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We'll be removing an old ranching fence to return the area to a pristine natural site, and to increase safety for both workers and wildlife.
The effort involves removing old fencing wire from posts using fence pliers and bolt cutters.
This is a challenging but rewarding volunteer effort. Fence removal typically involves taking out old barbed wire strung on posts in brushy terrain, and participants need to wear long pants, long sleeves, good footwear, work gloves, and bring a hiker’s water bottle or similar. We’ll have cold drinking water and all the tools needed.
Removing old fencing immediately improves the site, and it’s a great chance to see one of Florida’s most beautiful conservation areas!
So we can plan properly, please let us know that you're coming by registering on this webpage (see button at top).
Directions
Use 345 Detjens Dairy
Road, Venus, FL 33960 in your GPS or Google Maps, or see this link: https://goo.gl/maps/XXNXpfUc2TU2
From Lake Placid: take US 27 south for approximately 16
miles, and then turn right (west) on County Road 731. Stay on CR 731 for 1.3
miles, and then turn left (south) onto Detjens Dairy Road. Look for the
entrance to FWC Platt Branch on your right in 1.3 miles.
About Platt Branch Wildlife and Environmental Area
Platt Branch WEA comprises 1,972 acres and is located about 16 miles south of Lake Placid, east of Fisheating Creek. Diverse natural communities at Platt Branch provide habitat for wildlife
and include well-managed pine flatwoods, scrub,
cutthroatgrass seeps, and wetlands such as depression marshes and floodplain
swamps. These habitats support a remarkable diversity of wildlife, including
protected species such as the gopher tortoise, fox squirrel, Florida scrub-jay
and red-cockaded woodpecker.
The area that is now the Platt Branch WEA was listed as “unexplored prairie” on a
government map from the 1850s. The area remained virtually unsettled and was used for hunting, grazing, settlement and timbering over the years. Most of the major land-use changes started during the 1900s, with turpentine and timber industries booming during the 1920s. Several older pines still provide evidence of turpentining scars. Timber harvesting slowed until the late 1980s when about 100 acres of pines were cut in the southwestern segment. Platt Branch was identified by FWC personnel during the late 1980s as a site for potential state acquisition because of its value to listed species and high quality natural plant communities. The property was acquired by the state in 1995.
Learn more about the FWC Platt Branch Unit at http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/platt-branch
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