Polk County will add to its network of conservation lands by purchasing a roughly 215-acre tract on the west side of Lake Rosalie near Lake Wales.
County commissioners voted 5-0 at their May 19 meeting to approve spending nearly $3 million for the La Cala property. The acquisition price equates to about $13,250 per acre.
The county will offset $1.3 million of the purchase price with funds awarded from a federal grant. The seller is La Cala LLC, a company based in Miramar Beach.
The property lies just east of Barney Keen Road and Camp Mack Road and is bordered on the north by the Rosalie Oaks community. The tract includes about 1,000 feet of shoreline on Lake Rosalie, on the opposite side of the lake from Lake Kissimmee State Park.
Polk County voters approved a referendum in 2022 for a designated property tax to fund a land-conservation program for 20 years. The county has used funding from that program and from a predecessor for most conservation land purchases, but county leaders are tapping a different source for the La Cala property purchase.
Polk County is paying for the La Cala purchase with stormwater funds, based on revenue collected through a Municipal Service Taxing Unit, a special district created to fund specific local improvements, said Tabitha Biehl, Polk County’s land and water natural areas manager.
The property went through the same evaluation process used for those purchased using revenues from the property tax, Biehl said. That includes site visits and reviews by the Conservation Land Acquisition Selection Advisory Committee, a volunteer group appointed by county commissioners, which recommended it for acquisition in October 2024.
In addition to the frontage on Lake Rosalie, the La Cala property borders a canal that runs from Catfish Creek to Lake Rosalie, Biehl said. The land lies within the Lake Kissimmee watershed.
Water quality in Lake Rosalie has been declining in recent years because of nutrient runoff, Biehl said.
“And so, what we plan to do with this project is create a treatment wetland and pull the water out of the canal as a flow-through treatment system as it enters into Lake Rosalie to really remove some of the heavy nutrients that are loading in the lake,” she said.
Those nutrients have caused some harmful algal blooms on Lake Rosalie, Biehl said.
The La Cala tract fits within the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership for its proximity to Avon Park Air Force Range to the south. That program is a coalition of federal agencies, state and local governments and private organizations working to advance sustainable land-use practices around military installations and ranges, according to the Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense.
For that reason, Polk County received $1.3 million through the federal Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program to be used for the purchase, Biehl said. That program, established in 2002, is intended to avert land-use conflicts near military installations.
The La Cala property also occupies an important place within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, Biehl said. That is a defined a ribbon of land stretching the length of the peninsula and deemed crucial for the survival of animals that require large areas to roam, primarily Florida panthers and Florida black bears.
The property consists largely of floodplain hammock habitat, which Biehl described as “old Florida” land, and also contains some scrubby flatwoods. During a site visit, CLASAC members observed water seepage from the Lake Wales Ridge, Biehl said. The tract is surrounded by other lands nominated for acquisition by the county.
The La Cala property was likely used for cattle grazing at some point, Biehl said. In recent years, the owners have used it for private recreation, she said.
After the county completes the land alterations aimed at improving water quality, Biehl’s department will evaluate whether it is appropriate to use resources to provide passive outdoor recreation.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County plans $3M purchase of tract bordering Lake Rosalie
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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