Appreciating Florida's Natural World

Florida Master Naturalist Class in a hardwood swamp off of The St.Johns River

Understanding our modern natural world and that of the past goes hand in hand.   When taking the public on kayak tours, we need to be able to answer such questions as: What plants, fish and animals were readily available to the native peoples?  What kinds of natural materials would they have looked for as they traveled down the same creek as we are now?  How would these materials have been used?

In a quest to better answer these questions, I and my co-worker, Emily Jane, recently took a series of classes from The Florida Master Naturalist Program.  This is an adult education program developed by the University of Florida "to promote awareness, understanding, and respect of Florida's natural world among Florida's citizens and visitors."  They offer three core modules: Coastal Systems, Freshwater Systems, and Upland Systems.   Since we were interested in increasing knowledge for our kayak trips, we took the freshwater systems module which focuses on herbaceous wetlands (marshes), forested wetland (swamps), and permanent wetlands (rivers, lakes and springs).   These freshwater areas were prime real estate for native peoples!

The module was a combination of classroom work and field trips. (You can probably guess which was our favorite part!)     We went to the GTM Research Reserve to learn about their woods and marshes.

Identifying plants at the edge of a wetland in GTM Research Reserve

We identified plants, looked for animals and communed with nature on  Trout Creek.

Florida Master Naturalist Class kayaking on Trout Creek

And we toured Saturiwa Conservation Area (which could be its own blog and more!) Saturiwa is a 94-acre family homestead owned by Mike Adams.  Mike has worked diligently for 19 years to restore this long leaf pine forest back to its original state after hundreds of years of exploitation.
 

Mike describing his pond which is an ecotone (transitional area) between uplands and wetlands.

Mike Adams explaining how to differentiate between the long leaf and slash pine trees

Adams work is paying off with a healthy ecosystem that feeds the St. Johns River.  His success is visible in the many native animals and plants that have returned to make Saturiwa home, including the rare carniverous pitcher plant!

The elusive hooded pitcher plant in the wild!

The class succeeded in its goal of increasing our understanding of Florida's natural world and also allowed us to make connections with other like-minded people.  But probably the best part of all was that ....

we got a badge!

Text and Photos by FPAN Staff, Robbie Boggs