Author: CREW Land & Water Trust

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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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Small Game Season Opens December 6th at CREW

 

Raccoon (photo by George Luther)
Raccoon (photo by George Luther)

Small Game Hunting Season at CREW opens December 7th and runs through January 4th, 2014 at the CREW Cypress Dome Trails, Caracara Prairie Preserve, and in portions of the Flint Pen Strand unit of CREW. Specific Small Game season regulations for CREW are listed below. Complete regs can be accessed at the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission website.

The Cypress Dome Trails will remain open to other users – hikers, bikers, geocachers, campers and horseback riders – during hunting seasons. Trail hikers are encouraged to wear bright colors (hunter orange) when hiking during hunting seasons. No hunting is allowed at the CREW Marsh Trails or at the Bird Rookery Swamp Trails.

Small Game Season:December 6 through January 3.

Permit, Stamp and License Requirements – Hunting license, management area permit, migratory bird permit (if hunting migratory birds), and state waterfowl permit and federal duck stamp (if hunting waterfowl).

Legal to Hunt – Gray squirrel, quail, rabbit, raccoon, opossum, armadillo, beaver, coyote, skunk, nutria and migratory birds in season.

Regulations Unique to Small Game Season-
Hunting with bird dogs and retrievers is allowed.
Hunting with centerfire and rimfire rifles is prohibited.

The CREW lands are open to a variety of public recreational use activities. One of the most historical and storied recreational uses of CREW is hunting. Hunting is an important wildlife management tool and provides many sportsmen and sportswomen a way to enjoy the outdoors and put food on their tables. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has designated CREW as a Wildlife & Environmental Area (WEA) and regulates the hunting rules and seasons on CREW lands. FWC law enforcement officers patrol CREW lands all year long.

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Dec. 13th Geocaching Day offers free tickets to CREW Concert

Saturday, December 13, 2014 will be a geocaching day with a twist at the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trails near Naples. Ten tokens will be hidden in ten of the 35+ caches on the preserve. Find a token and return it to the CREW Geocache Day leaders for a $15 general admission ticket to the 2015 CREW Concert on March 21st, 2015. Limit – 1 ticket per person.

Come out to the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp for this special CREW Concert Cache Day and enjoy one of the most wild and scenic landscapes in south Florida. The event starts at 9 AM with an introduction to the CREW followed by JunglePete’s famous geocacher icebreaker and instructions on how to use GPS units (if necessary). There are 35+ caches, plus new ones to be discovered. Bring plenty of food and water and wear appropriate hiking attire.

Required equipment is a GPS unit or a smartphone with the geocaching app. The event details and cache coordinates are available on the geocaching.com website at http://coord.info/GC5G33K. You can register there or on Eventbrite.

The March 21st CREW Concert and Silent Eco-Auction, featuring the Sarah Hadeka Band and The Juice, is the CREW Trust’s largest annual fundraising event.

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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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12/6 Car Wash to Raise Funds for Bird Rookery Viewing Platform

Eagle Scout candidate Steven Rapp is on a mission. He’s planning to build a viewing platform with handicap accessibility at the Bird Rookery Swamp parking area. His project, called A View for All, includes a flat platform that extends over the pond near the parking lot, providing easy access from the handicap parking spaces onto the platform for visitors with disabilities to be able to get close and view the birds and other wildlife that frequent Bird Rookery.

As an eagle scout candidate, Steven must prepare the design, get all the appropriate permits, recruit volunteers to do the labor, and raise funds for materials for the project.

Part of his fundraising strategy includes a Car Wash scheduled for Saturday, December 6th, 2014 from 8 AM to noon at G’s General Store at the corner of Oil Well Road and Immokalee Road in Naples. The requested donation/cost is $5.00 per car wash.

So, come on out and support this great project and help Steven create “A View for All” at Bird Rookery Swamp!

A View for All Rapp
Description of and rationale for the project by Steven Rapp
A View for All Rapp 1
Platform design

A View for All Rapp 2

 

 

 

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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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2014 CREW Stanley Hole Golf Tournament Set for November 7th

Golfers at the CREW Golf Tournament
Golfers at the CREW Golf Tournament

The CREW Trust only holds two fundraisers each year – and this is one of them! Come support CREW and play a round of golf. Our annual CREW–Stanley Hole Golf Tournament is always fun, ever entertaining, and a great way to network, meet new people, and helps to support CREW’s mission to protect our watershed.

2014 Tournament
WHEN: November 7, 2014
WHERE: Old Corkscrew Golf Club, 17320 Corkscrew Rd., Estero 33928
TIME: Shotgun Start at 8:30 AM (Registration 7:30 – 8:15 AM)
Entry Fee: $100/player or $400/foursome
Hole Sponsorship: $500

Download the hole sponsor and player registration form here….

CREW Stanley Hole Golf Tournament Registration Form 2014

  • Thanks to our major sponsors for this event:
    Hole Montes, Inc.
    Lewis, Longmann & Walker
    Everglades Golf Course Superintendents Association