|
|
|
Brick City Adventure Park
1211 SE 22 Rd. - Ocala, FL
(352) 671-8560
Sunrise to Sunset
In 1991 Marion County made its first procurement
with the Pennies for Parks bond referendum and purchased
this site from St. Johns Lutheran Church and School and
subsequently named the property Brick City Park. Prior
to this purchase a local architect, Hal Reid, designed
and built his architecture office/studio at the bottom
of the quarry. Remnants of the office can be seen from
the rim boardwalk and on the quarry floor the old
footings for the building are still in place. Later in
the mid 90’s a local landscape architect, John Olters,
designed the existing boardwalk system around south and
west rim of the quarry and the quarry floor “dock”
structure providing a unique viewing area for visitors
to enjoy. Prior to these acquisitions and improvements
St. Johns used this site for many years as part of their
overall school campus yet it is the earlier history of
the property that has led to the current use and
interpretation.
In 2008 the Marion County Parks & Recreation
Department assumed management of the park and renamed it
Brick City Adventure Park (BCAP) in an effort to
revitalize the site. The Board of County Commissioners
authorized the Department to implement a three-year
Capital Improvement Plan to bring the park up to County
standards and invest in providing the citizens of Marion
County a new and inventive park. The Master Plan for
this park includes the integration of the both sides of
SE 22nd Road into one larger park with a wide array of
resource-based adventure recreation opportunities. Some
of these improvements include combining the existing
low-ropes course with a new high-ropes course around the
main quarry with zip lines and rope bridges, new sports
facilities, and renovations to the ¼ mile track.
BCAP has two forested limerock quarries, one small one on the south
side SE 22nd Road and a larger one along the east side
of the main park parcel. The south pit is home to White
Cliff Cave. Both quarries have a place in Marion
County’s long history of mineral resource mining, an
industry which is still in existence in various places
scattered throughout the western half of the county.
This area of Ocala is known for the shallow rock layers
and outcroppings close to the surface which allowed
mining to occur with little to no striping of the
surface soils. After visiting the quarry, go look at the
clearing just west of the football field and you will
discover limerock and field stone outcroppings at the
surface. Any excavation of these areas requires heavy
machinery and yields high volumes of limerock as
witnessed during the 2009 expansion of the Lake Weir
Avenue retention basin west of the park.
The main quarry is roughly 7 acres in size with some shear face
drops of up to 40’ in height.
It is not clear what caused the mining operation at BCAP to stop or
when that date was. Off the beaten trail on the east
side of the quarry (amongst the bamboo) remnants of the
quarry operation can be found. A sort of trough is still
in place as are steel structures and wheels. The
proximity to the railroad made for easy transportation
of the mined materials.
The site is mostly wooded with a mixed hardwood forest over-story
that includes Quercus virginiana (Live Oak), Magnolia
grandiflora (Southern Magnolia), Quercus laurifolia
(Laurel Oak) and Liquidambar straciflua (Sweet Gum) with
an under-story ranging from various vines to palmetto
and other vegetation typical of a mixed hardwood forest.
Exotic invasive plants identified include Dioscorea
bulbifera (Air Potato), Broussonetia papyrifera (Paper
Mulberry), and Melia azedarach (Chinaberry). At the
quarry site there are major infestations of Bambusa spp.
(Bamboo), Dioscorea bulbifera (Air Potato), Hedera helix
(English Ivy) and species of fern. One major management
challenge with these species is that they are actually
helping to stabilize some of the slopes of the quarry
and removal (either physical or chemical) will result in
more erosion. While erosion in a historic quarry may not
be a bad problem, it is the erosion and deterioration of
the rim and upper slopes that lead to a continual
retreat of the rim of the quarry and threatens public
safety. Numerous boardwalk repairs have been made to
help offset the erosion and to keep visitors away from
the rim however several footpaths and other cuts can be
seen while touring the quarry.
The rock outcropping areas have some unique native trees such as
Quercus michauxii (Swamp Chestnut Oak) and Fraxinus
pennsylvanica (Green Ash), trees that are not so
commonly found in urbanized areas.
Roadside and disturbed areas are being managed for invasive plant
removal which includes the same Dioscorea bulbifera (Air
Potato) and Broussonetia papyrifera (Paper Mulberry)
species found in the quarry as well as Reuellia
brittoniana (Mexican Petunia), Ardisia crenata (Coral
Ardisia) and Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) which
are common ornamental plants used in landscaping.
The geologic features at the park are “one of a kind.” This quarry
adds historical and cultural resources to the County and
Ocala inventory. Unfortunately, the quarry has
experienced its share of abuse over the years. Other
than the boardwalk issues as described above, the rim of
the quarry has several severely eroded areas. In lieu of
repairing the erosion, a recommendation is made to
educate the public about the erosion and route the
boardwalk over or around the erosion. A substantial area
(1/2 acre ±) of the quarry is infested with bamboo
creating a severe and ecologically sterile monoculture.
While this may look nice, the bamboo is threatening the
existing native habitats (or habitats created after
mining operations ceased). Eradication of the bamboo
sounds and looks expensive, yet the interpretive and
educational components generated while conducting
invasive removal will benefit residents. It is unknown
how the bamboo became established here although in most
cases of escaped ornamental plants, illegal dumping of
landscaping debris may be the culprit. It is also
believed, through photo interpretation, that the use of
the quarry as an office location may have contributed to
the establishment of the invasive plant species; an
unintended consequence of using exotic invasive plant
material as part of a landscape design.
There are not any unique species of wildlife found at BCAP other
than the typical urbanized and adaptable animals such as
raccoon, armadillo, reptiles and various bird species.
|
