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Lafayette Heritage Trail Park

Horseback riders enjoying the park The Lafayette Heritage Trail Park offers a playground, covered picnic tables, restroom facilities, and scenic views of lovely Piney Z Lake. The multi-use trails run from Tom Brown Park (with a connection to the future Goose Pond Bicycle Trail) along and across Lake Lafayette to Pedrick Road and the Swift Creek Middle School.

Piney Z Lake is a Fish Management Area, the rules of which are defined in the Florida Statutes. A fishing license is required for residents from 16 to 64 years of age, and for non-residents 16 or more years of age, to fish by any method, including cane poles. Daily bag limits and methods of taking freshwater fish are clearly posted:

  • All black bass must be released immediately.
  • Panfish daily bag limit: 20
  • Swimming, possession of firearms, and possession of alcoholic beverages are prohibited.
  • Watercraft shall be allowed only as authorized by the City of Tallahassee.

Lafayette Heritage Trail Park Entrance SignPark hours are from sunrise to sunset. The City asks that you contact TPD at 891-4200 if you notice anyone in the park after dark or any other suspicious behavior. The Parks and Recreation Department is dedicated to working with Piney-Z to make the Lafayette Heritage Trail Park a safe and beautiful community resource.

The Lafayette Heritage Trail Park is not part of the Piney-Z amenities maintained by the CDD. Anyone interested in holding a private event at the park should contact Tallahassee Parks and Recreation at 891-FUNN (3866) to obtain a Park Permit and instructions. This should be done at least two weeks prior to the event. No alcohol or ground fires permitted.

For more information and a map of the entire project, visit the The Tallahassee-Leon County Greenways Program website

Fishing Licenses can be obtained from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website or by calling 1-888-FISH FLORIDA.

City Parks and Recreation Department Contacts

  • Chuck Goodheart, Park and Trails Management Specialist: 933-6631 or 510-5675
  • Larry Schenk, Parks Division Office and Parks Superintendent: 891-5340
  • Main Office, Tallahassee Parks and Recreation: 891-3866
  • Chris Lisenby, Tom Brown Park Crew Foreman: 509-3188

Piney Z Lake Restoration

In April 2004, we had a wonderful presentation at the Lodge on the Lafayette Heritage Trail Park and the joint city-state restoration project of Lake Piney Z Lake. Below is an overview of the lake restoration project by fishery biologist Michael Hill of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Following the purchase of the Lake Lafayette Heritage property by the City of Tallahassee (COT), the Parks and Recreation Department enlisted the help of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (currently the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) to investigate the resource and develop a management plan to provide a quality urban fishery. A field survey revealed that the lake was suffering from stabilized water level conditions which resulted in decreased sportfish reproduction, depressed oxygen levels, heavy infestation of aquatic plants (including hyacinths) and a thick accumulation of organic material (muck) on the lake bottom.

Using funds from the sale of fresh water fishing licenses, the GFC implemented an extreme drawdown in the fall of 1996. By the spring of 1997, 200 acres (100%) of the lake bottom was exposed to the air to allow for drying and compaction. This lake bottom had not been exposed to the air for almost 50 years. The muck layer was measured to be between 2 and 4 feet thick lakewide. Working with bulldozers and long reach track hoes on the lake bottom, muck was scraped down to the original lake bottom. Instead of paying for expensive material transport, the decision was made to provide for 6 earthen fishing fingers and 5 wildlife islands as an in-lake disposal option. Approximately 190,000 cubic yards of muck was scraped at a cost of about $180,000.

Prior to the drought of 1999 and 2000, the FWC stocked the slowly filling lake with about 20,000 largemouth bass, 100,000 bluegill and redear sunfish and 2,000 channel catfish. Forage species such as golden shiners and fathead minnows were also introduced. By the summer of 2002, Piney Z Lake finally filled to full pool. Subsequent fisheries surveys revealed that the largemouth bass were growing exceptionally well and the bream population was developing into a quality fishery. Other amenities implemented during the restoration was installation of gate valves on the West Levee for future drawdowns; construction of a fishing pier and 3 osprey platforms; and forming a stormwater berm to catch local runoff from the subdivision. Additional funding was provided by the COT for an aquatic plant harvester and the Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Invasive Plants contributed funds for aquatic plant control.

Keeping It Beautiful

Contributed by David Marshall, Agriculture/Natural Resources Program Leader, University of Florida IFAS Extension in Leon County

Fertilizer can be a good thing, because it contains nutrients that plants need to grow; but excess fertilizer can be a bad thing when it gets into our lakes. Many fertilizers supply more phosphorus than we need. Many of our Florida soils already have adequate phosphorus available to plants. If we apply excess phosphorus, it can run off into our stormwater and on into our lakes. There it stimulates excessive algae and plant growth and can result in fish kills. So the excess fertilizer we apply in our yards becomes a water-pollution problem.

Unless you have had a soil test that tells you that you need to add phosphorus, a 15-0-15 fertilizer is a good general-purpose landscape fertilizer to use. It has no phosphorus. And if you select a 15-0-15 fertilizer with 7.5% slow-release nitrogen, you reduce the amount of nitrogen that can leach into groundwater or run into lakes, too. The slow-release characteristic will also lengthen the amount of time that the plant will be able to utilize the nitrogen from the fertilizer.

Finally, don't apply too much fertilizer. Six pounds of the 15-0-15 fertilizer (with slow-release nitrogen) per 1,000 square feet is the proper rate. Cut that rate in half if there is less slow-release nitrogen in the fertilizer.