Corkscrew

The swamp was drier than I expected when I went on my trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary yesterday.  There were some areas that we wet and others that the ground was soft but for the most part it was much dryer than I expected.  The most outstanding thing I remember is the sounds.  The birds, they were everywhere but you could not see them.  And it seemed when I did see them they were equally curious about me but kept a far enough distance from me that I could not capture one of them on camera.  Finally, was surprised at the number of visitors.  There were people that had huge cameras, one that just stood there with his camera on a tripod, I think he saw something at one time and was waiting for it to come around so that he could capture it on camera.

The swamp provided a habitat for snakes (one of my pictures was of holes in the ground, I assumed that it was snakes, but I suppose it could have been rats or another type of burrowing animal), insects ( I saw many butterflies, more there than during the FGCU trip, which makes me think that the wetland is more to their liking), birds (like I said it was incredible, the number of different bird sounds, just incredible), gators (although I didn't see one, they may be more present during rainy season), and a variety of different species of plants and trees.  The forest was another awesome part of the walk, first because I wasn't aware that forest was so dense in the wetlands, but also the sheer age of them!  The boardwalk had white spots all over it in the forest, I didn't know if that was bird droppings or if there was some kind of mold or something from the wetlands.  Either way it added to the aura of the forest.

The services that the ecosystem provided are so important to life, the maintenance of fresh water and decomposition of waste that helped to preserve the habitat.  There was also some sort of pollination happening, I kept seeing these white fuzzy things, like the white things that come from dead dandelions when a child blows them off the stem, only these were bigger and floated around in the air.  The ecosystem also provided services to humans in recreational, spiritual, and educational levels.

Conservation is the protection and preservation of natural resources, stewardship is the responsibility of overseeing the protection and preservation of those natural resources.  Non-profit organizations play a role in this because they are inexpensive management, can get the community involved, can incorporate government assistance as needed, and can facilitate training and get out information in a more effective manner.

People that are interested in the preservation of nature can make a difference by raising awareness, recruiting more followers, and aggressively performing preservation activity.  Civic engagement is important because everyone makes a difference but collectively people have more impact.    The government's impact would be support through protection from developers, funding opportunities for restoration of the wetlands, and legislation upholding the preservation of our natural resource and the endangered species therein.

The motivation to preserve Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is the preservation of natural habitat.  It is untouched and wild.  To bulldoze the sanctuary would be destroying the habitat of the wildlife and flora, and one which we, humans, count on for recreational and educational self-promotion.