Second phase of Apollo Beach environmental project begins

OBSERVER NEWS • RIVERVIEW CURRENT • SCC OBSERVER •
OCTOBER 4, 2012
11
Second phase of Apollo Beach environmental project begins
First phase won county-wide
award in 2009
that extends for almost a mile with
explanatory nature plaques along
the way.
■■ By PENNY FLETCHER
The Viewing Center will
penny@observernews.net
continue to be a free attraction,
APOLLO BEACH — Concrete
Jacobs said.
pouring and installation of solar
TECO owns land on both sides
panels are the first visible signs
of Dickman Drive between Big
of the second phase of a large
Bend and Noonan Branch roads
expansion project at Tampa
and has begun other projects there
Electric Company’s Manatee
as well, including two phases of
Viewing Center at the far west end wetland restoration on 24 acres
of Big Bend Road.
south of the Viewing Center.
The Viewing Center is
This area surrounds TECO’s
traditionally closed during the
Community Area, which currently
summer months and reopens Nov.
has a covered patio area for
1 when manatees begin to gather
events and is the site of the annual
near TECO’s Apollo Beach power
Manatee Arts Festival.
plant to be in the warm waters
Two weeks ago, youth from
generated by the plant.
Dowdell Middle Magnet School
“We took the opportunity
in Tampa- a school that focuses on
during the closing to pave the
environmental education- planted
parking lot with environmentallynative grasses in that area.
sound permeable concrete, add a
In April, TECO employees and
sidewalk through the parking lot,
their families had re-planted more
and install eight more solar trees
than 8,000 native marsh grasses
to power the Education Building at and plants as part of a partnership
the Viewing Center,” said TECO
between TECO and the Southwest
spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs.
Florida Water Management
Adding eight solar panels will
District.
bring the number to 16, she added.
The project, called the Newman
TECO staff plans to spend a day
Branch Creek Fisheries Habitat
some time
Restoration
in October
Project, is
planting new
on-going, and
landscaping at
represents the first
the Viewing
time the water
Center. There
management
is already an
district’s
award-winning
Surface Water
PENNY FLETCHER PHOTO Improvement
butterfly
While Tampa Electric Company’s Management
garden at the
free Manatee Viewing Center is
site.
(SWIM) program
closed until Nov. 1 for its regular
Weather
summer-fall closing, much work is has worked with a
permitting, by being done, including putting in eight private landowner
more solar panels, which will make to conduct habitat
the time the
center reopens, a total of 16 and will create enough restoration.
solar energy to power the Education
there will be a Center portion of the facility.
Earlier in the
walking trail
year, TECO
ave
S
agreed to place the parcel under a
conservation easement to protect
the fishery habitat. The salt marsh
area had been channeled more than
60 years ago to prevent flooding,
and much habitat was lost, Jacobs
explained.
What is happening now is the
second phase of the project.
The first phase began in 2007
at Newman Branch Creek (which
crosses Noonan Branch and
Dickman roads) to restore fresh
water and brackish wetlands and
re-establish the creek’s natural
contours. The first phase of the
project received the Environmental
Project of the Year Award from
the Hillsborough County Planning
Commission in 2009.
The project was originally
proposed by Ecosphere
Restoration Institute Inc., a nonprofit collaboration of biologists
specializing in habitat restoration
and management.
Ecosphere also got nearly
$200,000 in funding for the
second phase of the project now
in progress through grants from
SWFWMD, the Gulf of Mexico
Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
In September, the Florida
Aquarium and Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation
Commission formed a partnership
with TECO for a conservation and
technology park at the south end
of the TECO-owned property.
About 200,000 people a year
visit the Manatee Viewing Center,
and hopes are high that many more
than that will use the conservation
park.
The park will feature both indoor
and outdoor energy exhibits,
including renewable energy
alternatives; habitat and animal
rescue programs and a saltwater
fish hatchery.
“While the details of the park
are still in the conceptual phase,
the partnership’s vision is clearly
focused on demonstrating the
potential for technology and nature
to work together harmoniously for
the greater good of the community
and the state,” Jacobs said.
Conceptual plans for the area owned by Tampa Electric Company, which runs along the west side of Dickman Road
between Noonan Branch and Big Bend roads, show details for a Conservation and Energy Park and also details of
the Center for Conservation within that park. Although the habitat restoration and some other work has begun at the
site, TECO has not yet set a target date for completion of the project.
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