Tag: CREW Marsh Trails

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Mosquitos and More this December with the CREW Trust!

Looking to fill out your already bustling December calendar? We have something for everyone this December!

For the insectually curious and those itching for a bit of fun, join FGCU instructor and President of the Florida Mosquito Control Association Neil Wilkinson for Mosquitos of the Marsh: a CREW Strolling Science Seminar on Friday, Dec. 8. You’ll learn about the life cycles and histories of fresh floodwater and natural container species of mosquitos common to Southwest Florida. From identifying adult mosquitos caught in traps set the night before to using dip nets to survey for mosquiot predtaors, this is sure to be a can’t miss event! For more information or to purchase tickets, head to eventbrite.com.

Tuesdays are TrailDays at the CREW Marsh Trail! Volunteer naturalist and spider enthusiast Janet Bunch leads our free weekly guided walks from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. What can you expect in December? From the small boardwalk, you might spy string lilies blooming. Butterfly sightings may include Gulf Frittilaries and Zebra Longwings, both often spotted close to Suzanne’s Pavillion. The view from the observation tower will still show lush green sawgrass as the water levels are just beginning to dry down from our very wet rainy season. Red-shouldered hawks are pairing up and filling the air with their boisterous calls. As always, what we see depends on the day, which makes each walk different from the last! Register today at eventbrite.com. Can’t make it out to the trails on Tuesdays? You’re in luck! December’s Saturday Walk will be at the CREW Marsh Trails on Dec. 9; register at eventbrite.com.

 

The wading birds are flocking to Bird Rookery Swamp and will join us on our Wednesday walks!! Egrets and herons and Roseate Spoonbills are filling in the small ponds and are even visible at times from the trail parking lot. String lilies are blooming throughout the swamp and you may even spy an adult or juvenille water moccasin swimming slowly around the bases of the cypress trees and knees. The pied-billed grebes are back in the small canal and we’re hoping to see little tiny grebes this spring. We’re still waiting on the full trail to re-open but our Wednesday walks will continue, covering the shell path and boardwalk, then expanding onto the grassy traim once the district completes repairs and restoration. Sign up for your free spot today at eventbrite.com.

Members, make sure your calendar is marked for our Member Appreciation Picnic on Saturday, January 13! Want to join in the fun, but aren’t a member? You can become a member today and you’ll receive an invitation to our picnic, our very popular wine and cheese social under the stars; our quarterly newsletter; and discounts on Strolling Science Seminars and other CREW Trust programs.

 

 

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In search of Inspiration

photo by Dick Brewer

The rains have started and the trails are glorious.

Greens are brighter and wildflowers are bolder. There’s a satisfying squish to the ground in some areas and traces of mud on our boots.

For many of us, the trails are a way to reconnect with nature. And for some others, the trails, and nature, are a source of inspiration.

Our Marsh trails are quiet this time of year as school is out and field trips are over. To honor the reflective quiet that many of our visitors experience or yearn for, we’ve started an inspiration board and we hope to fill it with everything from quotes to works of art to poems.

And we want to hear from you. Submit your CREW-inspired works of art and we’ll share them on social media and at our Inspiration kiosk at the Marsh Trails.

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It’s time to recharge

— by Anne Reed 

 

Today we went for a walk.

We weren’t leading a program, or assisting on a field trip. We weren’t removing invasive plants or trimming back brush around trail signs.

We were scouting the Marsh trails, trying to devise a different way to mark them other than names on signs. We scheduled ourselves to be out of the office for the morning on and headed out and just walked.

But by the end, though, it was more than a walk.

I’m not sure if you experience this but for me, getting out on the trails leaves me feeling rooted. Grounded.

Walking with someone and sharing that experience, the feeling of just being that you get when you get outside, it fosters conversations. And if you are alone, it makes for great conversation inside your head.

So what was unique today?

As we rounded the bend on the Pine Flatwoods trail, we saw mud.

MUD. GLORIOUS MUD.

Why did that mud make us so excited, so giddy?

Because that means our water is coming back. That means that water is flowing south and if we are seeing it at the Marsh trails, it will slowly make its way through the Corkscrew Marsh and on down to Bird Rookery Swamp. Rainy season is whispering its arrival, teasing us with a few showers here and there as the humidity creeps up.

We’re ready to recharge.

We read and say, all the time, that we need water to recharge our aquifer.

Being out there, though, and really seeing it – that’s something completely different. As we walked and we had actual stretches of water to walk around, there was this feeling of anticipation. Not just within myself, but all around. As if everything, from the sawgrass to the trees to the wildflowers, was holding its breath, ready and waiting for those beautiful afternoon thunderstorms to sweep through and bring growth, renewal.

In a way, May is not just a recharging time for the lands within the CREW Project, but a way for us to recharge as well. Our busy season is over, traffic is lighter and as the temperatures creep up, everyone slows down.

Today was just one of those rare days when sunshine, good company, a nice breeze and little bit of mud were the the prefect combination to leave us feeling grounded, rooted and a bit recharged.

Want to see this what we saw today? At the Marsh Trails, take the Pine Flatwoods trail to the Alternative Marsh Loop, to the Observation Tower, then out to the Popash Slough.

We do need a lot more rain, but it does feel nice to see the water slowly making its return.

 

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Hit the trails for National Walking Day

National Walking Day is the first Wednesday in April, and the CREW trails are a great place to get out and walk, no matter what your fitness level may be. Check out our suggestions for a few spots to celebrate with some fresh air and sunshine.

CREW Marsh Trails 

Location: 4600 Corkscrew Road (CR 850), Immokalee, FL 34142. Approximately 20 minutes east of I-75.

Cost: Free; donations accepted

Difficulty: Easy

Wear: Closed toed shoes and socks

Bring: Water, snacks, binoculars and cameras

Take a stroll on wide, hard-packed, mowed trails to the observation tower, where you can view the 6000 acre sawgrass marsh that helps clean the water that flows south and replenishes our aquifer. On the way to the tower, you will travel through pine flatwoods and an oak hammock. You may see butterflies, dragonflies, swallow tailed kites, red shouldered hawks, palm warblers, gopher tortoises and wildflowers in bloom. Approximate distance: 1.4 miles to the tower and back to the parking lot.

Cypress Dome Trails

Location: 3980 Corkscrew Road (CR 850), Immokalee, FL 34142. Approximately 15 minutes east of I-75.

Cost: Free; donations accepted

Difficulty: Medium

Wear: Closed toed shoes and socks

Bring: Water, snacks, binoculars and cameras

Start on the yellow loop from the parking lot and follow it around to the green loop. You’ll walk through pine flatwoods, cypress domes and you can stop to rest on a small bench overlooking one of our seasonal marshes. The end of the green loop takes you past Jim’s Pavilion, a great spot to sit and enjoy a snack or lunch. You may see butterflies, red shouldered hawks, wildflowers, warblers, woodpeckers, yellow rat snakes and box turtles. Approximate distance: 2.4 miles; if the distance is too much, use one of the two blue short cut trails.

Bird Rookery Swamp Trail

Location: 1295 Shady Hollow Blvd., Naples, FL 34120

Cost: Free; donations accepted

Difficulty: Hard

Wear: Closed toed shoes and socks

Bring: Water, snacks, binoculars and cameras

Become a “Looper” and hike the entire loop at Bird Rookery Swamp! You’ll walk on wide, grassy raised trams and share the trail with wildlife, including alligators, otters, banded water snakes, red bellied turtles, barred owls, roseate spoonbills, egrets and more. Approximate distance: 13 miles; if the distance is too much, head back to the parking lot before you begin to feel tired. The loop may take six or more hours; it is very important to bring food and water with you and to check your energy levels often to determine if you can make the full loop or not. as there are no shortcut trails.

 

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There’s more to see than alligators, bears and panthers

One of the most common questions I hear, either on the phone or on the trails, is “What will we see?” or “Which trail is best to see wildlife?”

Red-shouldered hawks at CREW Marsh Trails

The answers: Sadly, we can’t predict what you will see and, all three trails are different.

Bird Rookery Swamp is our most visited trail system, and for good reason. You can walk less than a mile and see alligators, wading birds and the occasional otter or bobcat. Sightings of alligators are almost guaranteed.

This means that, when choosing a trail system to visit, people often overlook Cypress Dome Trails or CREW Marsh Trails.

A large alligator at Cypress Dome Trails

There are alligators at the Cypress Dome Trails, but you’ve got a pretty long hike if you want to see them. At the CREW Marsh Trails, people seem to think that bears, boars, bobcats and panthers will be out there all day, just strolling by. And, if they don’t see large animals, there is disappointment, a feeling that is sometimes vocalized as “We didn’t see anything.”

 

For me, the marsh trails are my favorite. It’s the first trail system I visited, and the first trail system I worked as a volunteer. It’s the first trail system Brenda took myself and my three kids to during their Spring Break a few years ago. It’s the trail system that my youngest daughter loves to hike and my oldest loves to go trail running.

What do we see there?

Everything.

Butterflies, dragonflies, red shouldered hawks, palm warblers, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, a giant beehive, lubber grasshoppers, wildflowers and, right now, swallow-tailed kites. And that is only a small fraction of the flora and fauna that is there.

Two of our volunteers, Jane and Laurel, recently spent a day cataloging all of the plants, birds, dragonflies and butterflies they saw at CREW Marsh Trails. It’s a great example of how much is there on the trails, so much more than bears or boars or panthers or alligators.

 

Feb. 2 CREW Marsh Trails Observations from Jane Wallace and Laurel Rhodes

Butterflies                                                            Birds

White Peacock, 30+                                          Cardinal

Pearl Crescent, 30+                                        White eyed Vireo

Carolina Wren

Phaon Crescent, 30+                                       Cat bird

Black Swallowtail, 3                                         Common Yellow Throat

Ceraunus Blue, 1                                            Red Shouldered Hawk

Monarch, 1                                                       Great Egret

Barred Yellow, 2                                              Dragonflies

Great Southern White, 3                                Pond hawk, female

Gulf Fritillary, 3

Zebra longwings at CREW Marsh Trails

Flowering plant lists:

Non-native

Caesar weed, Urena lobata

Chocolateweed, Melochia corchorifolia

Red Tasselflower, Emilia fosbergii

White headed broom, Spermacoce verticillata

 

Native plants

American bluehearts, Buchnera americana

Blackroot, Pterocaulon pycnostachyum

Blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum

Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium sp.

Carolina wild petunia, Ruellia caroliniensis

Carolina wild petunia at CREW Marsh Trails

Carolina willow, Salix caroliniana

Chapman’s goldenrod, Solidago odora var. chapmanii

Climbing aster, Symphyotrichum carolinianum

Coastalplain hawkweed, Hieracium megacephalon

Cow pea, Vigna luteola

False pimpernel, Lindernia sp.

Fewflower milkweed, Asclepias lanceolata

Fog fruit, Phyla nodiflora

Fourpetal St.j Jhn’s-wort, Hypericum tetrapetalum

Leavenworth’s tickseed, Coreopsis leavenworthii

Netted pawpaw, Asimina reticulata

Pennyroyal, Piloblephis rigida

Pine Hyacinth,  Clematis baldwinii

Pine hyacinth at CREW Marsh Trails

Rabbitbells, Crotalaria rotundifolia

Rice button aster, Symphyotrichum dumosum

Roserush, Lygodesmia aphylla

Rosy camphorweed, Pluchea baccharis

Roundpod St. John’s-wort, Hypericum cistifolium 

Rusty lyonia, Lyonia fruticosa

Saltmarch fleabane, Pluchea odorata

Showy milkwort, Asemeia violacea [formerly Polygala grandiflora]

Snow squarestem, Melanthera nivea

Sowthistle, Sonchus oleraceus

Spanish needles, Bidens alba

Twinflower, Dyschoriste sp.

Walter’s viburnum, Viburnum obovatum

Water cowbane, Tiedemannia filiformis [formerly Oxypolis filiformis]

Wax myrtle, Myrica cerifera

Whitetop starrush , Rhynchospora colorata

Yellow buttons, Polygala rugelii

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CREW Marsh Shelter Construction Underway

CREW shelter 1 CREW shelter 4

After eight months of planning and permitting, we are delighted to announce that construction has begun on a new shelter at the CREW Marsh Trails. For many years, the CREW Trust has wanted a shelter at the trails to provide shade from the hot sun and cover from the rains, especially for our school groups who attend field trips.

Through a generous donation from CREW Trust member Ed Jacobitti, a beautiful 20′ x 40′ shelter – soon to be known as “Suzanne’s Pavilion” – is now becoming reality. Terry Skates of Terry Skates Construction navigated the permitting process for us and now has boots on the ground with construction started this week. The CREW land management staff from the South Florida Water Management District did all the site preparation work, so once again CREW is demonstrating the power of its partnerships.

Next time you hike the CREW Marsh Trails, take a stroll along the Oak Hammock Trail and sneak a peak at the new shelter. And let us know what you think…

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