Cypress Creek Preserve and ecosystem is a one of a kind wilderness tract in north Tampa. The main part of the preserve is located between the apex of I-75 and I-275.  Unfortunately, the area is under imminent threat of development and the prospects for its protection are dim, unless citizens take a more active role in supporting its preservation. This is a top priority of the Cypress Creek Coalition consisting of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club, Tampa Audubon,  Florida Consumer Action Network, and the Lutz Civic Association.

Why Cypress Creek is important:

Cypress Creek, a state designated Outstanding Florida Water, is a major tributary of the Hillsborough River, which is the primary source of drinking water for the City of Tampa. Protection of the creek and associated lands will ensure protection of the water this system contributes to the City’s drinking water supply.

There are over 6,000 acres of natural uplands and wetlands in the Cypress Creek area. The diverse habitats include pine flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, cypress swamps, and wet prairies. The Preserve has been designated a "Significant Wildlife Habitat" by local planning and environmental agencies. That designation means that this ecosystem is critical to the survival of healthy and diverse populations of wildlife in the region. The Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission has listed the area as some of the most valuable habitat in Hillsborough County.

A Tampa Audubon site surveys of Cypress Creek Preserve on June 26, 1998 and Dec 19, 2001 found the following inventory of nesting pairs of birds:

Species

Number of  Nests

Listing

Dec 19, 2001

Anhinga

21

Y

Great Egret

9

Y

Little Blue Heron

14

Species of Special Concern

Snowy Egret

5

Species of Special Concern

Tricolored Heron

4

Species of Special Concern

Cattle Egret

349

Green Heron

1

White Ibis

12

Species of Special Concern

Y

Wood Stork

5

Endangered Species

Turkey Vulture

Y

Red Shouldered Hawk

Y

Laughing Gull

Y

Morning Dove

Y

Pileated Woodpecker

Y

Eastern Phoebe

Y

Fish Crow

Y

Carolina Wren

Y

Gray Catbird

Y

Northern Cardinal

Y

Total

420

All these attributes mean that the Cypress Creek Ecosystem is a pristine and ecologically significant area that is too important to sacrifice for development.

The Danger

The entire area is designated "Environmentally Sensitive" land on local growth management plans. The designation is meant to indicate areas inappropriate for development. However, suburban sprawl and a major road network to serve the ever increasing congestion in north Tampa threaten the preserve. Lennar Homes, Inc., the developer of Tampa Palms, has government approved plans to build homes on upland areas encroaching on the ecosystem. The plans were approved prior to adoption of growth management laws. Therefore, while most wetlands will be preserved within the proposed development, Lennar is exempt from the law’s provisions to protect upland habitat.

Lennar is giving land to the City of Tampa for a major road network, called the East-West Road. The road will connect Cross Creek and Bruce B. Downs boulevards with I-275 and Livingston Avenue, splitting the Preserve east and west and north and south -- piercing through the heart of the ecosystem.

What has happened so far:  To date, our local Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) has acquired approximately 3,500 acres of the Preserve, north and west of Lennar’s property. The land ELAPP has acquired is a mosaic of uplands and wetlands, providing shelter for the rich variety of species listed above. But it's not nearly enough. More habitat must be saved to assure that these creatures will thrive.

In recent years, ELAPP has been working to acquire various  properties along the creek near interstate apex, and south of the Florida Power and TECO transmission corridors and west of Bruce B. Downs. But due to the land’s high price tag, ELAPP has negotiated successfully for only the northernmost 2,500 acres of the preserve.
	Cypress Creek - A Road Could Run Through It

Once ELAPP and Lennar completed their most recent negotiation, the City moved forward with plans to locate the East-West Road directly adjacent to the property acquired. This would make undesirable the acquisition of any of the remaining Preserve land in this area and would open it all up to development. Despite testimony from dozens of families who skipped their dinner in order to tell the Metropolitan Planning Organization the road was the wrong solution, the MPO finalized its "Cost-Affordable" transportation plan for the year 2025 with a highway bisecting the West Meadows neighborhood and the heart of the preserve. Affordable? Estimates from experts in the road-building business have placed the price tag as high as $63 million (!), a huge sum that would be spent on a road serving fewer than 15,000 cars per day -- out of the over one million residents of Hillsborough County.

	The Cypress Creek Coalition meets on site to discuss strategy. From Left: Lynn McGarvey, Sierra Club Rob Heath, Wildlife Biologist Denise Layne, Lutz Civic Association Ged Caddick, Tampa Audubon Linda Saul-Sena, Tampa City Council Bill Newton, FCAN Rene Weisner, ELAPP
Photo by Bill Newton

What you can do:

The citizens of Tampa and Hillsborough County need to let Mayor Pam Iorio and  Tampa City Council know that:

Don’t let Cypress Creek be given over to the bulldozers! There is nothing else like it. Once gone, it can’t be replaced. Future generations may never know, except from pictures, what a beautiful region was once near their homes in Tampa. Your actions can make the difference.

	FCAN Executive Director Bill Newton speaks to the Hillsborough County Commission on Cypress Creek while canvassers display hundred of petitions.
Photo by Melissa Silvers