Help plan the future of Crooked Lake Wildlife and Environmental Area

A 10-year plan for the Crooked Lake Wildlife and Environmental Area will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 21 at a public hearing in Polk County.

People are invited to the 7 p.m. public hearing at the Polk County Neil Combee Administration Building, 330 Church St., Room 431, in Bartow.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staff will present the draft land management plan for the FWC-managed Crooked Lake WEA, and people will be encouraged to comment and ask questions. For more information on the upcoming local public hearing, go to MyFWC.com/Conservation and select “Terrestrial Conservation” then “Management Plans.”

This former cattle and citrus ranch was acquired to manage habitats critical to the gopher tortoise and other imperiled and locally important wildlife. The wood stork, sandhill crane, southeastern American kestrel, southern fox squirrel, indigo snake, Florida mouse, gopher frog and American alligator are among the native species living here. Pine flatwoods, sandhill, scrub, swamps, hardwood forests and rare cutthroat grass provide quality habitat for numerous species of wildlife.