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Another way to enjoy CREW – camping

by Allison Vincent

photo by Anthony Eugenio at Gate 3 camp

Whether it’s an escape or an adventure you seek, you will find it in the woods of CREW. There are hiking and biking trails, wet walks through the swamps and diverse ecosystems for everyone’s taste. But have you ever wondered what it’s like after dark? Maybe it’s time to try camping! 

One of the many charms of camping is that it extends the daytrip and allows you to enjoy a different CREW, one that wakes up right around sunset. As you’re setting up your tent, crepuscular creatures that enjoy those twilight hours explore CREW and often use the trails just like we do. As you roast s’mores over the fire listen for movement with heightened senses as nighttime sets in. Are you ready for your next adventure?

First you’ve got to book your free single-use primitive site – “primitive” as in the campsite includes simply a place to camp, a few fire rings and some luxurious picnic tables. Ready? Then pack the essentials and drive right up to your very own serene camp. There you’ll find space for up to 20 campers to spread out under the slash pine trees at Gate 5 Camp at the CREW Cypress Dome Trails or under the glorious oaks of Gate 3 Camp closer to the CREW Marsh Trails. During the peak of season, when the air humidity is lower and the Florida ‘winter’ temperatures are nice and cool, you and your group can enjoy the solitude of a campsite all to yourself at CREW. If you’re lucky, you may witness a few unique things you’d never see on a day hike. 

photo by Molly DuVall at Gate 3 camp

Camping is like a ritual in that you prepare, you journey and you embrace nature. There are a few fundamentals that every camper does to enjoy the experience – prep your favorite food, choose the right shelter and bring more water than you think you need. Beyond that, your creativity is the limit. Learn to make a fire from a fire starter, try your hand at bush-crafting, or improve your night vision with a flashlight free hike. The night-sky is the limit! 

The right shelter can also be a creative endeavor, with numerous schools of thought on the pros and cons to different options. For instance, there’s the hammock vs. tent debate, both shelter options having strong qualifying attributes that are suited to different conditions. Take the hammock and its lightweight design that keeps you off the ground – which is often wet here in Florida, even in January. Whereas, the tent-packers claim a point in terms of extra floor space to store some things under the rainfly. Camping at the CREW campsites, you can try out many camping styles and still stay nice and snug in the wet or dry season. 

under the stars at Gate 3 camp, by Anthony Eugenio

When you get to the campsite, one of the best or worst parts, depending on who you ask, is the set up. Friends have always joked that, “there’s no such thing as a lazy camper” – meaning that there’s always something to do at a camp. Therein lies the significance of planning ahead for your preferred comforts in mind – you don’t want to end up sympathizing with the “worst part” group. Instead, be sure to bring your favorite pillow, or that extra down puffy jacket if it will help you stay comfortable, with your mind set on the experience, not the drawbacks. 

Another secret to planning is leaving enough time to hike or drive to your campsite before evening sets in, which is easy enough to do with CREW’s two drive-up camps. With daylight remaining, setting up a tent or hammock (or both) and camp kitchen is an enjoyable process and can make you feel at home in the woods. Leave enough time and by sunset all there’s left to do is cook your favorite campfire meal, enjoy the night sky and possibly, go to sleep early!

CREW at night, by Molly DuVall

Sleeping under the stars can have a transformative effect, breaking you away from your normal ecosystem, activating your senses in a wholly different way. This is especially true at a primitive campsite like CREW’s, where civilization can only be observed as far away lights emanating from distant towns. By the light of the campfire, headlights and flashlights you navigate your nightly routine, altered and simplified.

Please remember to Leave no Trace at the CREW trails and campsites!

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2021 Year in Review at CREW

River otter at CREW Flint Pen Strand

The CREW trails saw 51,664 people in 2021

Once in a lifetime panther pictures taken by guests at CREW Bird Rookery Swamp

Welcomed back third-graders, for the first time since 2019!

Florida Gulf Coast University students volunteered 2,012 hours

CREW Trust volunteers gave 4,425 hours in service

The NEW Purple Trail opened at CREW Flint Pen Strand

CREW Trust fundraiser began, Annual Trail Sponsors – look for signs at all trailheads

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Introduce children to the outdoors at CREW 

By Nan Mattingly

CREW Trust environmental education programs brings all ages to the CREW Trails

With the long end-of-year holidays, kids need healthy and fun activities, things they can do with their families and friends. If they’re visiting Florida in December, this is the perfect time of the year to introduce them to the world of nature. The weather is fine for all kinds of outdoor activities. And the four different CREW trail systems offer a variety of sights, sounds and experiences. 

But some kids have little experience with the great outdoors. Worms, spiders and other creepy-crawly things may intimidate them. They may resist getting wet or muddy. And they might find trees, trails and rocks uninteresting. Given a choice between playing outdoors or playing a video game, some kids would opt for the indoor game.

Some kids just need an introduction to nature. They need exposure to the physical world in order to learn to be comfortable in it. The adults in their lives can show them how to love nature and be safe in it. Nature promotes healthy growth by encouraging kids to be active. It’s also good for their imaginations, stimulating curiosity by introducing them to new and different experiences. Just being outside in our gorgeous Florida winter weather makes everyone, kids included, feel better.

So how can you persuade your kids to come outside with you? We have some suggestions.

Kids plot out the route at CREW Marsh Trails

Prepare before you load up to hit the trail. Before you take the kids on a CREW hiking trail, share your own enthusiasm about what they might see, hear and experience in the woods. Keep your research simple, and note anything that seems to capture their interests. If they express an interest in spiders, help them do a little research to figure out where and when they might see a spider in the woods. Early morning sun at any of our CREW trails illuminates spider webs and makes them look like jewels adorning the bushes. Choose one particular web and study its construction with your kid, explaining how the spider builds its webs to capture its prey. The Green Lynx spider is a bright shade of green and can be found on many trails. 

(photo of Green Lynx spider)

Tell your kid what he or she is likely to see in the woods. Here in Florida’s forests there are Florida panthers, black bears, bobcats and other mammals, as well as too many birds and insects to name. Address any fears they may express. You can explain, for instance, that Florida’s panthers and bears are shy and can smell you from a long way away, so it’s easy for them to avoid us. If your child is fascinated by panthers, bears and bobcats, show them how to look for the tracks of these animals on a muddy or sandy trail. We have a dazzling array of butterflies in Florida. The beautiful white peacock tends to fly low to the ground so they’re easy to spot. You may also be lucky enough to spot the striking zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly. Show your kids the photos here and help them look for these colorful treasures in the woods.  

(photos of white peacock and zebra longwing butterflies)

Devise a simple game or set a few easy goals for your time outdoors. If your kid is reluctant to touch things in the woods, you can create a simple scavenger hunt that they can complete through observation. Give them a checklist to allow them to check off each item as they spot it. Keep it simple; don’t name a specific bird. Just list “bird” as one of the things they can look for. Other things you can put on the list: worm, bird’s nest, flower, animal track, and big tree. Or you could announce that whoever spots the first bird or butterfly during your outing gets a special prize. 

Parents, prepare for your kids to play in the mud. Bring clean clothes, extra shoes and water to wash their feet.   

Mud and everything in between at CREW Cypress Dome Trails

Model good behavior for your kids. Explain the “Leave No Trace” principles to them and make sure you take any trash home with you. It’s important that kids learn to respect nature, so explain to them why we don’t feed animals in the wild. This is especially important in Florida where every pond or lake is likely to house an alligator or two. Feeding them destroys their natural fear of humans and encourages them to approach people. Alligators are fascinating to watch but teach your kids to do so from a distance. In Florida’s public parks and nature preserves, it’s illegal to pick plants or to remove anything, so encourage your kids to take photos instead of collecting wildflowers. Take the things you need for safety (bug spray, hat, sunscreen, lots of water) and explain why you’re putting them in your backpack. Let the kids choose a snack.

Before you go, take a look at the CREW website (CREWtrust.org) and decide which of our four trail systems would provide a good introduction to nature for your kids. The rainy season has ended and most of our trails are now dry. If you want to experience the magic of walking through a cypress forest on a boardwalk, consider Bird Rookery Swamp. The red trail at Flint Pen Strand offers easy hiking through pine flatwoods and a prairie where you may spot some deer or even a red-headed woodpecker.     

Your child may be excited to get outdoors if you allow him or her to bring a friend. Recognize that kids usually walk at a slower pace than adults and allow them to linger over things that interest them. Most of all, enjoy yourself. Show your own curiosity about things you see. Your enthusiasm for nature in all its varied forms will be contagious.    

At the CREW Project, we’ve got four different trail systems for hiking, biking, running and just enjoying the outdoors. 

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Where do you look when you hike?

By Allison Vincent

Guided program at CREW Flint Pen Strand on the Purple Trail this rainy season – summer 2021

What is your hiking personality type? Do you have one? Never thought about it? Some would say that where you spend most of your time looking while on the trail says a lot about your interests, like one of those repetitive questionnaires that asks the same question several different ways to find a pattern. For instance, is your head up in the clouds with the birds or are you flipping through your wildflower book while you crouch near the flora? Does every little insect catch your eye, or are you more the type to roll over a downed tree to see what’s hiding underneath? Whatever your type, when you’re out hiking the CREW trails you’ll find a rich assortment of interesting distractions to catch your eye, hold your attention, and spark your imagination.  

If you’re the kind of person that tends to look down while you’re hiking you can fit into several categories. For one, perhaps you’re simply clumsy and/or cautious about wildlife crossing your path – in which case I suggest finding a good hiking stick. However, you might be the type to look to the ground with intention, scanning the earth for a sign of life, whether that be a wandering turtle or a seasonal wildflower. 

CREW Cypress Dome Trails

If you have a practical preoccupation with the ground in front of you – often you’re a quick trail runner or speed hiker who doesn’t slow down for anything, except perhaps a faster runner. You’re on the right track as long as you’re moving fast enough to blur your vision of the verdant landscape surrounding you. You prefer the smells of the trees over the blast of exhaust fumes and therefore opt to test your endurance in the company of wildlife, even if you’re moving too quickly to witness them. That’s alright, because you yourself are a wild thing, gracefully caressing the ground with your quick footsteps under the canopy of trees and sky. You are a trail runner.

Swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) at CREW with CREW Trust intern Angel Kelley

Then again, maybe you’re one of the many who take their time looking at each leaf and petal, searching through the many layers of green to identify something unique in the abundant chaos. You have the ability to see hidden gems, glowing silently in the leaf litter, distinct in their ecosystem. You admire how they grow, for no one in particular, but simply because we have set aside spaces like CREW for them to do so. They blossom with their seasons, adorning the landscape with pops of improbable colors. They complete their life cycle unaided and unattended, capturing your attention if you’re one of those who seeks out their inherent beauty. You are a wildflower seeker. 

Julie Motkowicz, CREW Trust Education Coordinator, often discovers and teaches about the bugs of CREW – here she’s observing a Malachite butterfly

Then there are the unique people who find themselves seeking out the most diverse group of organisms on the planet, insects. Given that insects represent approximately 80 percent of the world’s species, it’s a fair bet that you’ll find a good collection to observe on each hike. In fact, at any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive. Bug nerds like you probably already know that, which is why you’re out with your macro camera lens, focusing in closely on that mother green lynx spider protecting the next generation in her silken web. You are a bug person.

Photo from past CREW Trust Strolling Science Seminar, Herping the CREW Lands (tickets on sale now)

The last predominant subcategory of those that ‘tend to look down while hiking’ includes the herpetologists. These patient seekers know where to look and also that it’s unlikely to find anything. Not to worry though; when you’re as patient and observant as those in this category tend to be, you’ll eventually be rewarded with a cool snake or mud-soaked turtle when you least expect it. That’s when you impress your friends with your reptile spotting skills and knowledge of their behavior, calming your friends’ nerves with helpful advice about how best to interact with our reptile neighbors (give them lots of space and respect). You are a herper. 

Photographer and CREW Trust volunteer Bill Zaino out shooting on the Red Trail of CREW Flint Pen Strand

Let’s not forget about those who look up to the sky for the birds. You know you’re a birder when you prefer trails with level ground or bring along a friend specifically to walk in front – so you don’t trip. Bird nerds, as you’re often called by your nearest and dearest friends, will sometimes  politely hush hiking friends not so immersed in the sport to allow you to parse out the chorus of warblers, distinguishing their unique calls. You’re an eagle-eyed scout who can often tell a species by their wing shape or flight patterns, counting the number of birds flocking with a best estimate. With all the migratory birds finding their way to or through Florida this season, you’re sure to find your way to the CREW trails soon and often. You are a birder.

Next time you’re out hiking CREW trails, take note of where you tend to look. And then try looking elsewhere to discover new interests. There are many other wonderful things to observe out hiking around the CREW Trails this winter. What do you look for on the trails? Will you try something new?

Barred owls nuzzle at CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail – a resident hidden in the trees
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Florida’s Fall Colors

CREW Flint Pen Strand

by Nan Mattingly & Dick Brewer

If you miss the change of seasons in Florida, don’t despair. You’ll find some brilliant red foliage here in November and December, red leaves that will remind you of New England in fall. Not in the New England kind of abundance, but in flashes of red amidst our lush green forests and wetlands. Look for these plants or trees and their crimson leaves in fall:

photo of poison ivy

Poison ivy: as long as you don’t touch it and expose yourself to its poisonous sap, poison ivy is very attractive when its leaves turn red in autumn. A reliable identification is important, so be aware that poison ivy can take the form of a low-growing plant, a shrub or a climbing vine. Its most distinct characteristic is its green foliage – clusters of three leaves alternating on the stem. Those leaves may be smooth or serrated around the edges, and occasionally you’ll see a leaf that resembles a mitten. In fall poison ivy produces white berries that provide food for birds, deer, raccoons, bears and other wildlife at a time of year when food becomes scarce. Poison ivy is found along many CREW trails, but just remember: leaves of three, let it be. 

photo of red maple

Red maple: red maple trees are found all over the U.S. and Canada. In Florida we have our own showy variety of red maple, the Florida Flame, whose leaves turn a brilliant red in fall and then drop after just a few weeks. This variety has adapted to our environment and prefers to live in wet areas. The first part of the boardwalk at Bird Rookery Swamp is lined with red maples. Note that our red maples are not as tall as those found elsewhere in the U.S., rarely exceeding forty feet in height and showing a slim profile. When the bare trees begin to leaf out again in January or February, the new leaves are tinged with red.

photo of Virginia creeper

Virginia creeper: sometimes mistaken for poison ivy, both plants have red leaves in fall, woody stems and compound leaves, and they can both be aggressive climbers. You can distinguish Virginia creeper by noting that its leaf clusters contain five, not three, leaves. A Virginia creeper vine can grow to 60 feet or longer. Birds, squirrels and deer eat its blue-black berries in fall, and native Americans in Florida used the red leaves to make a pink dye. Some people are sensitive to its sap but the resulting rash is not usually as irritating as that caused by poison ivy. Think twice before you plant it in your yard; it tends to take over and it clings tenaciously to walls, fences, trees, etc., with strong adhesive disks on its tendrils.

photo of winged sumac

Winged sumac: winged sumac is another plant that provides us with flashes of brilliant red in the fall in Florida. A shrub or tree that grows up to fifteen feet tall, winged sumac is not poisonous even though it resembles poison sumac. It’s the larval host and an important nectar source for the red-banded hairstreak butterfly.

photo of a red-banded hairstreak butterfly

You may think that we have only two seasons in southwest Florida – hot and hotter, or dry and wet. But if you get out on the CREW trails in October, November and December, you’ll spot some gorgeous fall foliage that may remind you of the turning leaves found elsewhere. If you’re really lucky, you may enjoy some cool weather, too.    

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Pollinators and their Favorite Plants

By Nan Mattingly

Clouded skipper

In Florida, 80 per cent of our food crops depend on pollination by insects, birds and bats to produce seeds and fruits as well as to promote the growth of plants and trees. In natural settings, pollinators are essential to produce the superstars of our forests and wetlands – our many eye-catching wildflowers.

Over thousands of years, plants have cleverly evolved to attract pollinators, developing bigger, showier, more colorful flowers to reel them in. The flower-to-flower visits of pollinators became the most efficient way to spread pollen, which results in seeds or fruits that enable plants and trees to reproduce. 

In Florida, wildflower plants have adapted their size, shape and color to attract certain pollinators – and for that reason we have many unique wildflowers that depend on particular pollinators. Some plants have “generalist” flowers to attract any and all pollinators – opting for survival at all costs.    

In the forests of the CREW Project, you can observe significant pollinator/plant relationships. To help you get started, we’ve provided some examples of common wildflowers and pollinators that are often associated with them. 

Milkweed and monarchs

The magnificent monarch relies on native Florida milkweed as it goes through its annual migratory cycle. Milkweed provides returning monarchs with essential early-spring host resources and abundant, high-quality nectar. But not all milkweed is healthy for pollinators. Most of us are familiar with the showy tropical milkweed which has become a popular landscape plant. Because this version of Florida milkweed (there are 21) has adapted to our suburban settings, it remains green longer than other varieties, encouraging the monarch to linger here and breed too late in the season. It also exposes monarchs to colder temperatures and to the pesticides on lawn plants. At CREW you’ll find more congenial varieties of milkweed for the monarch to deposit its eggs and sip the nectar of the plant. Look for swamp milkweed, butterfly milkweed, or aquatic milkweed.

Hairy indigo and the ceraunus blue butterfly

Hairy indigo was introduced in Florida as a ground cover to protect against soil erosion in citrus orchards. As with so many plants brought to Florida for a specific purpose, it has escaped its boundaries and is now seen in natural habitats, where it is a favorite of the delicate ceraunus blue butterfly. Hairy indigo is a low-growing plant with hairy stems and leaves, and in summer it produces a profusion of pink or red spikes of flowers.

Saw palmetto and the great purple hairstreak butterfly

Saw palmetto is a low-growing, winding plant that looks somewhat like a sabal palm lying on its side. In the spring it produces long stalks of yellow-white, fragrant flowers. You can see plenty of saw palmetto at CREW, especially at the two trail systems on Corkscrew Road- CREW Cypress Dome and Marsh Trails. The great purple hairstreak has a few other favorites for collecting nectar, including Bidens alba (also known as Spanish needle), another common sight at CREW. Despite its name, the great purple hairstreak butterfly isn’t really purple; it’s outer wings are brown with a touch of purple, and its underside is an iridescent blue. This butterfly may have multiple sources of nectar but it has only one place to deposit its larvae: on the parasitic oak mistletoe plant.

Pipevine plant and the pipevine swallowtail butterfly

This is another pollinator/plant relationship in which the plant is the larval host for the butterfly as well as its favorite source of nectar. It’s a little unusual because the plant itself is toxic to most butterflies and caterpillars, but the pipevine swallowtail is immune. In fact, that toxicity protects the caterpillars – predators recognize the toxic poison and look for food elsewhere. Pipevine is a climbing woody vine with pipe-shaped burgundy or purple flowers that bloom in May and June.         

Coontie plant and the atala butterfly

The only plant on which the atala will deposit its eggs is the coontie plant, another toxic plant. Atala larvae eat the coontie plant and render the butterfly toxic. The flamboyant red abdomen of the atala is a warning to predators that this butterfly is poisonous. The atala had almost disappeared from Florida until recent conservation efforts restored it to some habitats with abundant coontie plants.

Turkey tangle fogfruit and the white peacock butterfly

You’re almost certain to see a white peacock butterfly on CREW lands. It prefers to eat the leaves and the nectar of turkey tangle fogfruit (try saying that quickly!) but it takes advantage of just about any wildflower offering nectar. The white peacock flies low to the ground so it’s easy to spot.     

The next time you check the pollen count, don’t get mad because pollen stirs up your allergies and makes you cough or sneeze. Be grateful for pollen – it is essential to the successful creation of seeds and fruits that propagate the many wildflowers and plants of CREW.

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Spooky Stories from the CREW Trails

By Allison Vincent

Do you know that feeling of Florida fall? When a subtle temperature change transforms the muhly grass from commonplace to extraordinary, the pine lilies are in bloom and poison ivy is tempting you to pick some classic autumn-colored leaves for your seasonal table. September passes and October slowly creaks along toward the season when we observe the shortening of days with pumpkin patches, delicious goodies and general spookiness. Somehow, the mood of the season enhances even the most commonplace hike at CREW. 

Barred owl’s eye-shine reflecting the morning sunrise

Here be dragons

Early morning fog punctuates the stark blowing grasses – skillfully brushing the sky like a paintbrush – transforming it into a grey hidden world with the stroke of each breeze. Dark shadows envelope the edges of the marsh, never fully unveiling their inhabitants as animate or inanimate – where each worn water-soaked log floating half submerged could just as easily be a 7-foot alligator. 

Mornings like this play tricks on the eyes, part of the fun of winding your way around the hidden corners of the trails – each turn welcoming a curious new view, usually complemented with a spider web at the level of your eyes. Near the lakes at CREW Flint Pen Strand Trails, the path opens up to a field of sawgrass and the deepest sections of the lakes’ steam in the morning sun as the insects awaken from the edge of rust-centered flowers. 

Above, you feel a whoosh of small wings and discover that hovering just above your wide-brimmed hat is a swarm of dragonflies! Not just any whirling dragons either – but a spirited bunch of Halloween pennant dragonflies. Zooming in closer with a long-lens camera or binoculars, one can make out the intricate painted pattern of the aptly named Halloween pennant with its alternating stripes of burnt sienna and translucent orange hue. Their eerie witch-like hovering puts a spell on you as they patiently wait for the moment one holds still long enough for a proper seasonal photo.  

Hidden in plain sight

The next time you’re out hiking the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail, keep an eye out for these straight out of ghostbusters, Slimer-green, green lynx spiders. Catch how they camouflage in the verdant world that is southwest Florida and beware, because while you’re admiring a lovely flower they might be admiring you back. Many hikers have discovered a green lynx spider just inches from their nose when suddenly their eyes focus on this fuzzy movement coming from some segmented appendages that look like part of the flower and they realize it’s a spider instead. 

Like a Dia de los Muertos painted skeleton, their colorful bodies craftily pieced together, for the swift purpose of keeping in check the smaller insects of the ecosystem. In fact, the aggressive attack of the green lynx, the largest North American lynx spider, is the reason many are released by agricultural pest management companies, not to mention the fact that they very seldom bite humans. 

Doppelgänger

On a long winding path through Caracara Prairie Preserve accessible by the CREW Cypress Dome Trails, your boots crunching through fallen pine needles and oak leaves of early fall, you hike quickly through the Caracara Prairie Preserve path – hoping to make it back to the parking lot before night begins its shift. Steady paced and calmly watching the colors change in the sky, you peek around the corner of a particularly large oak tree, its branches haphazardly low over the trail – hovering just like a standing bear – making even darker still the fading light of time passing away. 

Suddenly, there’s an unusual crunch underfoot and, hoping not to have disturbed one of the bee-hives that sometimes break away from the decaying oak branches above, you look down. What you see is quite a different thing indeed. Opaque and eggshell white with etches of brown earth worked into its crevices – these things are long, segmented and curving into brachiated points. Bones! And they look human! 

Panic begins to set in as your backwoods comfort zone is suddenly put to the test. Instinct overcomes fear and you quickly excavate the area enough to find the rest of the decayed fingers and notice something distinguishable and entirely not human about them. They have claws! Skunk ape? No. Black bear! 

Relief sets in as the wild ways of nature come hand-in-hand with the cycle of life. The hikers take a note of the location with their GPS and finish the trek feeling stronger and more in touch with the darker side of the CREW trails. 

Hoppin’ Zombies

Survivors of the swamp, the greatest and strongest, the lubber grasshoppers inhabit all the CREW Trails, but seem to prefer the CREW Marsh and Cypress Dome Trails. They begin their lives as part of a hoard of black-bodied swarms, survivalists banding together to deter predators from eating more than one, given their pesky poisonous innards (evolution is maniacal). 

Their gastrointestinal group defense expands and transforms with their exoskeleton into the adult formation, a neon-orange pumpkin color like the store’s holiday isles everywhere starting around September. 

These native hoppers persevere through the devastation of their nemesis – the loggerhead shrikes, also known as butcher birds, who feast during lubber season, ready with a deadly preconceived attack. Butcher birds will in fact spear the lubber carcass on spikes, draining the poison before enjoying their meal. 

Still, the lubber grasshoppers survive and by mid-October they’re at their most terrifying stage yet. The remaining can resemble the walking dead hobbling along the trails – missing limbs and sometimes whole abdomens. Yet their Frankenstein-like potential for survival, with or without their whole body – because who really needs all that poison – means they’re still out there, the zombie grasshoppers of CREW just biding their time, until the next generation returns, to strike their revenge.

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Why don’t we see panthers when we’re hiking the CREW trails?

By Allison Vincent

Florida Panther with kittens. photo taken on game camera within the CREW project

Puma concolor coryi evokes in the minds of most Floridians a mysterious big cat that charms us, even if we’ve never seen this charismatic megafauna in person. Their familiar shape, profile and significance can easily be brought to the forefront of our minds and yet there’s little need to be frightened of meeting a panther face to face on the CREW trails.

Try as you might – hit the CREW trails every day of the week and you’re still not guaranteed a panther sighting. That’s because this federally endangered species makes it a habit to avoid us. No offense, but they (like bears) can smell you a mile away and will take the path of least resistance away from you.

If you’re like many Floridians (new or native) and spend the majority of your time on the coasts or in urban centers, your chances of bumping into Florida’s state animal is on par with winning the jackpot. There are ways to increase your odds, but you’re going to have to invest. That’s because these big cats are not synanthropes, another ten-dollar word defined as animals that benefit from an association with humans and the somewhat artificial habitats that people create around them. 

Why you probably won’t see a panther in the wild

Florida panthers avoid human interaction, unlike coyotes and racoons that fit the definition of synanthrope to a T. You’re more likely to see a bobcat, with their short tails and spotted adult coat of fur, or a roaming Florida black bear than ever to see the elusive “Coo-wah-chobee” – the Seminole word for “Big Cat” – the Florida panther. 

Panthers in general live a secretive life, far from anthropocentric (human-centered) urban settings – they prefer their wide-ranging “pumacentric” world of dense understory vegetation in hardwood hammocks and pinelands and prairie grasslands where they can stalk and ambush prey, like white-tailed deer and wild boar.

That’s why the majority of panther sightings are made by cattle ranchers and farmers and why they must take additional precautions to prevent a panther’s prey instinct from negatively affecting their livestock. 

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) outlines many best practices that can be initiated to prevent unwanted interaction between wildlife and livestock. Other organizations like the Path of the Panther work directly with cattle ranchers, private landowners and government agencies to incentivize wildlife corridors. 

Protecting what we can’t see

Many other species besides panthers benefit from preserving connected lands and utilize them to thrive. For instance, the Florida black bear, an omnivore that semi-hibernates, must forage over large forested areas to increase his or her bulk during the months leading up to our Florida winter, or dry season. Without these corridors allowing for their natural range of behavior, populations would suffer even greater losses.

Not to mention, Florida panthers are still rebounding under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. They were heavily hunted after 1832 when a bounty on panthers was created and the species was nearly extinct by the mid-1950s. 

The current panther recovery plan works toward the goal of establishing 3 viable populations, maintained for a minimum of 12-years (2 panther generations), of at least 240 individuals each (excluding dependent-aged kittens). Many partnering agencies are working to ensure sufficient habitat to support these populations. For purposes of the Florida panther recovery plan, a viable population has been defined as one in which there is a 95% probability of persistence for 100 years.

This is where we come back to the beginning of the story. The survival of the Florida panther depends on the protection of a network of statewide public and private lands, like those at CREW. Partnerships with sportsmen/women, private landowners, wildlife biologists, land managers and you all play an important role in protecting land with future wildlife conservation in mind. Every effort to preserve land and water is one step closer to achieving a sustainable future for our beloved species. 

Motion sensor photo taken on game camera within the CREW project

How you can help

Drive slowly in panther country

Panther activity is greatest between dusk and dawn, so when driving in panther country, be mindful and alert. Slow down and increase your distance between other cars. This allows you time to react.

Report panther sightings and interactions

If you see a Florida panther and can collect evidence such as pictures of the animal or its tracks, please share the information with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Reporting your observations can help biologists address panther conservation needs by identifying the areas used by these large cats.

To report wildlife/human interaction contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) wildlife hotline: 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).

Aid injured and orphaned panthers

The Florida Panther Fund was established by The Wildlife Foundation of Florida to aid in the recovery of injured or orphaned Florida panthers, as well as to meet other panther conservation needs. The fund is an important resource that gives the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission flexibility to deal with rare, unplanned, and non-budgeted events. Visit the Help Injured Panthers Return to the Wild website.

Support panther research

Florida panther research and management by FWC is funded almost entirely through the Florida Panther Research and Management Trust Fund. This fund receives its monies from the purchase and annual renewal of the Protect the Panther specialty license plate in Florida. Tag holders give an annual $25.00 donation to the fund when they renew their registration. Visit the Protect the Panther license plate website to learn more.

Motion sensor photo taken on game camera within the CREW project
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Wildlife Alert: some Freshwater Turtles face spreading virus

Healthy Softshell Turtle hiking trails
Learn more about Turtle Bunyavirus on the FWC webpage

Your attention in this matter can go a long way to help freshwater turtle conservation in Florida. FWC is investigating the virus known as TBV, Turtle Bunyavirus, which may include all or some of the following noticeable symptoms: weakness, lethargy, swollen appendages, closed or sunken eyelids, discharge from the nose or eyes, and splotchy red discoloration on softshells. Turtles with TBV may appear to have difficulty breathing, be reluctant to flee, and swim irregularly in waterways. 

If you’re out on the CREW Trails, or even in your own backyard, keep an eye out for these freshwater turtles in particular: Softshell Turtles, Cooters, Yellow-Bellied Sliders and Red-Eared Sliders. While some of these species are non-native freshwater turtles, FWC would like to receive information about any turtle in distress – on or off the list above – as ecosystems overlap and it appears the illness may spread between species. 

  • Softshell Turtle
  • Cooters
  • Yellow-Bellied Slider
  • Red-Eared Slider

FWC is asking the public for help by taking the following actions:

  • Report sightings of sick or dead turtles to FWC by calling the Turtle Hotline at 352-339-8597 or through the FWC Reporter App. Photos can be uploaded via the FWC Reporter App and will aid researchers in turtle species identification and condition.
  • Do not touch or attempt to move sick turtles.
  • To avoid spreading the virus, do not capture and transport freshwater turtles, even those that appear healthy, to release at new locations.
  • Do not eat turtles that appear sick or unhealthy.

Excerpt from the FWC website linked above:

“The FWC takes TBV seriously and is taking proactive steps to monitor and slow the spread of the virus. To reduce the geographic spread of TBV, and lessen potential impacts of this virus, the FWC has enacted Executive Order #21-19 which prohibits the take and transportation of the following species: Florida softshell turtles (Apalone ferox), smooth softshell turtles (Apalone mutica), spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera), and yellow-bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta). The virus is also known to infect Florida’s cooter species (genus Pseudemys), which are already prohibited from being removed from the wild, and red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), which are a prohibited nonnative species. The EO will help to conserve native turtle species while biologists work to fully understand the impacts of TBV. The FWC is also soliciting sightings of sick and dead freshwater turtles of any species for further investigation.”

Thank you to all our CREW Trust readers and supporters in our collective efforts to protect land and water for wildlife! 

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These are a few of my favorite CREW Trails 

By Allison Vincent

Pine Lily

CREW Trust Executive Director Brenda Brooks always says that she doesn’t have a favorite CREW Trail, but instead a favorite place at each one. Since I first heard that comment I have occasionally wondered which is in fact my favorite. After close to three years exploring the diverse CREW trail systems, I’ve found a few of my own favorite places that keep pulling me back for more, surprising me with their fierce beauty. Perhaps you’ve had the same thought as you’ve explored various CREW trail systems, that excitement of walking through your favorite place on the trail.

CREW Cypress Dome Trails

While we may not have traditional seasons in Florida, we do have seasonal indicators, like the first blooming pine lilies of the fall mixed with the purple liatris starting in September. I love finding these flowers along the CREW Cypress Dome (CDT) Green and White Trails, catching the eclectic variety of contrasting wildflowers lining the elegant long straightaways. 

The purple liatris
Sunrise at CDT

CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail

To find my favorite place at CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail (BRS), you’ll have to hike the whole thing, so if you’re down for the distance this is a full 12-mile loop. In fact, if you hike the whole thing and you’re considered a Looper cause let’s face it, you have to be a little loopy to do that (in a good way)! I recommend starting the loop clockwise, so after crossing the boardwalk and past the curve north at the large lakes, head west (or left) at the only fork in the trail. At this point, you will see a new “you are here” sign at trail marker B (don’t forget to hydrate). 

CREW Bird Rookery Swamp

Now comes the fun and exciting dance I like to call the alligator-side-step, part of the enthralling section heading west between trail markers B and E . I think it’s best to get there early because the early bird avoids the alligators. After all that side-stepping, it’s quite relaxing to take a break at the lake, next to trail maker E. Sit, relax, enjoy a snack break – you’ve earned it! For those long-distance hikers willing to continue, you’re in for a treat, as this next portion is my favorite place on the trail, which you can also access from CREW Flint Pen Strand’s Purple Trail! For those of you ready to call it a day, trail marker E makes for a great turn around point. 

Are you still with me? Good! This section is amazing! Continue walking toward the northwestern curve of BRS, from trail markers E to D. This is a beautiful place where your eyes get a break from the sun under the dense verdant cypress trees arching high above. Preludes to this section are foreshadowed earlier along the trail, with the first cathedral-like corridor of cypress trees buffeting the raised railroad bed between amber swamp water on either side. Still, nothing compares to the density of this northwestern section of enormous cypress stands mixed with pond apple, maples and magnolia trees. Stop and take it all in!

The northwestern curve of the loop trail, which is essentially as far from civilization as one can get on a trail around here (outside of the Fakahatchee), will transport you beyond your day to day existence and allow you that moment of pause that happens at a truly beautiful vista. However, this place has no mountain view; instead it boasts a sensational overload of lively trees dripping with color, screaming with cicadas above and choruses of frogs below; mix in the whispers of warblers and you’ve got yourself (arguably) the best show in town. Reaching this far corner of wilderness is an empowering experience not for the faint of heart.  

BRS in the northwestern section

CREW Flint Pen Strand Trails

Another of my favorite places is located at CREW Flint Pen Strand, on the section called the Yellow Trail North. During the rainy season this is like one huge lazy river- so splash in the seasonal sheet-flow of water cascading through the dwarf cypress forest, which starts just north of where the trail stops hugging the Kehl Canal. The dendrochronologist (tree lover) in me wonders at these cypress trees’ diminutive stature; with basically nothing to hold themselves up, they hold on. How they hover on spindly, sometimes hollow trunks buttressed by their neon-lichen painted skirts exploding with cardinal tillandsias swinging from their branches baffles my mind! I highly recommend you return to this trail at least twice a year, once in the rainy and once during the dry season to appreciate the dwarf cypresses and their fragile-by-appearance-only buttresses surviving in the sugar-sand, waiting for the waters to return, but thriving nonetheless. 

Dwarf cypress of CREW Flint Pen Strand

CREW Marsh Trails

At CREW’s oldest trail system, the CREW Marsh Trails (CMT), you’ll always find a diversity of ecosystems, wide open trails and a little more infrastructure than at the other trail systems. However, at CMT it’s the single-track section that winds through the pop-ash and oak trees of the southwestern loop on the Green Trail that captures my heart. My favorite way to navigate to this favorite place along the Green Trail is to approach it from the north. Head past Suzanne’s Pavilion, past the south-facing Blue “short-cut” Trail and around the dry gopher habitat until you’re forced to walk single file. That’s where the trail narrows and the trees grow. Enormous oaks dwarf your tiny little human body and give you that sense of wonder that accompanies forest exploration. Slosh through the muddy water in the wet season and revel in the brightly colored mushrooms reaching from the fallen limbs overwhelmed by carpets of green moss, resurrection ferns and “troll ponytails” (AKA shoe-string ferns). This is a trail that gives the sensation of forging a new path, as you carefully plan each step – looking up, down, side to side with every single step.

It’s special to take pause and stand witness to the innumerable special places at CREW. Maybe appreciate that place where ecotones exemplify the jargon that defines them (an ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities) such as enjoying that first overflow of water spilling from one marsh to the next during the rainy season. Take your time and you may find that you like to see the early wildflower buds ready to bloom, knowing what they will become, so you can plan your next hike to correspond with the future flowery-fireworks show! Whatever your favorite place or thing may be at CREW, we’re glad you continue to come back for more throughout each Florida season.

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