SPRING HILL — Pasco County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources department recently announced the closures, demolition and reconstruction of a 1,500-foot wooden boardwalk, which should come at some point in 2027.
At the Upper Pithlachascotee River Preserve, located at 17135 Minneola Drive in Spring Hill, the elevated wooden pathway extending through the floodplain and leading to an ancient bald cypress tree over 200 years old, is now closed to the public, even with some of the lush vegetation overgrowing the path to it. The boardwalk connects to roughly 2 miles of easy, packed-earth and shell nature trails including the scrub loop and Ryals Branch.
The preserve, along with a small nature center, playground, some open air field and hiking trails, sits on a 129-acre area of protected land and provides habitat for deer, wild turkey, gopher tortoises, barred owl, red-shouldered hawks, the Florida mouse, gopher frogs, little blue herons and snowy egrets.
According to Pasco County records, it was the first property purchased through Pasco County’s ELAMP program with funding from the Penny for Pasco sales tax.