to for a driveway on U.S. 98.

The trail has no facilities, so take water and snacks you think you’ll need.

I hiked the trail earlier this week. It’s scenic and offers a lot of wildlife-viewing opportunities, but if you want to hike up and back, plan to spend a good part of the day, less if you bicycle.

Also, another new trail will open later this month at The Nature Conservancy’s Tiger Creek Preserve east of Lake Wales. The formal dedication will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 17 at the Wakeford Road trailhead off Walkinwater Road.

The 2.5-mile trail is advertised as providing a great view of the creek from dune bluffs.

Also, don’t forget the presentation on trail plans for Polk at the next meeting Feb. 9 at Circle B.

Gov. Rick Scott’s budget slogan this year is that his spending proposals demonstrate he is “Fighting for Florida’s Future.”

The answer on which future he’s describing is mixed.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection sent a press release listing $688.2 million in environmental projects as part of this theme.

Everglades restoration was the biggest category, making up 32.7 percent of the funds, plus an additional 8.7 percent for restoration work in the Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee River to improve sewer treatment, reduce septic tank pollution and dredge nutrient-rich muck from waterways. Also, the 8 percent of the budget set aside for land acquisition includes a significant amount for land purchases north of Lake Okeechobee to reduce pollution flows. There is nothing in the proposed budget to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee to move more fresh water to the Everglades. Where Amendment 1 money plays into this work wasn’t immediately obvious.

Another large chunk totaling 30 percent of the project budget list is for economic development projects to fix beach erosion along the Atlantic coast to make beaches more accessible and developable, sea level rise or no sea level rise, and to fund projects to come up with “alternative water” projects to provide water for future development in the nation’s second-most populous state in recognition of the consensus that aquifer withdrawals have reached their sustainable capacity.

State park improvements make up 7.3 percent of the total and springs protection make up 9.4 percent.

DEP’s total budget is the only state environmental agency whose budget is proposed to increase.

The proposed budgets for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Forest Service show decreases.

So far all I’ve seen is general outlines, but more details will be available as the Florida Legislature begins reviewing the budget and offering its own recommendations after the 2017 session begins next month.

State officials are holding a series of meetings to discuss the idea of charging licenses for non-motorized watercraft in the same way that motorized craft are assessed.

The idea is being discussed by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panel called the Non-Motorized Boats Working Group. Its next meeting will be Feb. 1 and 2 at DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld, 10100 International Drive , Orlando.

For details on the agenda, go to http://myfwc.com/boating/advisory-council/nmbwg/meetings/ .

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the proposal has brought pushback from paddlers who question how the money from the licenses proceeds would be used to benefit them. They argue they don’t require the hard infrastructure that motorized craft require.

The current boat registration fees are $10.25 for boats 12 feet long and less and $33.50 for craft between 12 and 16 feet long.

The proposed western leg of the Central Polk Parkway, a toll road between U.S. 17 near Bartow Municipal Airport or thereabouts and the Polk Parkway near the county landfill will cut through the northeastern corner of the Marshall Hampton Reserve, a popular recreation site near the intersection of Thornhill Road and Winter Lake Road.

The draft map of the project lays out its tentative route. The road is still in the planning stage at this point, but funding may be forthcoming to make it happen because the Florida Department of Transportation has put a lot of emphasis on freight mobility and this is downstream from the CSX freight terminal recently rebranded as Florida’s Gateway or some such.

Watch for public meetings so you can provide your input. The names on the map are property owners along the route who will also be involved in the process.

There are still some missing pieces in Polk’s water plan, based on what I heard Tuesday night at the latest local water summit put on by the Polk County Water Cooperative.

The cooperative is a paradox.

It is an innovative confederation of local officials uniting in Polk County for the first time to find a way to deal with water problems by embracing a plan that promotes doing things the way they’ve always done it, regardless of the cost.

The problem they confront is that public water utility departments have tapped out their traditional, relatively cheap sources and will have to find a way to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to find additional water somewhere to maintain current growth patterns.

The current projections only guarantee water for the next generation.

After that, who knows?

The missing pieces are where the money will come from to finance these plans, which lean heavily on what amounts to a network of inland desalination plants to tap poor quality water in a section of the aquifer beneath the fresh water section that has been the traditional source up until now.

Local officials and their consultants have come up with some credible proposed sources that include getting money from the water management district, getting money from the Florida Legislature, issuing ponds, asking the voters to increase the local sales tax and raising utility rates.

The nagging concern for all of us who are municipal utility customers is that there could come a day when our water bills are as high as our sewer bills. What the future rates will be is a big question mark because the plan isn’t far enough along to provide good numbers, but you can’t say you weren’t warned.

There are alternatives, such as capping water permits, but while that’s technically defensible, the politics are against it for now.

Nothing is going to happen immediately.

Polk legislators may make a run at a bill this year that would authorize money for water projects and give Polk the right to use voter-approved sales tax money for water projects. The rationale for the legislation is that Polk is a special place at the headwaters for several rivers and home of the Green Swamp and deserving of state help.

As I wrote in an earlier post, some of the bill’s introductory language needs some fact-checking and wordsmithing, but if it promotes more growth in Florida, that may not matter, for now.

Tuesday night’s Polk Regional Water Cooperative meeting in Bartow will include an introduction to something called the Heartland Headwaters Protection and Sustainability Act.

It is draft legislation that has not been filed, according to the Florida Legislature’s website. There’s no word on potential sponsors.

The key elements of the legislation, posted in the agenda packet at http://www.prwcwater.org/ involve persuading the Florida Legislature to fund water supply projects in Polk in exchange for filing annual reports outlining what Polk officials are doing to further water planning, conservation, stormwater management and environmental restoration.

The proposed change in Florida law also would allow local discretionary sales taxes to be spent by the Polk Regional Water Cooperative for water supply development if voters approve the sales tax increase.

The copy of the draft bill posted on the cooperative website (see pages 133-143 in the agenda backup) may need some editing to clear up some confusing language in the findings and intent section.

It refers to the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern, but appears to claim Bartow lies within the Green Swamp, which it doesn’t. It also refers to the headwaters of the Alafia River, which lies in Polk County, but nowhere near the Green Swamp. There is no mention of Polk’s portion of the headwaters of the Kissimmee River, a small portion of which begins at the edge of the Green Swamp.