Residents of Polk County and far beyond know Circle B Bar Reserve as a place to observe wading birds, songbirds and other wildlife — including alligators — at close range.
But the 1,267-acre tract in Lakeland has another purpose: absorbing and holding water that overflows Lake Hancock, which the reserve borders. Circle B has been performing that function since Hurricane Milton slogged through Polk County in the early hours of Oct. 10, dropping as much as 18 inches of rain in some areas.
Polk County’s Division of Parks and Natural Resources closed the popular site as Hurricane Milton approached, and Circle B will remain shuttered for the indefinite future. Gaye Sharpe, the division’s director, said Thursday that it’s too soon to guess when Circle B might reopen.
“We're still evaluating it, but in talking to the (Southwest Florida) Water Management District and others, the lake is not increasing (in volume) right now, but with the volume and the water coming down from the other tributaries, we're still not going to be able to open it up, so it's still closed until further notice,” Sharpe said. “It’s just really too early because some of these other lakes are still bleeding off down into that area, so that's why we can't say.”
Tabitha Biehl, Polk County’s Land and Water Natural Areas manager, toured Circle B in the days after Hurricane Milton struck. She said the flooding appeared a little worse than it was after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Biehl shared photos that showed water covering the entry drive to the Nature Discovery Center and main parking lots. In an aerial photo taken by helicopter, water encroached on Lake Hancock’s western shoreline and onto the Alligator Alley trail.
Hurricane Milton toppled some trees, and others have fallen since the storm as standing water undermined them, Biehl said. But the primary concern at Circle B is flooding, she said.
Polk County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, also known as Swiftmud, jointly bought the tract in 2000, partly to help with managing water flows on the Peace River . The district operates water-control structures on the south end of Lake Hancock, controlling releases into Saddle Creek, which flows south into the Peace River .
In an update issued Friday, Swiftmud said that many rivers in the Tampa Bay region have experienced the worst flooding recorded since the early 1930s. Water levels were already high before Hurricane Milton, as the region received above-average rainfall in the traditional wet season from June through September, Swiftmud said.
The National Weather Service’s station at Lakeland Linder International Airport recorded rainfall at 20 inches above normal from Jan. 1 through Oct. 15, the district reported. Lake Hancock lies in an area that received at least nine inches of rain from Hurricane Milton, according to a graphic in Swiftmud’s update.
“Water flows across land and through waterbodies as it moves toward a common body of water, such as a stream, river, lake or coast,” Swiftmud said in a news release. “When those bodies of water have already reached capacity, there’s nowhere for the water to go except to flood the land, which can continue for days and weeks following a storm event such as Hurricane Milton. Places that haven't flooded in decades are now inundated with water.”
The water district has faced the dual challenge of limiting water releases from Lake Hancock to control potential flooding along the Peace River while also discharging enough water to reduce the risk of an overspill around the control structure.
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Weather-related closures are not unusual for Circle B Bar Reserve, one of Central Florida’s most popular birdwatching sites. The reserve c losed for several weeks following Hurricane Irma , and a section of the Alligator Alley trail along the west edge of Lake Hancock remained closed for more than a year.
That hurricane, one of the most destructive ever to hit Polk County, toppled many trees and badly eroded the shoreline along Lake Hancock. The Division of Parks and Natural Resources kept the trail closed as it supervised the removal of downed trees before hiring a contractor to stabilize the shoreline by dumping truckloads of dirt to replace eroded sections.
Following Hurricane Ian in September 2022, Circle B closed for about a month .
Polk County received a grant of $88,490 in 2021 from the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership, a quasi-governmental organization partly funded from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The county used the money to install plants along the shoreline of Lake Hancock, helping to replace those washed away by Hurricane Irma.
The planting of cypress and pop ash trees, along with such aquatic plants as buttonbush, spatterdock, duck potato and bulrush, was intended to strengthen the shoreline against erosion from storm-spawned waves.
Aerial inspections have detected some erosion, Biehl said, but the trees and plants installed in 2021 seem to have helped protect the shoreline in some places.
“So we are hoping for less damage, but it is really hard to see the true erosion effects until the water recedes, because right now it is underwater,” Biehl said.
While she understands that nature lovers might be frustrated by an extended closure at Circle B, Sharpe offered a reminder of the reason the county and water district collaborated to buy the former cattle ranch.
“The original purpose was for water quality treatment and being able to slow down the water (flow) and maintain the water on site, so it can slowly bleed off into Lake Hancock,” she said. “So it's functioning well for what the purchase was. It’s just that it doesn't convenience those that go for the recreation component, the wildlife viewing and things like that. But it was designed to do like it's doing. In fact, we're very thrilled it's functioning the way it should be.”
In photos provided by Biehl, the residual flooding does not threaten the Nature Discovery Center, a building containing educational displays and offices. The center was intentionally set upon one of the two highest points in the reserve, she said.
“And then we built up even higher, where we put the center, just to make sure that we don't have to worry about flooding issues,” she said.
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: Circle B in Lakeland remains closed as reserve stores water overflow from Lake Hancock
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