|
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS - This morning the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection’s (DEP) Florida Park Service opened the gate to allow wild manatees
to enter the spring bowl at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
for the first time in 30 years. Event guests included representatives from DEP’s
Florida State Parks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Save the Manatee Club and other
partners and supporters.
“We are thrilled to hold this landmark event at Homosassa Springs in
coordination with our partners,” said DEP’s Florida Park Service Director Donald
Forgione. “This is an important component of the park’s participation in manatee
conservation and brings these majestic animals back into their natural winter
sanctuary.”
This momentous event commemorated the opening of the bridge gate that
separates rehabilitating manatees in the spring bowl and wild manatees in the
spring run. This is the first time the gate has been opened since it was
constructed nearly 30 years ago, before the park was acquired by the state in
1989. Members of the manatee conservation community have for many years hoped
that the bridge gate could be opened for the wild manatees that winter in the
Blue Waters area outside the park from November to March.
“Today marked an important and significant step forward for manatee
conservation as recent history reminded us that open access to Florida’s network
of warm water springs is crucial to manatee winter survival,” said supervisor
for the FWS North Florida Ecological Services Office Dave Hankla. “Homosassa
Springs’ accommodation of the wild population during the winter underscores the
Florida Park Service’s commitment to long-term manatee conservation and
recovery. This day also reflects the substantial research effort our manatee
rehab partners made in furthering our understanding of the manatee papilloma
virus; without which our collective decision to take this step would not have
been possible.”
A separation fence installed within the spring in February to provide for
improved manatee rehabilitation made the gate opening possible. Homosassa
Springs’ eight captive manatees have been placed behind the separation fence in
the spring bowl, allowing the remainder of the spring bowl to be available for
wild manatees. The gate underneath the bridge will be closed when the wild
manatees have left the spring at the end of the season, usually March, and the
rehabilitating manatees will again have the entire spring bowl for their use.
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park has been a participant
in the FWS Manatee Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release Program for 30 years, and
has helped rehabilitate more than 40 injured manatees during that time. FWS is
the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and
enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
American people. Just this year, 10 new manatees have come into Homosassa
Springs for rehabilitation, some of whom have already been released to the wild.
Homosassa Springs will continue to rehabilitate manatees, and in addition, will
continue to provide excellent manatee education and interpretation programs to
Florida’s citizens and visitors.
Funding for the new gates within the spring was provided by the Save the
Manatee Club as a continued supporter of manatee conservation and the park.
Other important park supporters at the event included the Felburn Foundation,
the Friends of Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, the Citrus County Convention and
Visitors Bureau and the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce.
About Florida State Parks
Created in 1935 by the Florida Legislature, Florida
State Parks has grown from eight to 160 parks over the last 75 years. Today, the
Florida Park Service manages more than 700,000 acres of Florida’s natural
environment, including 100 miles of beaches, eight National Historic Landmarks
and 39 sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Florida State Parks
has been recognized by the National Recreation and Park Association as the
nation’s first and only two-time Gold Medal winner for the nation’s best park
service.
For more information
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park -
www.floridastateparks.org/homosassasprings U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -
www.fws.gov/northflorida
| 
2012 State of Florida