Tag: CREWTrust

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A Look Back on our 25th Anniversary

pictures of CREW

CREW has had an incredible 25th Anniversary Year:

* Over 38,000 visitors to CREW Trails
* Two amazing fundraisers brought in over $30,000
* CREW volunteers donated 3,906 hours
* 4,600 people participated in our environmental education programs

January 2014, the CREW Trust began its 25th anniversary, celebrating 25 years of land conservation and environmental education in southwest Florida. From the kick-off event in frigid cold weather last January to our final #GivingTuesday end-of-year fundraising campaign running through December 31st, this celebration has had something for everyone – a wine & cheese social and a BBQ for CREW members, trail events that included a variety of guided walks about everything from mushrooms to mammals, a geocaching day, a horseback ride through Flint Pen Strand, a guided bicycle ride at Bird Rookery Swamp, a Vitamin N Walk for families, a fabulous 25th anniversary concert featuring the Sarah Hadeka Band and Deb & the Dynamics, and our first #GivingTuesday fundraiser. Thank you to every one of you who volunteered, participated, sponsored, supported, and gave to CREW during 2014, making our 25th anniversary such a success! We look forward to the next 25 years…

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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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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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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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Wild File Q&A: Why don’t birds fall off their perches when they’re sleeping or napping?

by CREW Volunteer Naturalist, Dick Brewer

Q:      Why don’t birds fall of their perches when they’re sleeping or napping?

A:      From small wrens and warblers to large herons and egrets, birds have a seemingly uncanny ability to sleep in trees and other vegetation without ever falling off of their perches.  How do they do that?

It’s not magic. The bird’s toes lock around the branch automatically; no conscious action is needed by the bird whether awake or asleep. Tendons pass from the muscle at the back of the bird’s leg, down around the back of its ankle, and to the inside of its toes. When a bird settles its weight on a branch, the legs bend. That tightens the tendons so much that the toes are automatically pulled tight and clamped around the perch. All conscious or controllable actions are bypassed, so even when it’s asleep, the bird cannot possibly move from the perch.          When the bird straightens its legs, the tendons relax and the grip is released. That’s why a bird often seems to ‘spring’ off of its perch — it’s just unlocking its hold. Even if it’s resting on just one leg, the bird is locked onto its perch.

Barred Owl Perched by Dick Brewer
A Barred Owl naps, one leg tucked in and the other firmly locked around the branch. (Photo by Dick Brewer)
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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.

 

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Gov. Scott Pledges Up to $20 Million for CREW Land Purchases

On August 5th, 2014, Governor Rick Scott announced during a press conference at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary that he’s working with Florida Audubon to purchase key parcels of land within the CREW  (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed). The $20 million pledge would be from the Florida Forever Trust Fund and will be spent in Southwest Florida, with CREW lands being the primary goal. CREW has been on the Florida Forever acquisition list since 1991.  Click here for a DEP fact sheet about CREW and Florida Forever.

One parcel that is of particular interest is the Gargiulo Land Trust – a 600-acre parcel near Corkscrew Sanctuary and Bird Rookery Swamp. CREW Trust Chairman of the Board, Ben Nelson, attended the announcement with Gov. Scott. “Our concentration has been on that particular piece because we knew it was available and it wouldn’t be available for long,” said Nelson. “That was the one that was our focus.” The Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council adopted a resolution on August 14th supporting CREW land acquisition by Florida Forever funds.

Gargiulo Land Trust site
Gargiulo Land Trust site (Photo by Land Solutions, Inc.)

This all comes as good news to the CREW Trust, which has worked for 25 years to protect and preserve this watershed through land acquisition, management, and education.

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CREW Trust Welcomes New Trustees

The CREW Land & Water Trust elected five new Trustees to its board at their May 9, 2014 Trustees Meeting. CREW welcomes:

  • Dennis Gilkey of Gilkey Organization, LLC
  • Steve Kissinger of Children’s Advocacy Center
  • John Mathes of Mathes Realty Appraisal and Board member of Bonita Springs Utilities
  • Bob Rosier, of Rosier Insurance
  • Laurel Smith of Gravina, Smith, Matte & Arnold Marketing & Public Relations firm

These new Trustees bring valuable business and non-profit experience and insight to the CREW Trust Board. We thank them for volunteering their talent and time, and we look forward to working closely with each of them.

 

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