Crooked Lake Site Gets Protection

BARTOW | Another piece of the landscape west of Crooked Lake will be protected with the purchase of hundreds of lots in an undeveloped subdivision. The 999-acre Atgar site was bought Friday for $2.2 million by the Polk County Environmental Lands Program. It contains substantial scrub habitat and is considered a "biological hot spot" because of the presence of a number of protected species on the site, including gopher tortoises, sand skinks and a number of endangered plants. The Atgar property is adjacent to the Stuart, Britt and Dunham properties in an area known as Crooked Lake West, which covers 11,440 acres on both sides of U.S. 27 west of Crooked Lake, the only Polk water body designated an Outstanding Florida Water.

Please follow the link below for the complete article.