The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Hampton Tract, including closed area tracts at Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve in Polk County, will be temporarily closed to the public for feral hog hunts Nov. 18-20.
Only permitted hunters will be allowed on the property during these dates. All 30 permits for these hunts have been sold.
The Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve Hampton Tract is located at 14301 Rock Ridge Road in Lakeland.
This activity is one of a series of feral hog hunts being held on Seiftmud lands to control the damage being caused to the natural habitats.
Swiftmud officials only allow hogs to be controlled through hunts when the damage they cause exceeds unacceptable levels, and damage is occurring more frequently and with increasing severity.
Feral hogs live throughout Florida in various habitats, but prefer moist forests and swamps, as well as pine flatwoods. They are omnivorous and feed by rooting with their broad snouts, which can cause extensive damage to the natural habitats. In fact, they can leave an area looking like a plowed field.
Feral hogs are not native to Florida and are believed to have been introduced by explorer Hernando DeSoto as early as 1539. They can weigh more than 150 pounds, measure over 5 feet in length and travel in herds with their offspring.
For more information, please call the District’s Land Management section at (813) 375-0665 or visit WaterMatters.org/HogHunts.

The controversial plan to allow thousands of new homes along the Peace Creek Drainage Canal east of Bartow suffered another setback Monday night.
The Bartow Planning and Zoning Commission tied on whether to annex one of the project sites and unanimously voted to deny plans to develop the site seeking annexation and a site that is already in the city limits.
The votes, which came without discussion, capped a five-hour hearing and drops the issue in the lap of the Bartow City Commission. which will consider the development package at a hearing Nov. 3 at the Bartow Civic Center.
The county planning staff has recommended approval.
The hearing involved requests by neighboring landowners to win approval for a proposed 2,245-unit residential development.
It lies within the city’s electrical service area and has access to city water and sewer, which would be necessary to make the development of the site practical because of the amount of wetlands and poorly drained soils on the site, according to the city staff report.
Part of the property is already in the city, but was earlier proposed for industrial development that dates from the time when a second leg of the Central Polk Parkway was proposed to run through the property south of Bartow Municipal Airport.
The other part just east of that site has been the subject of repeated attempts for development approval before the County Commission, which denied the request.
Bart Allen, the lawyer representing the landowners, argued the vote should not be a popularity contest and should instead be based on facts.
However, he acknowledged there were still some details of the project regarding everything from flood zones to school capacity that have not been worked out and will not be unless the project gets the initial zoning approval to move toward eventual final development review and platting.
The crowd of Bartow residents and property owners who live in adjacent rural homesteads gave commissioners a long list of reasons to deny the requests.
They included the flooding potential, which was bolstered by an artist’s rendering of the project that depicts dense subdivisions located on islands surrounded by flood retention areas and accounts of the effects of recent hurricanes, claims there is a housing glut in the area that makes it unlikely the market can absorb more houses. the compatibility of small residential lots 40 to 60 feet wide with adjacent rural homesteads containing five to 20 acres and questions about whether the project will increase overcrowding of local schools unless students are assigned to schools as far away as the outskirts of Auburndale.

Gaye Sharpe, Tabitha Biehl and Jeff Spence

The Polk County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the appointment of Tabitha Biehl as the new director of Polk County Parks and Natural Resources.
She succeeds Gaye Sharpe, who is retiring. She officially assumes the position Oct. 27.
Biehl has been at the county for 20 years in various roles in the Polk County Enviornmental Lands Program and brings a broad experience in land management, securing grants, expanding environmental education and other related fields.
County Manager Bill Beasley cited her varied professional background in seeking commission approval for her promotion from her position as land and water natural areas manager. She had held that position since 2018.
Before the vote, commissioners praised the good reputation she and Ms Sharpe had in the community and her ability to make the details of technical projects understandable to the general public.
Also present at Tuesday’s meeting was Jeff Spence, who preceded Sharpe and Biehl in that position.
Looking ahead Biehl discussed the importance of protecting natural resources and making the county’s parks and natural resource sites accessible to the public.

The long-sought environmental education center at Lakeland’s Se7en Wetlands near Mulberry appears to be coming closer to reality.
Polk County’s Development Review Committee is scheduled to discuss plans for a 2,200-square-foot facility at its Oct. 2 meeting.
The center will be located near the entrance from Polk County’s Loyce E. Harpe Park and will have only pedestrian access.
The park is open to the public daily for hiking and nature observation. There is no admission charge.
This year’s Lakeland budget contains $2.1 million for the project.
The park, which opened in 2018, contains 8.5 miles of trails that loop around a network of treatment wetlands that are used to remove nutrients from water discharged from the city’s sewer system before the water reaches the North Prong of the Alafia River.
The land was mined for phosphate in the 1920s and acquired by the city in 1985.
The treatment wetlands are home to diverse wildlife including wading birds, shorebirds, otters and dragonflies.

The effort to secure a piece of the Alafia River’s flow someday got serious Wednesday.
The Polk Regional Water Cooperative approved a revised administrative budget that includes $204,820 to challenge a permit awarded in July to Tampa Bay Water use the remaining allowable flow in the Alafia River to meet its future water demands.
This occurred after discussions involving the cooperative, Tampa Bay Water and the Southwest Florida Water Management District did not result in an agreement.
On Sept 3, Tampa Bay Water informed PRWC officials that it was not willing to decrease its permit request.
Tampa Bay Water provides water to Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties and to the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa.
That permit approval will not be final pending the resolution of the challenge, board members were told.
The idea of tapping the Alafia River goes back decades, but PRWC’s plans did not include it until 2017 along with other so-called alternative water supply projects involving the Peace River, the Peace Creek Drainage Canal and the Lower Floridan Aquifer.
Two main tributaries of the Alafia River form in Polk County before merging in Hillsborough County to form the river’s main channel.
The existence of those tributaries is the basis for the water cooperative’s claim.
This discussion like all other discussions about tapping surface water is about how it affects minimum flows and levels. This refers to the amount of flow a river requires for fish to swim freely and for generally healthy flow.
This was a major issue for decades on the Peace River, whose riverbed had no flow for miles in Polk County at times of low rainfall because of excessive water use. within its watershed
The idea of setting minimum flows and levels is to prevent a repeat of that problem elsewhere.
The challenge approved Wednesday could involve a formal administrative hearing or could, like an earlier dispute with the Peace River Manasota Water Supply Authority. result in some kind of settlement.
Stay tuned.

Conservation Florida this week announced the completion of securing a conservation easement over a 2,317-acre ranch on Lake Kissimmee east of Lake Wales.
The deal, which has been in the works for five years, involves a cooperative effort by Arnie and Lauren Bellini, the U.S. Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Land Easement Program and Conservation Florida.
The ranch was acquired by the South Florida Water Management District in 2004 as part of the Kissimmee River restoration but was later surplussed and ended up in the hands of a private developer who proposed a golf resort.
It is adjacent to Polk County’s Coleman Landing park.
The ranch features four miles of lakefront, 200 species of plants and animals including protected species such as bald eagle and Florida scrub jay.
“This is a conservation victory for the people, wildlife, and waters of Florida,” said Traci Deen, CEO of Conservation Florida. “Eagle Haven Ranch is one of the most significant properties in the Northern Everglades I’ve encountered. Its permanent protection is a direct result of bold partnerships, visionary funding programs, and the power of the conservation community.”

The boardwalk at Mosaic-Peace River Park in Homeland is being closed permanently after the County Commission decided it did not want to spend $2.7 million to repair hurricane damage.
The boardwalk that crosses a portion of the river floodplain in Homeland was originally built in 1995 and expanded in 2008. Funds for the initial project came from a state grant, IMC-Agrico (now Mosaic) and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
It included interpretative signs partially funded by the Friends of the Parks Foundation and the Coastal and Heartland National Estuary Partnership.
It was heavily damaged by falling trees during Hurricane Milton last year and had previously sustained damage during Hurricane Irma,
It had also received less serious damage over the years following thunderstorms.
County Manager Bill Beasley told commissioners at the July 11 agenda study session that it was likely the boardwalk would sustain additional damage as hurricanes continue to affect the area.
Gaye Sharpe, Polk’s director of parks and natural resources, said the next step was to come up with a plan to demolish enough of the boardwalk to discourage people from climbing over the barricades.
She said eventually the entire boardwalk would have to be demolished. She said she did not know how much any of that will cost.
Marian Ryan, conservation chair for Ancient Islands Sierra. said the 5,000-foot boardwalk is the only boardwalk of any size in Polk County and is popular with residents who had gone there to fish, birdwatch or just enjoy nature.
The 88 acres of wetlands the boardwalk traverses is part of the 460-acre county park located on reclaimed phosphate mined land and donated to Polk County in 1984 by IMC-Agrico.
The rest of the park’s trails and other facilities will remain open.