Week 1 Part B

Corkscrew Sanctuary

I was particularly excited about visiting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Since my major is Environmental Studies I have visited many of the parks and preserves in the area with my other classes like Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida and Introduction to Environmental Studies. Previous to this class I had never visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I was expecting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to be very similar to CREW, but to my surprise it was a much different kind of place to visit. When we first arrived at the sanctuary I did not know that wading birds we hunted and killed for their feathers to make women’s hats. I was surprised to learn that the population of people that lived in Florida was relatively small when the populations of these birds were significantly reduced. At that point in time not many people inhabited Florida but wading birds were in serious danger of becoming extinct. I know from pervious knowledge that wading birds are good indicators that an ecosystem is doing well. When Storm water Treatment Areas were created just south of the Everglades Agricultural Area, wading birds started to appear in the STA’s. This was a sign that life in this ecosystem was starting to bounce back and be able to support the food chain. One thing I did like about the sanctuary was the boardwalk it makes the trail much more enjoyable to walk. I personally don’t mind getting a little dirty. The cypress dome was very dry when we were there because we are at the end of our dry season right on the verge of wet season. If we would have visited the sanctuary in a couple weeks, I’m sure the dome would be wet and full of water making the boardwalk a great way to get around. You could be right in the middle of the cypress dome without walking in knee-deep water. The best part of this excursion to me was just taking in the aesthetic pleasure of the sanctuary, it was so beautiful. If you could just forget where you were for a minute and looked across the land it looked similar to a prehistoric landscape as if a dinosaur was about to come out from behind a huge cypress tree.