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SoWalSally

Beach Fanatic
Feb 19, 2005
649
49
By Gabriel Tynes

Two Walton County state parks stand to receive a facelift after State Sen. Charlie Clary secured more than $8 million in additional funding for infrastructural improvements this week.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced that the Florida Park Service will be allocating $1.5 million to Eden Gardens State Park to reroute the entrance road and build new picnic areas. Additionally, Topsail Hill Preserve State Park will receive nearly $7 million to repair roads, expand the campgrounds and improve sewer access.
?It?s good news,? said Tom Ervin, park manager at Topsail Hill. ?We haven?t even begun the planning stages yet, but we?ll be able to move forward as soon as we?re ready.?
With 3.2 miles of beach and more than 3,000 acres of total property, Topsail Hill Preserve is one of the most frequented state parks in the Panhandle. It has 156 campsites and 16 cabins, which according to Ervin, stay ?booked solid.?
?We will be expanding the camping into areas that have already been disturbed,? Ervin said. ?But we have to meet with developers, park staff and biologists so we can have the lightest impact on our protected plant species.?
Eden Gardens, meanwhile, has seen a significant increase in park visitors from around 38,000 a year ago to 52,000 this year. The new access road and picnic area will open 100 acres of park that was procured in 2001.
?We have tried to do things better here every day,? said Bob Toothaker, park service specialist at Eden Gardens. ?We?re excited about the allocation because it will add a new dynamic to the park and we can finally use the property we've had for five years.?
Toothaker said that the current park entrance on Gillmore Road was never intended for that use, and a new one further south will better seclude the Wesley House, a two-story antebellum structure that is the focal point of the park.
?It?s unusual to have traffic at the doorstep of the house, and moving the access road will only improve its function,? Toothaker said.
Clary, who is spending his last months in office due to term restrictions, thought the allocation would be a final gesture of charity for weather-beaten environmental attractions that are vital to the state?s economy.
?I thought that it was important in my last year to make sure that the parks in my area that were devastated by the recent storms were able to recover and welcome our many constituents from this state and visitors to experience the real Florida,? Clary said.
"Each park has its own historical, archaeological or environmental features and they all offer something different" Clary said, "so you really can't put a value on them."
Clary said he has maintained a "great" working relationship with the park service and state, so the "timing was right" to obtain the funds.
With $12.5 million in overall allocations, the money will also benefit Blackwater River State Park in Holt, Camp Helen State Park in Panama City Beach and Henderson Beach State Park in Destin.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
Bud said:
except they will destroy morrison springs :sosad:
What:dunno: You don't like the idea of a big @ss concrete boat ramp being installed so the more boats can have a place to run over the SCUBA divers and people having funn splashing around in the beautiful water?
 
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