The Crying Indian

Preaching to the choir is a term that I hate to hear because it becomes many people's excuse to do nothing. I've heard it a lot in the environmental realm, but I choose to ignore it. If I'm preaching to the choir, then the choir has to sing louder because it seems like no one is listening. Think I'll change the tempo too, and put some fire under it to get people to do some moving and shaking.

It's time to stand our ground and get angry about the neglect of Florida's springs, rivers and natural resources. Tourism generates billions of dollars annually because of the natural beauty of the beaches and waterways that we all love, but it's more than that. Nature here is unique and we need to stop disrespecting it by allowing continued dumping of cancer-causing wastewater into the rivers; we need to preserve the spring heads by better regulating consumptive water use permits; and we need to protect our uplands and wetlands subject to mitigation banking by allowing ONLY 'like for like' wetland swaps for FDOT purposes, as originally intended. If the Indian from the memorable 70's commercial were paddling his canoe down Rice Creek, he'd be crying, and then probably die from some type of horrific form of cancer from exposure to dioxin. The crying Indian paddling down a river polluted with trash left a lasting impression on me as a child and I never forgot the message. Be a good steward of the environment and don't pollute. But after writing story after story about Florida's environment and natural areas, that's how I feel, like the crying Indian - and I know I'm not alone. My choir is every environmentalist in Florida, and we're all singing the blues.

Nature reminds us that we are not alone.

Maybe some people are so far removed from nature that they forget how grounded it can make you feel, or how minute, especially when an 8 foot wave is towering over you, ready to roll you to the bottom of the sea in an undertow, simply to remind you how awesome nature really is and how insignificant we can be in comparison. Yet, nature still tolerates us - to a point.

We are also reminded that nature is so much bigger than us, 

and she can be a good girl gone bad when she wants to be.

(Ch. 5/Fox 29 Weather-WPB, FL)

Born and raised on the Jersey shore, it was awful to see the destruction of my hometown beach of Sea Bright, and even worse to watch my friends and neighbors suffer without the basic necessities that many take for granted. 

Living in a coastal town in Florida, we've experienced quite a few hurricanes, but nothing ever prepares you emotionally for the days and weeks of clean up after the storm. Amazingly, it is through times like these that some of the most incredible things happen. We grow, we learn to take care of each other better, we love more, and criticize less. We become better, more human. We are stripped out of our normal routine and forced to face acts of nature, whether we want to or not. 

Nature humbles us and forces us to pay attention.
It reminds us of what is truly important.

We learn to appreciate people again, and not stuff. It teaches us to take a look at the bigger picture and our environment around us, because it is so much bigger than us. We are not alone and we need to remember that. We need to take care of each other, and our environment.

It's time to pick up the tempo, start banging the drums, and make some noise. 

Can't we all just get along?

Animals communicate directly and do not leave anything for the imagination like humans, that's why I love nature. No second guessing. While maintaining a wetland, I stepped into this crab's territory, and he let me know it.  As far as he was concerned, I didn't belong. He gave me 'the claw', which I totally understood, and left. His boundaries were clearly outlined. I respected that.

Sometime boundaries are easily defined, and other times we move and redefine the lines to adapt to the environment. 

Often times we don't realize just how interdependent our environment is, or how one small disruption in the system can affect everybody.

The most successful systems have learned to adapt as the environment changes.

Using aquatic plants to improve water quality benefits the environment because it uses existing natural resources and provides habitat to numerous species, benefiting all. Nature is perfect like that.

Whether flying the coop, or outstanding in the field, animals have learned how to just 'be'.

A simple concept that we should practice more often to get some peace. 

It seems to work for the animals and it reminds me that watching nature over the years has taught me a lot about life.

It's important to take the time to just 'be' (the bee). 

Be respectful of others, but don't take any crap and stand your ground (the crab). 

If anything gets to be too much, go above and look at the big picture (the hawk).

Be clever and resourceful (the tortoise).

Leave the earth a better place because you were here (Fleurs di lis).

When will the Everglades Restoration be done? NEVER!

A very simple question was asked lately of an authority
on Everglades Restoration. 

When will the Everglades restoration be done? 

The answer was simple...never. 

The Everglades will never, ever look the way it did decades ago because it simply can't happen. If we all moved out of the state of Florida, there's a chance that it may revert back to what it used to be, but as long as we're all living here, it will never be what it used to be. It simply can't.

 The Everglades have adapted to the changes we forced it to make.  It is now our responsibility to restore what we can and adapt the best way we know how to rehabilitate the River of Grass, and the habitat of many of nature's endangered species.
Adaptive management and sustainability- words to live by.

The Ties That Bind

The love of nature begins within the family. 

Our children learn and understand what we teach them. 

(Kyle 5, Alex 3)
My sons, Kyle and Alex, years ago with their father, Randy, looking at what he caught in a dip net. It didn't really matter what we did together outside, the kids were happy to be with us. We just happen to like nature, and we shared that love with our children.

(Kyle- 7)

My son, Kyle, after he planted his first few bulrush- helping out the family environmental restoration business, EnvironMend. He was so proud of himself that I had to capture the moment. Because of the nature in our business, mainly snakes and alligators, the kids were only allowed to help with newly constructed lakes. 

(Alex, age 5, and Kyle, age 7, at Mt. Arenal, Costa Rica)

The funniest thing is years later, when he attended the Environmental Research and Field Academy (JERFSA) in high school, one of Kyle's professors said that he didn't seem enthusiastic on class trips because he didn't participate enough in the wetland plantings. Kyle explained to me later that it was because the other kids needed to know what it was like, he learned a long time ago how awesome nature was. 

(Kyle, 21)
His love of nature took him to the beach where he has been an avid surfer his whole life.

Kyle is now studying to become an engineer with a solid environmental background. He learned about stress fractures with his surfboard when he 'shot a tube' and it closed down on him, breaking his surfboard into pieces. Yes, respect the ocean, it harnesses extreme energy. 

(Alex, 19)

My youngest son, Alex, just finished his first year of college on the Dean's list. Although he's an excellent musician, he's not sure exactly what he wants to major in yet, but he excels in science and journalism. Both Kyle and Alex help me with EnvironMend when they're not attending school.

(Water lilies)

Throughout the years, my kids basically grew up with plants and our love of environmental restoration. One of the places that holds very special memories for us as a family is the Holman Ranch, located just west of Vero, FL. The Holman Ranch had to be one of the very best places to visit for work. We collected plants there for over a decade, until the place was sold. Used as a certified pick site for environmental restoration, we visited often and developed a wonderful friendship with the family. Peter's crazy horses followed us everywhere, while the cows could care less.

(Crinum lilies)

The vast ranch, used for agriculture (mainly cattle) was dotted with cypress heads, occasional ponds for water for livestock, fields of Blue Flag Iris, tall pines, and within close proximity to Blue Cypress Lake. The first and last time I ever saw a Sherman's Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger shermani) in its habitat was on the Holman Ranch. Listed for a long time as endangered, it was great to see the Sherman Fox Squirrel living large at the Holman.

(Courtesy of Google.com)

One of my favorite wetland/transitional plants to use, Blue Flag Iris, produces a beautiful periwinkle blue flower annually- usually around March. Fields of Blue Flag Iris in full bloom covered the land on both sides of the road leading up to the ranch in the Spring, a very warm welcome.

The Holman Ranch was a special place and I have great memories of my kids running and playing where some of the greatest baseball players relaxed- and played too. The lodge on the Holman Ranch was used by the LA Dodgers during spring training as a retreat during the 1960's-1980's.

(Courtesy of Google.com)

 The lodge was a simple old-style Florida house, lifted up off the ground with a tall roof and large mounted ceiling fans for circulating the warm, humid air. The great room, completely paneled in pecky cypress, had heads of deer mounted all around;  a large fireplace with a huge cypress mantel took up a whole wall at the far end of the room. The largest deer bust with the most points was mounted over the mantel, staring glassy-eyed across the room. A long solid wood table with matching benches on each side ran the length of the room. Pictures of many of the players in their Dodger's uniform were mounted on the walls throughout the room and down into a long hallway that led to the bedrooms. Each picture was carefully labeled, year after year. Time stood still.

(Courtesy of Google.com)

Small dormitory-like bedrooms dotted both sides of the hallway. The rooms were simple, with custom made wooden bunk beds and a matching dresser, the pecky cypress still looked new and smelled fairly fresh.  Autographed mini baseball bats were mounted in each room and framed photographs of the different players that were members of the Dodger's club throughout the years were neatly mounted throughout the rooms. All young and bright-eyed with hopes and dreams of a great career. The Holman Ranch helped make a lot of dreams come true, including mine.

(Blue Cypress Lake)

Nature has so much to teach us. Infusing nature in life keeps a necessary balance. 

In life, sometimes we are the student, and sometimes we are the teacher- but no matter what, 

we are our children's first teacher. 

In the end, we conserve what we love.

We love what we understand.

We understand what we are taught.

                                                 -Baba Dioum

Babcock ~The Working Ranch

Beauty in nature appears in so many different ways. The Babcock Ranch is one of those places that will capture your heart if your are a nature lover and cherish the beauty of old Florida the way it used to be. By that I mean at a slower pace- a cowboy's pace. The Babcock is one of the oldest ranches in Florida and one of the few working ranches left in the state.

The Babcock Ranch is close to 92,000 acres and spreads into 2 counties (Charlotte and Lee) near Ft. Myers, FL. It was originally named for Edward Vose Babcock, a lumber baron and mayor of Pittsburgh (1918-1922), who purchased the land in 1914. The land's primary use was for logging and agriculture. The land continues to generate funds through logging and agriculture; and those funds are now used to support the operation and maintenance of the Babcock Ranch Preserve.

The Babcock Ranch is very unique in many ways. It provides habitat to 13 wildlife species that are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern: crested carcara, gopher tortoise, red-cockaded woodpecker, eastern indigo snake, Osceola (a subspecies) wild turkey, Florida burrowing owl, the Florida Panther and Florida Black Bear.

There are specimen trees that date back hundreds of years, but most importantly, the Babcock Ranch is one of the largest preservation purchases in the state's history. In a very unique real estate deal, the Babcock family sold the ranch to the state in 2006, provided that the state preserves the majority of the land, ranching operations were continued to support the preserve, and employment of the ranch staff remain under state ownership.

The Babcock Ranch Preserve Act enacted by the Florida legislature in 2006 made it the first Florida preserve responsible for generating its own funding under a public private management partnership that includes Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Forestry.

According to Time magazine, the purchase of the Babcock Ranch by the state was the 'largest preservation buy in Florida history'. The hope of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was that the state ownership 'would preserve the single largest tract of contiguous land in the state's history'. Approximately 80% of Babcock Ranch's total land will remain undeveloped.

The Babcock Ranch Preserve is self-funding, with all operations supported by revenue from the publicly owned working ranch, the first and only of its type in Florida.

Traveling through the Babcock Ranch Preserve is like going back in time to a place where you want to drive slow down the narrow country roads, roll your windows down, sip a sweet tea, and take it all in.

The Governor's Camp at the Babcock is tucked away and hidden down a long dirt road. A Live Oak was left in place inside the screened in porch and the rest of the house was built around it. The simple house provides the basics, as well as an outdoor cleaning station for hunters. One of Florida's beloved Governors, 'Walking Lawton' Chiles was said to have been a regular visitor at the camp.

The Babcock Preserve was an important purchase for land preservation for many reasons, but one of the most important was that it was the final section needed to establish an environmental corridor that stretches from Lake Okeechobee in the center of Florida, all of the way to the Charlotte Harbor Estuary on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Besides providing habitat for 13 protected and endangered species of animals, there are also large populations of alligator, wild pig, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and northern bobwhite living on the ranch.

The land is also used as a nature reserve with accommodations for recreation, including hunting, camping and hiking.

The Babcock Preserve is a mosaic of pinelands, including both wet and mesic pine flatwoods, and dry prairie ecosystems interspersed with cypress domes and cypress swamps.

The Preserve's wetlands contribute to aquifer and recharge for southwest Florida and help maintain the health of the western Everglades ecosystem, particularly the Caloosahatchee River and Charlotte Harbor estuary.

It is one of my favorite places to visit and I feel privileged to have worked there in 2007, assisting my husband Randy with Florida Natural Audit and Inventory (FNAI), a non-profit organization responsible for the flora and fauna studies that catalog and inventory all plants and animals on the Babcock Ranch Preserve.

Florida...Beauty in Nature

Grassy Waters Preserve is a 20-square mile wetland preserve that is also the water catchment area for the drinking water for the City of West Palm Beach, FL, and the surrounding communities. The preserve offers passive recreation for canoeing, kayaking, hands-on environmental education programs for all ages, a place for on-going wetlands research, and a boardwalk that winds throughout natural Cypress heads, tall tree canopies, and Oak hammocks that lead to this open water area.

Mats of wetland plants naturally absorb pollutants out of the water, filtering the drinking water.

Everybody welcome! Curbside appeal greets you at the entrance of the park. This perfect spot is located on the front porch of the main Learning Center. The wrap around porch offers comfortable rocking chairs for people of all ages to relax and just observe nature in the wetlands.

Sex and the City, Cinderella, Wizard of Oz, Wicked, it doesn't matter.... it's always about the shoes! In this case, although they aren't the most fashionable, the best shoes for the wetlands are tall rubber boots.
Of course, my boots, well worn from all of the use in the wetlands, are not like not anyone else's, even when I'm in a swamp, I still have to make some kind of fashion statement.
These represent Flower Power:)

A Red-Shouldered Hawk in flight across the canopy searching for its mate.

The hawk is one of the many birds that call Grassy Waters Preserve home, but perhaps the most protected bird in the preserve is the endangered Snail Kite. There are only 1,300 Snail Kite left in the world, and many of them inhabit Grassy Waters Preserve.

(photo courtesy of googleimages.com)


The large abundance of Apple Snails, the only food the Snail Kite eats, live in the wetland grasses, providing both food and habitat for this endangered species.

Sadly, with the approval of the extension of State Road 7 by the Federal Highway Authority and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) adjacent to the border of the preserve, the habitat of the endangered species will be threatened, a direct violation of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, Section 7 Consultation. The City of West Palm Beach tried to fight this 'road improvement' because it threatens the habitat of the Snail Kite, and because trucks will traverse the roadway. The sole water control structure adjacent to Grassy Waters Preserve is designed so that the flow of the watershed goes directly into the wetland, and the drinking water supply. What happens when an oil or gas truck has an accident and it leaks into the drinking water? What happens to the wetlands? What happens to the Snail Kite? Those were the questions asked by the City to the State. To date, the Federal Highway Agency and the FDOT won, and the roadway is slated be built- even though it violates the very federal law that was supposed to protect. The City vowed to fight to the end to protect the habitat of the Snail Kite and the pristine wetlands of Grassy Waters Preserve.

The boardwalk winds throughout the park, showcasing the different types of emergent wetlands, forested islands, and the flora and fauna of the environmental habitats.

Planted several years ago by my company, EnvironMend, the 11-acre wetland on the North side of Grassy Waters Preserve offers meandering canoe trails with tree islands of Cypress, Pond Apple, Laurel Oak, Firebush and Cocoplum.

Acres of Lilies, Spikerush and Sawgrass offer foraging for several species of animals. Large patches of lilies are one of the alligators' favorite places to hang out.

Grassy Waters is one of those places where you can totally immerse yourself in an activity, or you can choose to just be. This rocking chair offers the perfect view of the wetlands. The stairs that lead down to the wetlands allow for an open classroom atmosphere and easy access to the water for hands-on educational programs like: water sampling, seining, and wetland research.

Pickerelweed is one of the many aquatic plants that provide numerous benefits to the environment. It has a great absorption uptake rate for pollutants in the water, making it a natural water filter. The little purple blooms and seeds are a favorite food of water fowl, and the fleshy stem provides food for birds and reptiles. The plant grows concentrically, naturally spreading in a circular manner throughout the wetlands.

Tiki huts are located throughout the park, offering a variety of the natural wetland areas, and comfortable places to just relax and be.

Taking a break under one of the Tiki huts after checking out the wetlands and visiting the areas that EnvironMend created during 2001-02, it reminds me that even through tough economic times, changes in wetland rules, the creation of mitigation banking in lieu of restoration, and on-going challenges with protecting Endangered Species and their habitat, I'd do it all over again. If anything, throughout the past few years I've come to understand that we are a lot like many species in the environment when faced with challenges beyond our control. Some move to the same environment, but in a different location; some adapt to the conditions and demands of the existing environment by changing, and some cease to exist. Natural selection, or survival of the most adaptable?

Blue Flag Iris grow well at the edge of wetlands and in areas that sit low like gulleys, culverts, swales, bogs, and low lying cow fields. Their long spear-like leaves have the appearance of a tall wide grass, but every year in the Spring, usually in March, the Blue Flag Iris blooms in all its glory.

Fragrant Water Lilies, Canna Lilies, Spikerush and Spadderdock fill the wetland.

Remote Learning Center in the middle of the emergent wetland.

A vast wetland providing environmental habitat for numerous species-including Protected and Endangered, a fully sustainable wetland, and an immense water catchment area cleaning drinking water for human consumption for hundreds of thousands of people.

Grassy Waters Preserve and EnvironMend...in Sync with Nature.