CRESTVIEW — Officials have taken steps to discourage hunters from trespassing at the city’s sewage plant, a practice that can land offenders in hot — albeit treated — water with federal regulations.
It seems an unlikely place for hunters to stalk their prey, but the Crestview Wastewater Treatment Plant includes 275 acres of rolling hills, woodlands and wetlands.
Most of that acreage is spray fields, on which treated waste water is misted and the hay harvested, and rapid infiltration basins, ponds that clean treated effluent through percolation.
That’s a perfect environment for deer, foxes, coyotes, ducks, turkeys, “and we even have a really cool hawk that’s taken up residence,” CH2MHill project manager Jayne Swift said.
FEDERAL PROTECTION
Swift, whose company manages the plant that contracts with the city, said hunters occasionally cut the fence surrounding the property or break through the gate.
“They get in there because they know there are animals in there,” Swift said. “We want to get the word out that this is not a place that people can hunt. It’s a protected place, and they’re trespassing.”
Trespassers get in trouble not just from violating “no trespassing” signs, but because the plant falls under Department of Homeland Security regulations.
“It’s a nice little sanctuary but there’s no hunting allowed here,” Swift said. “People need to realize if they cross that fence line, they’re under federal regulations. It’s a federal offense.”
DETERRANTS
Sometime Jan. 10, trespassers removed an access gate from its hinges in an attempt to enter the facility, Swift said.
Crestview Public Works Director Wayne Steele said hunters have not been as prevalent lately as in past years.
“We’ve had problems before, a few years ago, but we haven’t had many problems last year or this year,” he said.
Still, Swift said, CH2MHill is taking steps to ward off potential problems with hunters in 2016.
“One of the things we’re considering doing is put up game cameras,” she said.
“We're definitely going to do something because I get tired of fixing the fence.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview officials warn: no hunting at sewage plant