Environment Day

The organization that I work for has a Leadership program where every year they choose about 25 "leaders" in the community to participate in. Since I'm the last addition to the organization I was the only one that had not been through the program so they nominated me to be in the class.

Every other Wednesday we learn about different departments/areas of our community. We take field trips and take part in very hands on activities. Our first day was Environment Day. We started at the Disney Wilderness Preserve in Poinciana at 7:30am. We had breakfast and loaded the bus to Boggy Creek Airboat Rides.

The hosts for the day were a couple of employees from the South Water Management District (SWFD; I think that's what the initials stood for) so as we took the airboat ride they explained all kinds of things about water management especially flood control. While on the boat at Lake Toho, we met with the Florida Fish & Wildlife people who showed us their boat and talked about what they do out on the lake on a daily basis such as monitor the Bass and other fish populations, talk to boaters, etc. I learned that Florida is the Bass fishing capital of the US (can't remember if he actually said the US or World)...hence why Bass Pro Shops headquarters are here in Celebration, FL. The fishing industry brings in Billions of dollars a year and that's why the government spends our tax dollars monitoring the Bass population in lakes; very important for our economy!

BTW, I was terrified during the airboat ride because I do have a fear of water and gators and the tour guide kept trying to hydroplane around from side side to side to splash water on us. I didn't appreciate mucky lake water in my face plus I was afraid we would flip and I would end up in gator territory...but I survived. Below is a gator we saw but went underwater once we got closer.

After the airboat ride, we met with a teacher from the Environmental Center who let us "fish" stuff out of the lake. He said they use the animals as indicators of water quality. We caught many shrimps and he said that's a very good sign that the quality of the water is good.

After that, we headed back to the Disney Wilderness Preserve which is managed by the Nature Conservancy. It's 12,000 acres plus a lake! Lake Russell is one of the few lakes that has NO development of any kind on it. Most lakes in Florida have homes around them. The reason Lake Russell doesn't have any developments is because 1) half of it it's on the nature conservancy site and 2) the other half is owned by 2 very wealthy families that have no interest in developing the land...thus far. We had the opportunity to go canoeing on this lake.

It was unreal! I really felt like I was away in an abandoned place. It was truly what Florida was like. The water was very clean...not clear but clean and tons of "willowy" trees and wildlife around. Bald eagles nest in this area. It's a shame that it's not open to the public...although that's how they've been able to maintain the lake as pristine as it is.

After canoeing we went on a Swamp Buggy (I don't know how to spell that) ride around the nature conservancy to see the land. I learned why controlled fires are necessary for the plants and wildlife, it's a natural process that's just recreated. It helps to pollinate plants and clean up debris safely and naturally.

I forgot to take my camera with me, the pictures above are from a classmate's camera. I'll try to remember next time so I can take better pictures. Next week, it's Economic Development Day and I hear we get to ride in a helicopter; weather permitting.