Category: Environmental Education

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Identify the Plant and Give the Gift of Education

Can you identify the plant in this photo?

dog fennel

This plant, with its feathery foliage and towering stature, grows alongside the trail out at the CREW Marsh Trails. The trails get a lot of visitors this time of year, especially 3rd graders from Collier County as part of their field trips to CREW. Schoolchildren visit CREW with their teachers and spend half of their morning on a nature hike, guided by our very own Jessi Drummond, who leads them through stops that feature explanations about prescribed burns, how to identify poison ivy and why it’s an important food source for deer, and even, if they are lucky, investigating scat (most often Bobcat scat). The other half of their field trip is spent dip netting and identifying the different living organisms in their water samples. The kids then have lunch, and leave- hopefully- with a pretty clear idea of why the watershed is important, with discussions that focus on habitat, the water cycle, and how the marshlands help clean our water.

This plant that is pictured above is one of our sensory teaching tools. Jessi stops with the students, takes off a few leaves, and passes them around to the students. “What do you smell?” she asks as little hands eagerly shoot up in the air. The students share that they smell everything from licorice to mint, and Jessi then lets them know that she smells pickles when she smells this plant which is Dog Fennel. Tying in their senses- hearing, touch, smell, sight- is an important part of the field trip for so many kids who just don’t spend enough time outside.

Education is a very important part of our mission at CREW, and this year, we’ve got a fundraising campaign for the month of December. Our goal is to raise $25,000, and an end-of-year gift from you, our supporters and members, can make that happen. It’s part of #GivingTuesday, an effort by many non-profits nationwide to remind everyone that after Black Friday and Cyper Monday, sometimes it’s nice to find a way to give back and pay it forward. Your donation will help further our education efforts at CREW and support all of our educational programs, including our field trips.

You can find out more about our #GivingTuesday campaign on our website (https://crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/11/10/6996/). All donors receive a link to a special set of photographs of our CREW wildlife and donors at higher levels can receive special goodies, like tickets to our Concert and Silent Eco-Auction in March.

Next time you are out on the CREW Marsh Trails, watch out for the Dog Fennel, and take a moment to appreciate how this plant on the side of the trail has such a huge impact on 3rd graders in Collier County.

– Anne Reed

group of students on the CREW trails

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Wild File Q& A: Are African honey bees here? Are they dangerous?

Q: Are African honey bees here? Are they dangerous?

Af_bees
A colony of African honey bees chose to settle on a high tree limb along the Marsh Trail, where they do not pose a threat.

 

    A: According to Dr. Jamie Ellis, entomologist at the University of Florida, approximately eight out of ten wild honey bee colonies in Florida south of a line from Tampa to Daytona are the African honey bees, often referred to as the killer bees.

No honey bees are native to North or South America. European settlers brought a temperate European subspecies with them when they colonized the Western hemisphere, and that species is the common honey bee. The African honey bee was first imported to Brazil in the 1970s by a beekeeper hoping that using a tropical subspecies from Africa would provide more productive honey producers in tropical Brazil.

Escaped queens enabled the subspecies to spread across South America, Central America, and the southern and southwestern United States in just 30 years. It is the most biological successful invasive species.

There are no visual differences between the European and African honey bees. The African honey bee is slightly smaller and has slightly less venom, but the two are so close that the only way to distinguish them individually is to send a sample to the University of Florida’s
lab for dissection.

Both subspecies defend the territory around their colonies, which is the only time the bees will be aggressive as a group. But when a European colony is disturbed, on average only 10-15 bees attack. When an African colony is disturbed, 10,000-12,000 bees attack.

Bees in a colony can detect vibrations in the ground up to 50 feet away from the actual colony, and the African bees can detect vibrations from heavy machinery such as tractors up to 100 feet away. However, colonies located more than 30 feet above the ground do not
usually pose any sort of risk.

When bees attack, it is always to defend the colony. Dr. Ellis said that the ONLY defense is to run away as fast as possible. Once out of the bees’ territory, the attack stops. Several dozen stings will be painful but not lethal.

Running is the only defense, and most people can outrun a bee. Do not stay and swat! The colony is probably close and attacking bees are attracted to movement, so swatting just attracts more bees. Don’t hide in underbrush because the bees can fit in there too, and don’t jump in water. Bees may stay agitated for up to 30 minutes after the colony is
disturbed, which is a lot longer than people can hold their breath under water.

If an attack occurs, survival is the only concern. It takes 5-10 stings per pound of body weight before the attack may be lethal, so barring allergies to bee stings, a 100-pound person could survive up to 1,000 stings.

Seek shelter in a building or vehicle. Some stinging bees may make it in too, but the number will be limited and once they sting, they die. If you see someone else being attacked, yell at them to RUN. If they don’t, do not try a rescue yourself because then there would be two
victims instead of one. Call 911.

By: Dick Brewer

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Support CREW with your Year-End Gift: #GivingTuesday #give2CREW

#GivingTuesday – A Call to Action

CREW Giving Tuesday Banner

The CREW Trust is wrapping up its 25th anniversary year with a year-end giving campaign centered around #GivingTuesday, on December 2nd, 2014 and lasting through December 31st. Help us raise $25,000 by the end of the year for our Education Fund. Donate online today at https://crewtrus.mystagingwebsite.com/donate/.

Donors of $250 or more receive 4 general admission tickets to the CREW Concert and Silent Eco-Auction on March 21st, 2015.

Donors of $150 will be entered into a drawing for a variety of nature-related books.

All donors of $25 or more will receive a link to a special set of CREW Wildlife photos taken by some of the best photographers in the area.

Your gift is an investment in the future of southwest Florida – helping us to provide more high quality environmental education experiences for people of all ages – cradle to grave! Last year CREW hosted 176 trail-based programs, reaching over 4,600 people – pre-schoolers to retirees! In addition, we attended 31 area festivals and outreach events, sharing the CREW story with over 10,000 others. With over 42,000 annual visitors to the CREW trails, there is much more to be done.

Help us make a difference. Give big. Give small. But give today.

Thank You

 

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Mosquitoes of the Marsh: A CREW Strolling Science Seminar- December 5th

Join Neil Wilkinson – FGCU instructor and current President of the Florida Mosquito Control Association – for our second strolling science seminar of the season, Mosquitoes of the Marsh: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly – on Friday, December 5th, 9 AM to noon at the CREW Marsh Trails. Registration is required. Register on our Eventbrite page here.

This seminar is about one of Florida’s most famous living creatures – mosquitoes. Learn the life histories of fresh floodwater and natural container species of mosquitoes common to southwest Florida. You will be surprised by the fascinating diversity of species and behaviors. We will begin with samples of adult and larval mosquitoes and learn about their life histories then hike into the preserve to check  for adult mosquitoes caught in traps set the night before. We will use aquatic dip nets to survey for mosquito predators in ditches and depressions and be on the lookout for other amazing wildlife that the CREW marsh protects.

Enhanced knowledge at the species level is the basis for a greater understanding of the whole watershed system. We will have ample time to discuss issues related to controlling mosquitoes, types of control, and consider the impact of NextGen mosquito control products. Mosquito control, like watershed management is a classic environmental science case study. Humans impact the environment, often in harmful ways and as awareness and science progresses new options arise for ameliorating our actions.

Neil Wilkinson

Neil Wilkinson, is an instructor in the Department of Marine and Ecological Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University. Wilkinson is currently the president of the Florida Mosquito Control Association. He is an environmental educator with extensive classroom and field teaching experience at the elementary, middle, high, and university levels. He spends half of his time teaching a science outreach program to classes in the local school district. He acts as a liaison between FGCU, the Lee County School District’s Environmental Education Program, and the Lee County Mosquito Control District facilitating interagency cooperative and collaborative efforts among students, faculty, and staff.

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Wild File Q&A: If raccoons are out in the daytime, are they dangerous?

Q: If raccoons are out in the daytime, are they dangerous?

Racccon climbing a tree
Raccoons are destructive little creatures whose only saving grace is that they can be cute. They are wild animals and should be treated as such. Photo and caption by Dick Brewer.

 

A: Raccoons are often seen during the day, causing some people to ask, “I thought raccoons here only active at night and the only ones out in the day were rabid. Is it safe here?”

Raccoons are wild animals, and like all wild animals, from small snakes to big bears, they  should be regarded with caution and treated with respect. But they are not inherently dangerous. It’s all about predator avoidance.

Raccoons, like all animals, want to survive. They want to get food rather than to be food, so they must minimize the chances of being killed by predators while foraging.

In the more peopled areas, raccoons tend to be more active at night because that’s when they encounter fewer predators and obstacles to getting food such as people, cars, big dogs, and more.

In Florida’s wild areas, their most dangerous predators — alligators, panthers, and bobcats — are most active and most efficient at night. In those habitats, the best chance for a raccoon to survive is to hunt during the day.

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New: Self-Guided Tour for the Cypress Dome Trails

Today November 6th 2014 a group of wonderful Florida Gulf Coast Students (FGCU) helped CREW Trust staff install number markers for the first self-guided tour for the Cypress Dome Trails. The FGCU students are currently taking Colloquium with Brenda Thomas (our wildflower expert). Their Service-learning project was to work with CREW Staff to upgrade and clean-up our hiking trails. We had a beautiful morning walking the 6 mile trail completing the yellow, green, and white loop.

Students posing for a picture in the swamp

The Cypress Dome Trails opened in 2008 and since then we have added benches, bird houses, short cuts, and now a numbered self-guided tour. The self-guided tour brochure was also created by a group of FGCU students for their Civic-engagement class. You do not have to do the numbers in order, just have fun reading the descriptions and observe.

Students Putting up a Trail Sign

Now visitors can download the self-guided tour map and brochure by scanning a QR code at the trail head or visiting this link before you hit the trails. Enjoy and discover the Cypress Dome Trails at your own pace.

*Give it a try and tell us what you think by commenting below.

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CREW People in Spotlight: Conservation Educator of the Year & Ellen Peterson Award

jessi and deb with neil
Jessi Drummond, Neil Wilkinson and Deb Hanson at the 2014 Environmental Breakfast

Congratulations to Deb Hanson, CREW Land & Water Trust’s Environmental Education Specialist for being recognized as Conservation Educator of the Year and to Jessi Drummond, CREW’s intern, for receiving the Ellen Peterson Award presented on October 23rd by Audubon of Southwest Florida (ASWFL) at the 17th annual Environmental Breakfast held at Riverside Community Center in Fort Myers.

Senator Bill Nelson congratulates Deb Hanson in this letter
Senator Bill Nelson congratulates Deb Hanson in this letter

ASWFL President Roger Clark presented both awards, saying Deb Hanson has dedicated her career to providing quality environmental education to thousands of southwest Florida’s citizens.  Jessi’s award recognizes her as an active young advocate for the environment. In fitting fashion, Jessi (a recent FGCU graduate) has been hired to replace Deb as CREW’s environmental education specialist when Deb retires from her position in December.

Brenda Brooks and the CREW Board of Trustees are proud of both of these CREW educators and thank you for your dedication and service to CREW. We wish Deb well in her new adventures and welcome Jessi to the team.  Our mission to preserve and protect the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed continues with the support of our members, our partner agencies, and the public.

 

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Parents: Help Your Kids Get Their “Vitamin N”

3rd grader journaling at marsh

Vitamin N is another term for Nature. Time in nature can help reduce attention deficit, increase academic performance, and boost physical and mental health.

Richard Louv, author of the bestseller Last Child in the Woods, labeled the condition caused by Vitamin N deficiency when he wrote his seminal book. “The term Nature Deficit Disorder actually started out tongue-in-cheek, but it soon became apparent that the term—which is not a medical condition—finally put a face on the profound alienation that has occurred between children and nature over the last 30 years,” says Louv, co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network. (source: Are Your Kids ‘Vitamin N’ Deficient? accessed at http://parade.condenast.com/222813/juliebawdendavis/are-your-kids-vitamin-n-deficient/)

CREW invites families with children ages 3 to 12 to come out to the CREW Marsh Trails on Saturday, November 1st for a morning walk. The walk includes simple activities that engage the senses and curiosity of children and help dispel fears of the outdoors.

Pre-registration is required and is open until October 28th, so register today at http://crewvitaminnwalk.eventbrite.com

 

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CREW Strolling Science Seminar Series Resumes November 13th

Strolling Science Seminars 2013 - 2014On November 13th, 2014, the fourth year of CREW’s popular Strolling Science Seminar series for adults will launch with a much-requested repeat of “Mad Batters of CREW” – a science workshop about bats, led by Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Kathleen Smith.

This seminar will take place at Bird Rookery Swamp from 4:30 – 7:30 PM. Space is limited, so register early at https://crewbatsss2014.eventbrite.com .

The full Strolling Science Seminar series includes:

  • November 13, 2014 – Mad Batters of CREW (Bats) w/ Kathleen Smith
  • December 5, 2014 – Mosquitoes of the Marsh with Neil WIlkinson
  • January 9, 2015 – Fire & Water: Primal Forces Shaping CREW Wildlife Habitats with Jim Schortemeyer & Joe Bozzo
  • February 7, 2015 – The Gopher Tortoise: How Protecting One Species Actually Protests Hundreds with Dr.John Herman
  • March 10, 2015 – Birding with the Master with Dr. Bernie Master & Tiffany Thornhill

Each seminar includes hands-on activities and in-depth scholarly discussions about the science of the topics and their relationships to the CREW watershed and southwest Florida. Registration is open for all the strolling science seminars at http://crewtrust.eventbrite.com . CREW Strolling Science Seminars are for adults 18 years and older.