Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center

Ruskin, FL

www.campbayou.org

Mission:  To preserve a sample of Florida’s original habitats,

in the Little Manatee River Watershed, and to use this Center

for the purpose of promoting appreciation and understanding

of our natural resources and of our local culture and history.

Camp Bayou is environmentally sensitive and will remain so as an

ELAPP property. The site is also the location of a now abandoned

70 slip recreation vehicle/campground with limited wastewater,

water and electrical services. The condition of the property had

been degraded through the camp activities, in evidence from

years of trash, still routinely found and carted away by

volunteers. More importantly, the site is home to extremely

significant ecosystems which exist within the park. These

include pine/palmetto scrub uplands, live oak hammock and

oligohaline wetlands that serve as nurseries for a wide range of

critters. A sizable population of gopher tortoises makes their

home in the scrub, while manatees are often seen frolicking in

the river. The pristine and comparatively undisturbed character

of the Little Manatee is made more significant by its location

directly in the heart of one of the largest, subtropical, urban

communities in America -- Tampa Bay. It is the third largest

river in Hillsborough County and has a dominating influence on

the surrounding region, including the intertidal wetlands of the

Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve. It has been designated as an

Outstanding Florida Waterway.

Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation, Resource Management

Unit, is responsible for the ecological management of Camp Bayou

which consists of prescribed burning, non-native invasive plant

control and maintenance. Overnight security is provided by

on-site county personnel. Future resource management goals

include optimizing the habitat conditions for listed species.

The RCDF has taken on the project of creating a unique outdoor

learning center for the benefit of Ruskin and all of the Tampa

Bay region….. and beyond!