Download - Blue Tilapia in the Swamp News at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

CORKSCREW SWAMP SANCTUARY

VOLUNTEER NEWSLETTER

June 29, 2015

SWAMP NEWS

ORCHIDS FOR THE FUTURE

As evidenced by this turn of the century photo, col-lectors and developers in

Florida have stripped the state of its native orchids. Now, a team of scientists is working to reintroduce the plants to the swamps where they once flourished.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a major participant in this revolutionary effort to ensure the preservation of both ghost and cigar orchids through efforts led by the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in partnership with Fa-kahatchee Strand State Preserve.

On May 22, seven cigar orchid plants propagated from the highly successful Fakahatchee project were placed at Corkscrew to improve the genetic diversity of the Sanctuary population. Volunteers Jean McCollom, Jim Burch, and Ralph Arwood carefully tagged, documented and placed the orchids at suitable locations along the Boardwalk.

On the same day, 80% of the

Super Ghost Orchid seeds previ-

ously collected in April were

dispersed back to the

Sanctuary.

SWAMP NEWS

Escape the summer heat and storms helping

with on-going research projects

If youre looking for a break from outdoor activities this summer but still want to make a dif-ference here at Corkscrew, our Research team could really use some help with office work. We have a variety of data entry and scanning projects, including:

Scanning datasheets on the library copier Entering volunteers Daily Sighting data and other research data into databases Helping identify and count mammals on trailcam photos (can be done from home once

trained)

If youre interested in helping with any of these jobs, please contact Shawn ([email protected]) or Mica ([email protected]). We can train you and get you started and you can work independently on your own schedule. This might be a great op-tion for folks on hot or stormy summer afternoons!

Notes from the

RESEARCH LOG DrDrDr. . . Shawn ClemShawn ClemShawn Clem

Environmental Research Scientists Wanted No Experience Necessary!

Research Manager

Off the Trail

Cam

May 2: A Florida

panther with a

river otter kill on

Wild Turkey

Strand Preserve

PANTHER Island

TRACKS

Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Allyson Webb Research Manager

Panther Island

Work has begun on Phase 8 of the Pan-

ther Island expansion. Around the perim-

eter of this area, there used to be berms

measuring at 2-4 feet tall. Those have

been strategically removed, leaving only

sections where tall pines or oak trees

are growing. Soil from these berms has

been used to fill in ditches in other are-

as. Both these actions will help improve

the hydrology in the area as well as the

Turtle Mound area due south.

Panther Island Mitigation Bank is one of the premier wetland restoration pro-jects in Southwest Florida. Deservedly so, Panther Island was the first miti-

gation bank included in the designation of a wetland of international im-portance from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

A primary goal of the expan-sion area is short hydroperiod wetlands. The hope is that this will increase foraging availa-ble for wood storks in order to support earlier nesting. This will in turn also aid other wad-ing bird species (great egrets, white ibis, great blue herons, etc.) and trickle down to sup-port amphibians and oth-er species that rely on the same type of habitat.

SWAMP NEWS

The Trail

Less Traveled Sally Stein

Director of Public Programs

Volunteer Field Trip Boardwalk at Night

Monday, July 6th 8:00 10:30pm

Join Sally for a summer nighttime boardwalk excursion on a moonless night. We will meet at the Education Office/Library and stroll out onto the boardwalk at the end of the day when the swamp is shifting into night mode, we will talk about night adaptations and walk the whole boardwalk loop looking and listening for night specialists, and then will head for the lake area after twilight where we will have the best chance to see the tiny bioluminescent mushrooms that are often fruiting at that time of year. Sunset is at 8:23 this night. Interested participants should contact Sally at [email protected] for more information and to sign up.

Corkscrew NABA

July Butterfly Survey

Tuesday, July 21 2015.

9am 3pm

We will meet in the classroom here at Cork-screw at 9am and get

started as soon as possi-ble. We divide up into 3

5 teams, depending on how many participants

and experienced people we have, covering differ-ent areas of our count cir-cle within the Sanctuary.

In case of really bad weather on the 21st , we have planned a backup rain date on Thursday,

July 30th . Contact Sally at [email protected] for more

information and to sign up.

Butterfly Seminar and Stroll

Monday, July 13, 2015

9am - 12pm

Blair Center Classroom

Enjoy a one hour program followed by a stroll on the boardwalk through various

habitats to learn more about local butterflies and how to identify common

species. Great preparation for the Butterfly Survey!

Please dress for the outdoors, bring sun protection and plen-

ty of water. Binoculars are

also recommended.

Volunteer Training

July 15th, 16th,

and 17th

Contact Sally at [email protected] for more in-

formation and to sign up.

Summer Outreach

As part of an effort to strengthen partner-ships with other community organizations, I was a guest at CMon...The Childrens Muse-um of Naples. It was a great opportunity to meet families and talk about Corkscrew. Many had never visited here before. My very popular buddy, Baby Gator #1 and I roamed around the museum interacting with the chil-dren up close and personal. An interactive display was set-up in the amphitheater where I spoke with a larger group about the important role alligators play in the eco-system. The kids loved touching the animal pelts, turtle shells and gator teeth. It was a great experience!

Baby G and I also did a presentation for 2nd and 3rd grade students from St. Elizabeth Seton School at Cambier Park. It was a beautiful, breezy day and the perfect setting my gator display.

Everyday

Adventures


Debbie Lotter

Education Coordinator

After my trip to the park, I had to stop at

Wal-Mart for a few things. No responsible

pet owner or gator handler would ever

leave an animal in a hot car, so Baby G

went shopping. This is not the first time for

him, as Baby G is quite the fashionista.

Usually he goes unnoticed. If youve been

in Wal-Mart, you know that there are many

unusual things to be seen, (mainly of the

human kind). Well, he was spotted by some

curious (or perhaps nosy) shoppers and I

did my very first presentation in aisle 6.

Quite a nice crowd gathered. It just goes to

show you that Community Outreach is

something that can be done anywhere!

Hydrology Report


The solid red line indicates daily depth at the B-gauge throughout this hydrologic year. Dashed lines indicate record high and low lev-els. The shaded area indicates the typical depth throughout the year (25th to 75th percentiles).

The New Generations at Corkscrew

Page 7 SWAMP NEWS

Rich Kunz

Murray Barnhart

Christine Cook

Rich Kunz

Murray Barnhart

Murray Barnhart

Invasive Species Alert


Blue Who?

Blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus, is a familiar face at Corkscrew. With its red-edged fins, vertical striping, and joined soft and spiny dorsal fins, blue tilapia thrives in just about any availa-ble surface water in Florida: agricul-tural canals, brackish and freshwater pools, and even in the shallows of the Gulf.

The human interface

Hardy and delicious, O. aureus was originally introduced to the American continent for its food val-ue. It is native to northern Africa and the Middle East, and is tolerant of a wide range of water salin-ities and temperatures. Prized for its flaky, mild white flesh, blue tilapia is still carried in restaurants, at grocery stores, and on the stringers of roadside anglers all over Florida.

Implications for conservation

Perfectly suited for aquaculture, this species is less ideal in wild areas where it competes with na-tive species. O. aureuss only criteria for breeding is that the water remain above 68 F (20 C); sa-line or freshwater will do, dirty or clean, sheltered or exposed. Males dig large circular nests in the substrate and defend them aggressively. Females protect the fertilized eggs and (once hatched) fry in their mouths until the young are about 5 days old and continue sheltering them there as needed for three weeks. Through preferential feeding on certain phytoplankton taxa and competi-tion for territory, O. aureus has singlehandedly rearranged the ecology throughout its expanded range, displacing native fish and invertebrates. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is not alone in sing-ing the tilapia blues.

Sources

Blue Tilapia: Oreochromis aureus. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision. http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/freshwater/nonnatives/blue-tilapia/

Oreochromis aureus: fish. Invasive Species Database. http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=1323&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

Something in the Water:

the Wild Blue [Tilapia] Yonder

Article and Illustration By:

Emily McCall, Research Intern

Changes with the A-Gauge

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 9

Boardwalk Naturalists may have noticed that the A-Gauge that was down for several months during the dry season has recently been re-placed. The A-Gauge is particularly interesting to visitors because not only does is measure water depth above ground (right side) but it al-so measures water level above sea level (left side). The height above sea level is based on a national standard scale for sea level called Na-tional Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) that was established based on mean sea level na-tionwide. This allows for accurate water depth comparisons across the country (or across a region).

If youve really been paying attention, youll no-tice that the sea level scale on the old A-Gauge is different from that of the new gauge. The old A-Gauge read water depth in NGVD (true feet above sea level) and the new A-Gauge is off 10 feet (the new gauge reads 6 ft. where the old gauge read 16 ft.). If we can find a staff gauge with the scale we need this may be cor-rected, but until then the sea level depth will actually read NGVD-10 ft (to get the true height above sea level add 10 feet to what you see on the gauge).

Please continue to record the A-Gauge depth on the Daily Sightings sheets as the water depth above ground (not above sea level). Be-cause of the depression that has formed at the A-Gauge, it is also important to differentiate between a reading of 0 (when you actually see the water line at the bottom of the gauge) and the case where the water level is below the bottom of the gauge (which you can indicate as below zero or

Names Corkscrew as

one of Floridas Top 10 Destinations

Worth Driving To.

News Flashes

Along the Boardwalk


Volunteers Rich Kuntz and Orlando Hidalgo join

Sally on a field excursion at low water levels to

learn about the hammock at Little Corkscrew, see

the old cabin there and hike out to the Mud Lake.

Visiting Fern Researcher, Christopher Krieg, visited Corkscrew on Thursday May 28 and gave an informative talk on ferns and his re-search before heading out on the boardwalk. 27 staff and volunteers attended the talk and 17 came on the walk. Chris wanted to share his website www.ckrieg.com as he is working on expanding it to include multiple resources for learning more about ferns! Anyone inter-

ested in ferns, please contact him at [email protected] Ask Sally if you would

like to copy or view his talk.

Corkscrew awarded $25,000 grant from US Fish & Wildlife to aid in eradi-cation of invasive popcorn sedge in wetlands.

Annie Bacon

Michele Bizub

Mike Bizub

Michelle Caffrey

Mike Caffrey

Nan Mehta

Cindy Myron

Eric Schoen

Tom Weis

WELCOME TO OUR NEW VOLUNTEERS!

Special May-June Sightings

Great White Heron Bobolinks

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

The Back Page

Inside Story Headline

Inside Story Headline

Dear Volunteers,

I dont know what happened, but the entire month of May evaporated as rapidly as the swamp water before I could get a newsletter out. I promise to do

better and get back to the monthly schedule! There is just so much going on

and so much information to share. Heres just a few of the major highlightsWeve had media visits from National Geographic (digital version) and Paradise TV, as well as local newspapers. Despite the heat and humidity, we still have a

steady stream of visitors everyday from all over the world and from our local

community. The afternoon rains have begun and water levels in the swamp have

significantly risen. There were 104 applicants for the position of Volunteer Co-

ordinator and we are interviewing the top candidates. Hopefully, we will have

that special person hired and at work by the end of July! Whew!

Keep in touch and have a great 4th of July celebration! Email me newslet-

ter photos, comments, suggestions, and contributions at [email protected].

See ya next month!

Cheers!

Candy


Rhexia mariana Pale Meadow Beauty

Marsh-Pink Sebatia stellaris Calopogon pallidus Pale

grass-pink orchid

Everything is looking very rosy south of

the Visitor Center in the pine flat wood

area which was burned last March.

From Julie Wraithmell

Director of Wildlife Conservation

Audubon Florida


Dear Audubon Advocates,

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Commissions meeting in Sarasota, where the commissioners were considering two issues of great concern to Audubon and all Floridians:

Proposed Panther Policy Changes

On Tuesday, the Commission heard testimony from

scores of people concerned by proposed policy changes

for the states efforts to recover the Florida panther. The new draft policy indicated that the state would no longer

work to help panthers reclaim any of their historic range

north of the Caloosahatchee River, asserted that the ex-

isting panther population in southwest Florida was at or

above carrying capacity, and suggested that recovery

goals for the panther set by the US Fish and Wildlife

Service were too ambitious and should be reconsidered.

While the panther population has expanded from its historic low in the 1970s, the species is

still highly endangered. Commissioner Ron Bergeron was first among the commissioners

to voice concerns about the proposal.

Ultimately, the Commission voted as Audubon had hoped: to take the position paper

back to clarify some of the language they believed resulted in so much misunderstanding.

Read more about this issue in the Miami Herald.

First Florida Black Bear Hunt in 21 Years

On Wednesday, the Commission considered opening a Florida Black Bear hunt for the first

time in 21 years. Despite four hours of testimonyan overwhelming majority of which was in oppositionand more than 100,000 email comments, petition signatures and more oppos-ing the hunt, the Commissioners ultimately voted 5 to 1 to approve the hunt.

While conceding that the hunt would do nothing to improve public safety in Florida com-

munities where unsecured trash and food have made nuisances of bears, the Commission

asserted that a hunt was not just desired by recreational bear hunters, but needed as a

management tool to control the rebounding Florida black bear population. Agency biolo-gists announced this summer that bear numbers in two populations had increased almost

30% over 2002 levels; population estimates for the remaining populations in the state will

not be complete until at least next year. Yet the Florida black bear only occupies 18% of its

historic range and in its current, restricted range, landscape conversion to human develop-

ment continues.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Again, Commissioner Ron Bergeron took a principled stand as the only commissioner

who felt the hunt was premature. Some others spoke to the important legacy of hunting

as though this were a referendum on hunting, rather than on the science and appropri-

ateness of hunting an iconic and vulnerable Florida

apex species.

Click here to read more about my testimony and that

of the many hunt opponents in the Orlando Sentinel.

After approval of the hunt, the Commission also ap-

proved changes to the states prohibition on bear feeding, making it easier for wildlife officers to cite

offenders. Audubon was happy to see progress on

this frontone of the most meaningful tools we have to reduce human-bear conflicts. At the same time,

the Commission also gave the staff permission to en-

gage in a more concerted way with local governments to require the use of bear proof

trash cans in bear country. While this was a step in the right direction, this is the work

most urgently needed to make Florida communities safer for people and bears alike.

Audubon urged the Commission to go further, faster: Make a more robust action

plan and timeline for this work, and pursue it as energetically as the agency pursued the

new bear hunt. Commissioners Bergeron, Liesa Priddy and Brian Yablonski have

already begun working with municipalities and companies with whom they have relation-

shipswe thank them for this leadership.

Many of the hunts opponents were disappointed by the outcomeI know, I was too. But I am also incredibly proud of and thankful for the effort made by the advocates

at the meeting, and those who made calls and sent emails, advocates like you.

I am grateful for the courage of Commissioner Bergeron to speak his mind, and create a

better outcome for panthers. And I am optimistic that your overwhelming response in

support of bears will continue as cities and counties consider bear-proof trash can ordi-

nances.

Wildlife in Florida belong to all the people, not just a select few; thank you for lending

your voice to species who cannot speak for themselves.

Sincerely,

Download - Blue Tilapia in the Swamp News at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

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