Deputy Troy Savetz doesn’t mind the smell wafting from the livestock next to his office at the outskirts of the Brooker Creek Preserve. At home he has two cows, a horse, three pigs, an assortment of cats, and a 150 pound tortoise so he’s a big fan of animals, both domestic and wild. As a member of the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) he is charged with protecting animals, plants, and ecosystems in all the preserved acreage in the county.
On this day Savetz is working with Deputy Brandon Smith in the largest natural area in the county, some 8,700 acres of wooded wetlands and higher sandy pine flatwoods. Although Brooker Creek has a section of public hiking trails as well as equestrian-only trails, it isn’t a park. The land and creatures are the priority, not humans. As such, a large part of Deputy Savetz’ job involves keeping people out of places they don’t belong.
Members of this unit have a lot of tools at their disposal and they use them as efficiently as possible to enforce the rules and regulations set in place to protect the delicate ecosystems in the preserve lands. The first order of business today is to set up a new trail camera at the entrance to an equestrian trail. There’s a telescoping ladder in the back of his side-by-side, and Deputy Savetz quickly hops the fence and climbs the ladder to affix a camouflaged camera fifteen feet up in a pine tree where it has a bird’s eye view of the clearing below. “It’s motion activated,” he said. “We get an alert on our phones if any of the cameras spot anyone.”
As if on cue he receives an alert from another trail camera: there’s a couple walking a dog on a wooded trail where no dogs are allowed. The photo shows them strolling past two signs that clearly say dogs are prohibited. When he finds them, Deputy Savetz patiently explains that this is a nature preserve, not a park, and even the best behaved dog can disturb nesting birds, kill a protected Eastern indigo snake, or harass deer. There are plenty of other areas for dogs to have a good time, he tells them. This is a place set aside for wildlife. They get off with a warning today, but if they come back with their dog they’ll be officially trespassed and get a $118 fine.
Next Deputy Savetz and Deputy Smith check the fence lines where houses border the preserve. Hunting is legal in Pinellas County, subject to local ordinances, and this is the last week of deer season. Hunting inside the preserve not legal, of course, but there are some big bucks in the preserve and if hunters can’t go in they hope to lure deer over the fence with feeding stations. “This section was cut,” Deputy Savetz said, pointing out a place where he recently repaired the four foot high wire fence. “But this fence is a joke to a deer. They can jump six feet with no problem.”
He whistles softly as he approaches a blind to let the hunter know he’s there, but the blind is empty today. “The problem is when they shoot a deer on their own property, but the deer is only wounded. If the deer runs into the preserve and they follow it, they could be charged with armed trespassing. They need to call one of us to accompany them and track the wounded deer.”
Just as with a deputy on the road, having a visible presence is a big deterrence to crime. “They know I’m here,” Deputy Savetz said, “and they know I know about their feeding stations and blinds. I make sure everyone is aware that I’m patrolling the preserve.”
They ride along rutted trails that crisscross the preserve. The lowlands have dried up a lot since the height of the rainy season, but they drive through plenty of water that swamps the vehicle’s interior. The slight change in elevation is easy to see – suddenly the ground becomes dry and sandy, and the vegetation changes too, with more pines and palmettos. ATVs or a side-by-side can get them where they need to go in a hurry, but Deputy Savetz gets out on foot as much as possible. “That’s the only way to really see what’s out here.” He points out colorful milkweed flowers growing in a sunny clearing, the only plant endangered monarch butterfly caterpillars will eat. The preserve is also home to Pinellas County’s only endangered plant, the Florida golden aster. Deputy Savetz shows the imprint of coyote tracks in the sand, and talks about the other wildlife he’s seen out here: bobcats, rattlesnakes, feral pigs. He checks out a pond that’s home to a huge gator and climbs the high dirt mound of a nest that the big female uses year after year to rear her clutch of babies. It’s fairly safe now – the reptiles are inactive from the chill, and mating season doesn’t begin until May, with eggs laid over the summer.
In the afternoon Deputy Savetz gets an alert from the trail camera he set up that morning. It’s a commercial animal trapper, the sign on the side of its truck clearly visible. He might be lost, or looking for a quiet place to do paperwork… but it is more likely that he’s dumping a raccoon or opossum he trapped for a customer. Releasing an animal, whether wild or domestic, in preserve lands is against the law. This time deputies can’t get there before the truck leaves and since the photo doesn’t show what they were actually doing there are no charges. But the company is on Deputy Savetz’ radar now and next time they might not be so lucky.
Pinellas is the most densely populated county in the state but it is rich in parks and preserved land. There are nineteen different environmental land areas here, including preserves such as Weedon Island, Shell Key, and Mobbly Bayou, as well as assorted management areas. Over the next year Inside the Star will bring you more stories about the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit and the ecosystems they protect.
Protected areas are vital to Pinellas County – after all, our natural beauty and wildlife are a big part of why people love to live here and why tourists visit. But protecting our wild places isn’t just about us, according to Deputy Savetz. “The word ‘preserve’ says it all. We’re keeping these wild places safe for future generations.”
