The Ledger reports that Polk Vision is planning a series of public meetings around Polk County during the next two months to hear from citizens about their ideas about what can be done to make this a better place for all of us.

I wonder if there’s any interest in adding completion of the work to protect the natural environment for the sake of future generations to the agenda.

The 2004 meetings after Polk Vision originally organized served as a catalyst to get more money for Polk’s underfunded park system.

Polk County’s voters got together in 1994 and told the County Commission they wanted to tax themselves to buy and manage some of Polk’s remaining environmental jewels. That program was a success, but the work is incomplete.

There are still some missing pieces, some land whose purchase would fill gaps that would accomplish important things. It would protect entire ecosystems rather than mere fragments through the ownership of larger contiguous tracts that could be fenced, managed with prescribed fire and restored to further protect globally imperiled species.

This primarily involves land west of Crooked Lake, the only Outstanding Florida Water in Polk, though some land along the Peace River and in the Green Swamp Area of Critical of State Concern may offer opportunities as well.

The next Polk Vision meeting will occur at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Auburndale Civic Center in downtown Auburndale and will continue through the next month or so, wrapping up at April 13 at the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce.

The meetings occur at different times of the day, so pick a date or time that fits your schedule. All but two of meetings occur during the work day, which may limit attendance for some people who may want to get involved.

To view the meeting schedule, go to http://portal.polkvision.com/ .

Mike Blondin, who oversees Hilochee Wildlife Management Area in Polk and Lake counties, will be the guest speaker at the next meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at Circle B Bar Reserve.

The Polk section of Hilochee, known as the Osprey Unit, lies between County Road 557 and U.S. 27 along Interstate 4 in the Green Swamp Area of Critical Concern .

The property was originally planned to be developed into an industrial park.

There is seasonal hunting here. The site is open all year for day use for hiking, nature study, bicycling, bank fishing and horseback riding.

One of the issues raised in the latest review of the property’s management plan is what options there are for increasing public recreational access and increasing parking for day use.

Wildlife on the site includes Sandhill Cranes, Gopher Tortoise, Wild Turkey, various wading birds and a number of songbirds. Hilochee also has a good butterfly population.

The property, along with other conservation lands, was unsuccessfully proposed for surplussing by state officials a few years ago, but it remained in public ownership.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the sinkhole in the gypsum stack at Mosaic’s New Wales fertilizer plant, but what do you know about the hazardous chemicals that are being released by local industrial plants every year.

The database is called the Toxic Release Inventory. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues it annually, though there’s a time lag.

The most recent report is for chemicals released in 2015.

It is searchable down to the county level geographically and also by industrial sector (power plants, manufacturing plants etc.)

The most recent report lists the following totals (in pounds) for counties in the area.

Polk: 4,309,229

Sumter: 280,950

Highlands: 61,156

Lake: 34,160

Hardee: 20,594

DeSoto: 0

Fertilizer plants such as the New Wales plant and power plants, particularly Lakeland’s coal-burning McIntosh plant, make up most of Polk’s totals.

Go to this link https://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/tri_release.chemical and work down to whichever county or industry or chemical or combination of any of those that interest you.

One thing on the data. It is often to make a direct connection between emissions and environmental or health threats without additional analysis.

A separate listing called Right to Know lists the amount of chemicals of certain types and in amounts above specified threshold amounts that are stored at local industrial plants.

These disclosures trace their inception to the Bhopal chemical disaster at the Union Carbide plant in 1984.

The County Commission is planning a work session for 9 a.m. April 11 in Room 407. One of the topics will be the appointment of members to the next Charter Review Commission.

Under the charter, which you can read under the Government tab on the Polk County Government website, the new charter review panel must be appointed by July 1.

If you’d like to be considered for a seat on the panel, now’s the time to put your name in.

It will have 13 members. County Commission Chair Melony Bell will appoint three members. The other four county commissioners will appoint two each. The remaining two members will be appointed by the county’s constitutional officers.

The Charter Review Commission’s meetings are open to the public. Its final report is due July 1, 2018.

It is not obligated to recommend any changes to the charter and the last review panel strongly resisted putting most amendments suggested on the ballot.

Some of the changes suggested in the past included expanded the number of commissioners, making the seats non-partisan and asking voters to reconsider a decision made in 2000 to restrict commission pay to half of what is allowed under state law.

Any proposed charter changes would be placed on the November 2018 ballot and would not take effect unless approved by the voters.

If you live in unincorporated Polk County—that’s the area outside the city limits where the majority of county residents live—Polk County Waste & Recycling wants to know about your recycling preferences.

The survey will come in post cards that are being mailed to county garbage customers.

Here’s the background.

Beginning Oct. 1 Polk County will have new garbage companies, new garbage rates (probably an increase, but that has yet to be determined) and recycling carts instead of recycling bins.

However, the recycling carts—you can pick the size you want—will go only to people who ask for them. This is a financial decision as well as a customer service decision.

That is, it will eliminate unnecessary spending on unneeded recycling carts and will not generate complaints about unwanted carts. Additionally, that should reduce if not eliminate the problem that has occurred in other counties. That problem is that some residents were filling their recycling carts with household garbage instead of recyclables.

There will also have to be some education to make sure the new system goes smoothly.

One major change is the elimination of glass recycling.

Let me repeat, Trump-like for emphasis. PUT YOUR GLASS JARS AND BOTTLES IN THE GARBAGE CART, NOT THE RECYCLING CART AFTER OCT. 1.

The reason glass is being banned is because it has no market value and the broken glass contaminates other materials, particularly paper products, lowering their market value.

Also, here’s an early reminder of other materials that don’t go in the recycling carts or bins. The main ones are plastic bags and polystyrene (often incorrectly referred to as Styrofoam, which is another material).

Gov. Rick Scott is looking for a new person to head the state park system after Lisa Edgar, who was named to the position in December, has resigned.

Her resignation was because of a “family emergency,” SaintPetersBlog reported today.

Edgar was hired after long-time career parks director Don Forgione was abruptly reassigned to oversee just one state park in December.

The still unanswered question is what kind of policy changes, if any, will whoever takes over as head of Florida’s park system will make, at least in the remaining two years of the Scott administration.

Scott has attempted to commercialize operations in some parks and also proposed selling off as surplus conservation lands outside the park system.

If you have visited Lake Kissimmee State Park recently, you may have noticed some construction along the Zipprer Canal.

There are two things going on. One is construction of a new water control structure on this canal between Lake Rosalie and Lake Kissimmee. Next will be construction of a new bridge across the canal.

The Florida Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. March 14 in the pavilion near the park’s marina to explain the project.

The current bridge is substandard, according to an evaluation of local bridges FDOT conducted a few years ago. It, for instance, cannot be used by heavy vehicles, such as fire trucks. (Interestingly, I was at the park one day and saw a Polk County fire truck parked near the bridge while the crew walked over the park’s cow camp.)

The old bridge will remain because it is considered historic, according to park officials. The new bridge will span the canal nearby.

For additional information, contact project manager Andra Diggs at Andra.Diggs@dot.state.fl.us .