his week our adventure was to Wall Springs, in Palm Harbor. Originally this property was owned by private family, the Walls, who touted the springs to have healing powers and advertised as such a health spa up through the 1950s. The property was then used as a recreational/camping area. In the mid 1980s, the county acquired approximately 210 acres and transformed the area into a beautiful park. The weather was another beautiful, breezy day, approximately 83 degrees with 60% humidity, so there was a fair amount of cloud coverage as well. The spring pumps an incredible amount of water on a daily basis; approximately 4.2 million gallons a day. Some say when you look into the spring on a clear day you can observe the "lady in the spring." I didn't see her this day, maybe because it was too overcast at the time. Fun fact though.
The purpose of this trip was to observe the high pine grasslands, as well as estuary/spring/aquifer habitats, in addition to doing some water testing (salinity testing) at key places in the park. We tested salinity at three points in the park, the first being at the spring itself, where the pH was 7 and the salinity was 2-3ppt; the second area was further down where the spring empties into a "bayou", at which the pH was 6 and the salinity increased to 17 ppt. The last test was done closer to where the water meets the Gulf and the pH was 1, and salinity really increased to 24-25 ppt.
We saw moorhens, ducks, fish, horseshoe crabs, and egrets. The duckweed was interesting in that it looked like little packing Styrofoam balls covering the water past the springs. It was a beautiful contrast to the surrounding area.
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| "The Lady in the Water" |
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| Giant leather fern |
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| Duckweed abounds |
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