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Ichetucknee Springs brought in $8 million
 |
| Carmine Oliverio, an environmental specialist with the Department of Environmental Protection, makes a presentation to the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group. Oliverio shows photos of overflowing waste oil drums at a Quality Repair shop on South Marion that is potentially polluting Alligator Lake. An investigation is under way. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Visitors to Ichetucknee totaled 188,562
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
With an attendance of 188,562 and revenue totaling $8,148,902, Harvey Campbell told members of the Ichetucknee Spring Basin Working Group on Tuesday that the springs enjoyed a decent year.
Campbell, executive director of the county’s Tourist Development Council, said park numbers indicated on average each person visiting the
springs spent an average of $58.40. He said the number of jobs created from Ichetucknee Park alone was 175.
Also on Tuesday, Loggerheard Musk turtles found their way into the quarterly meeting of group. The turtle population was part of the park’s study last year by undergraduate student’s from local universities — under the leadership of Eckerd College biology professor Peter Meylan, Ph.D. — and findings from the study were discussed.
“In 2007 we did four days of sampling on the Ichetucknee to study the turtle populations and we found seven different kinds of turtles in the river, the most common is the Loggerhead Musk,” said Meylan.
Tuesday’s meeting took place in the meeting room of the Price Creek Water Plant, next to Lake City Community College.
“We need to collect more data to be sure, but it seems very likely that there are probably tens of thousands of Loggerhead Musk turtles in the part of Ichetucknee that’s in the state park.”
Meylan said even though the Loggerhead is one of the most common species in the river, it’s not a basking turtle.
“The two kinds that get up on the logs that you see if you’re tubing or canoeing on the river are the Suwannee Cooter, which is the bigger one that has narrow yellow stripes on its head, and the other one is the Yellow-bellied Slider, that one will have a big yellow blotch on the side of its head,” Meylan said.
According to Meylan, the Suwannee Cooter is the turtle that people love to eat.
“The protection of the park seems to be working because there are a lot of big cooters in Ichetucknee, but other places where I work, like Rainbow Run in Marion County, there are very few of the large cooters,” Meylan said.
Meylan attributes the difference to the fact that motor boats are allowed in Rainbow Run but not in Ichetucknee, which doesn’t destroy good basking places along the river as do places that allow motorboats.
“A lot of places that allow motorboats tend to go in and cut out the snags, the good basking logs, but in the state park they keep the logs so the turtles are right there as you tube down the river.
“It makes it a great place to go and see all these turtles,” Meylan said.
n Also during the meeting, Ichetucknee Biologist Sam Cole reported on the tubing season and the abundance of wildlife spotted in the park this year.
Cole, who recently became the park’s full-time biologist said that because of dramatic increases and decreases in water levels within the park, the wildlife seems to be thriving.
“We had two Limpkin nests that produced young, each nest had two chicks,” Cole said, noting that this is the first time the park has had that many. “We’ve had single nests before but now we have three pairs out there, which is very exciting.”
Cole also said because of Tropical Storm Fay causing the river level to rise at the end of August, that a group of 10 manatees came up river.
“Right now we have bald eagles on the river, and in the last few weeks we’ve had some sightings in the uplands of uncommon birds like the hairy woodpecker and Cooper’s hawks that are always really nice to hear about,” Cole said, “especially when you’ve got concerns of declining water quality during times when the water levels are low.”
Also mentioned by Cole is a special educational event called the “Butterfly Affect” scheduled for from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Education Center located at the park’s south entrance.
n In other meeting news, Campbell said a new Paddler’s Guide was about to be printed to help promote tourism of the Ichetucknee River.
“It will be printed with waterproof ink on rubberized paper and it’s formatted so that it looks like a half of a page to make it easier to read while in your canoe,” Campbell said. “If it gets wet it won’t be harmed.”
Campbell said it will be available in all the Florida state parks and in all the canoe and kayak liveries and similar venues.
“We have the final draft going out to all the partners for one last review and we’re opening the bids Tuesday on the printing, and we intend to have a finished product by the end of October,” Campbell said.
Campbell also reported on the economic impact of Ichetucknee Springs in Fort White and Columbia County, in addition to the other nine or so state parks that directly affect the Suwannee River Valley (Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee Counties).
Also, to raise awareness of Alligator Lake, the Audubon Society will begin nature walks around the lake.
“We have decided to do a monthly natural history walk at Alligator Lake starting on Oct. 4,” said Jacqui Sulek, president of the Four Rivers Audubon Society. “People will want to bring walking shoes, maybe some bug spray, sunscreen and a hat.
“They can stay with us as long as they want and the walks will last a couple of hours.”
Sulek said a different naturalist will lead the weekly walk and that Jerry Krummich would lead the initial walk.
“He’s worked for Fish and Wildlife for many years and he is an excellent birder who also teaches our beginning birding classes — and I will be there too,” Sulek said. “It will be a great time to meet people and to start understanding the impact Alligator Lake is making on our drinking water.”
Also, Environmental Health Director Mark Lander unveiled the health department’s computerized database that identifies septic tanks within the Ichetucknee Trace.
The database is available to the public and is located at septicsearch.com.
Lander said that identifying the location and age of septic tanks in Columbia County is the first step to formulating a septic tank ordinance.
Educating public on water supply pays off
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
Members who attended the quarterly meeting of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group on Tuesday discovered that its efforts to educate the residents of Columbia County about protecting its water supply are paying off.
A Lake City resident out for a walk noticed a stain running from a local automotive business, so he followed it to a drain that was stenciled with the words, “Drains to Alligator Lake.”
This prompted him to call John Wheeler, a well-known springs advocate who in turn contacted Cindy Johnson, coordinator of The Ichetucknee Partnership, who forwarded the complaint to Carmine Oliverio of the Department of Environmental Protection.
“What we actually found was two or three drums filled with waste oil that were actually overflowing onto the ground and concrete,” Oliverio said. “Though the stain was not from the oil drums, but was probably from years of automotive repair work.”
Jabe Breland, a hazardous waste specialist from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Jacksonville office, met Oliverio at the automotive repair business on South Marion Avenue.
Oliverio and Breland told Quality Repair owner Polo Sotres to pick up the oil and remove the stained sand and to cover and remove the leaking barrels properly.
“They (DEP) came in the morning and by the afternoon I got everything under control,” said an apologetic Sotres.
Sotres said he will be calling Oliverio to come back out to do a re-inspection.
“Sotres agreed that some of his business practices contributed to the mismanagement of the waste product,” Oliverio said. “Had that resident not made that initial observation, the drums could have continued to leak.”
Oliverio said that the DEP will be back out there by the end of the week to make sure things are moving along.
Campbell, executive director of the county’s Tourist Development Council, said park numbers indicated on average each person visiting the
springs spent an average of $58.40. He said the number of jobs created from Ichetucknee Park alone was 175.
Also on Tuesday, Loggerheard Musk turtles found their way into the quarterly meeting of group. The turtle population was part of the park’s study last year by undergraduate student’s from local universities — under the leadership of Eckerd College biology professor Peter Meylan, Ph.D. — and findings from the study were discussed.
“In 2007 we did four days of sampling on the Ichetucknee to study the turtle populations and we found seven different kinds of turtles in the river, the most common is the Loggerhead Musk,” said Meylan.
Tuesday’s meeting took place in the meeting room of the Price Creek Water Plant, next to Lake City Community College.
“We need to collect more data to be sure, but it seems very likely that there are probably tens of thousands of Loggerhead Musk turtles in the part of Ichetucknee that’s in the state park.”
Meylan said even though the Loggerhead is one of the most common species in the river, it’s not a basking turtle.
“The two kinds that get up on the logs that you see if you’re tubing or canoeing on the river are the Suwannee Cooter, which is the bigger one that has narrow yellow stripes on its head, and the other one is the Yellow-bellied Slider, that one will have a big yellow blotch on the side of its head,” Meylan said.
According to Meylan, the Suwannee Cooter is the turtle that people love to eat.
“The protection of the park seems to be working because there are a lot of big cooters in Ichetucknee, but other places where I work, like Rainbow Run in Marion County, there are very few of the large cooters,” Meylan said.
Meylan attributes the difference to the fact that motor boats are allowed in Rainbow Run but not in Ichetucknee, which doesn’t destroy good basking places along the river as do places that allow motorboats.
“A lot of places that allow motorboats tend to go in and cut out the snags, the good basking logs, but in the state park they keep the logs so the turtles are right there as you tube down the river.
“It makes it a great place to go and see all these turtles,” Meylan said.
n Also during the meeting, Ichetucknee Biologist Sam Cole reported on the tubing season and the abundance of wildlife spotted in the park this year.
Cole, who recently became the park’s full-time biologist said that because of dramatic increases and decreases in water levels within the park, the wildlife seems to be thriving.
“We had two Limpkin nests that produced young, each nest had two chicks,” Cole said, noting that this is the first time the park has had that many. “We’ve had single nests before but now we have three pairs out there, which is very exciting.”
Cole also said because of Tropical Storm Fay causing the river level to rise at the end of August, that a group of 10 manatees came up river.
“Right now we have bald eagles on the river, and in the last few weeks we’ve had some sightings in the uplands of uncommon birds like the hairy woodpecker and Cooper’s hawks that are always really nice to hear about,” Cole said, “especially when you’ve got concerns of declining water quality during times when the water levels are low.”
Also mentioned by Cole is a special educational event called the “Butterfly Affect” scheduled for from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Education Center located at the park’s south entrance.
n In other meeting news, Campbell said a new Paddler’s Guide was about to be printed to help promote tourism of the Ichetucknee River.
“It will be printed with waterproof ink on rubberized paper and it’s formatted so that it looks like a half of a page to make it easier to read while in your canoe,” Campbell said. “If it gets wet it won’t be harmed.”
Campbell said it will be available in all the Florida state parks and in all the canoe and kayak liveries and similar venues.
“We have the final draft going out to all the partners for one last review and we’re opening the bids Tuesday on the printing, and we intend to have a finished product by the end of October,” Campbell said.
Campbell also reported on the economic impact of Ichetucknee Springs in Fort White and Columbia County, in addition to the other nine or so state parks that directly affect the Suwannee River Valley (Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee Counties).
Also, to raise awareness of Alligator Lake, the Audubon Society will begin nature walks around the lake.
“We have decided to do a monthly natural history walk at Alligator Lake starting on Oct. 4,” said Jacqui Sulek, president of the Four Rivers Audubon Society. “People will want to bring walking shoes, maybe some bug spray, sunscreen and a hat.
“They can stay with us as long as they want and the walks will last a couple of hours.”
Sulek said a different naturalist will lead the weekly walk and that Jerry Krummich would lead the initial walk.
“He’s worked for Fish and Wildlife for many years and he is an excellent birder who also teaches our beginning birding classes — and I will be there too,” Sulek said. “It will be a great time to meet people and to start understanding the impact Alligator Lake is making on our drinking water.”
Also, Environmental Health Director Mark Lander unveiled the health department’s computerized database that identifies septic tanks within the Ichetucknee Trace.
The database is available to the public and is located at septicsearch.com.
Lander said that identifying the location and age of septic tanks in Columbia County is the first step to formulating a septic tank ordinance.
Educating public on water supply pays off
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
Members who attended the quarterly meeting of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group on Tuesday discovered that its efforts to educate the residents of Columbia County about protecting its water supply are paying off.
A Lake City resident out for a walk noticed a stain running from a local automotive business, so he followed it to a drain that was stenciled with the words, “Drains to Alligator Lake.”
This prompted him to call John Wheeler, a well-known springs advocate who in turn contacted Cindy Johnson, coordinator of The Ichetucknee Partnership, who forwarded the complaint to Carmine Oliverio of the Department of Environmental Protection.
“What we actually found was two or three drums filled with waste oil that were actually overflowing onto the ground and concrete,” Oliverio said. “Though the stain was not from the oil drums, but was probably from years of automotive repair work.”
Jabe Breland, a hazardous waste specialist from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Jacksonville office, met Oliverio at the automotive repair business on South Marion Avenue.
Oliverio and Breland told Quality Repair owner Polo Sotres to pick up the oil and remove the stained sand and to cover and remove the leaking barrels properly.
“They (DEP) came in the morning and by the afternoon I got everything under control,” said an apologetic Sotres.
Sotres said he will be calling Oliverio to come back out to do a re-inspection.
“Sotres agreed that some of his business practices contributed to the mismanagement of the waste product,” Oliverio said. “Had that resident not made that initial observation, the drums could have continued to leak.”
Oliverio said that the DEP will be back out there by the end of the week to make sure things are moving along.
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| New school named Pinemount Elementary |
Toothy Toothy wrote on Sep 24, 2008 9:23 AM: