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Showing posts from 2014

FNPS Annual Fund Drive

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Live Oak seedling By Devon Higgenbotham Have you ever planted a young Live Oak or Hickory knowing you might never it see reach maturity? In this age of instant gratification, too often we want results today, but in 1980 the founders of the Florida Native Plant Society had the foresight to start an organization that would outlive them. "Too old to plant trees for my own gratification I shall do it for posterity." said Thomas Jefferson, age 83. The Florida Native Plant Society was started by individuals that were looking into the future and planning for an organization that would grow and provide benefits to all Floridians for many years.  We have been handed the benefits of their foresight, the full grown shade tree that was planted years ago, perhaps before we were around. We in turn have the responsibility to nurture this organization for the generations that will come after us, keep it healthy and leave it stronger than when we found it.  This is the time of

Helen Roth: Amazing Florida Land Steward

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By Arlo H. Kane, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Welcome to Spring Canyon LLC in Gadsden County, a 100-acre property owned by Helen and Tom Roth. This beautiful property is home to steephead ravines and longleaf pine-wire grass sandhills. Helen has traced the history of the property through property records and aerial photographs back to 1926 near the end of the turpentine era. In 1960, the land was donated to the First Baptist Church of Greensboro. The church put in a dam on Crooked Creek to create a small lake in the center of the property. Fire was excluded from the uplands during their ownership. Helen’s brother, Mark Bane, bought the property in 1993 and began working with the Forest Stewardship Program in 1994. He harvested the hardwoods from two of the three upland areas and applied prescribed fire to one of the areas be- fore he passed away in 2005 and the property passed to Mark and Helen’s father. Helen Roth, owner and manager of Spring Canyon In 200

November Board and Council Meeting at Disney Wilderness Preserve

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By Laurie Sheldon We got lost on our way, but finally made it to the Disney Wilderness Preserve late Friday afternoon. A quintet of wild turkeys ushered us in as we navigated along Scrub Jay Trail en route to the Conservation Learning Center. Petra Royston showed us the lovely room that the Board and Council would be using on Saturday for our meetings, then handed us a map and pointed out where our accommodations were, noting the trails nearby. After dropping off what we'd brought for the business portion of our trip, the eight of us piled into the two vehicles capable of driving on the unpaved road to the "dorm" we were staying in without getting stuck. "Dorm," as it turned out, was code for a double-wide trailer that had once served as the Preserve's offices. It had several rooms of beds, some bunked, a small kitchen, two bathrooms at the end of the hallway (one labeled "ladies" and one labeled "guests"), and two gathering ar

Ecopsychology

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Russ Hoffman by Laurie Sheldon On November 15, 2014, the FNPS Board of Directors and Council of Chapters met at Disney Wilderness preserve. We had Russ Hoffman, a former psychologist and the owner of Beautiful Ponds (a Venice, Florida firm focused on lake, wetland and preserve management) as our guest speaker prior to launching into "business." He delivered a presentation on the subject of Ecopsychology in which he introduced a handful of  topical theories in a relatively short period of time. I have elaborated on these in this blog. I believe that you will find them to be both enlightening and useful in all of your communication endeavors, environmental and otherwise. Ecopsych: Definition and Applications What is Ecopsychology and why does it matter to FNPS? The term Ecopsychology, coined by Theodore Roszak in his 1992 text entitled The Voice of the Earth , can be vaguely defined as a study of the interrelationship between humans and nature. Essentially, Eco

Prairie Wildflower Walk: So Many Thanks to Give!

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Thanksgiving always makes me feel, well, thankful. With the first official Wildflower Walk at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve over, and a great success, I am especially thankful. It was the first park event sponsored by the Friends of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Our goal was to bring new people to the preserve, show them the beauty of the dry prairie and educate them on the importance of its preservation and protection. We also wanted to recruit new members to the group, and send people home with wonderful memories that they will share with others. I believe we achieved all of our goals, and we owe that success to many. Here are my thanks: Mother Nature: Some might say she was a bit too generous with the wind that day, but she kept us cool, and provided a beautiful blue sky and the perfect light to view the prairie. Thank you, Mother Nature . Roger Hammer and Craig Huegel each know a lot about plants. Together they are walking encyclopedia of Florida wildflowers. With each questio

Prairie Wildflower Walk

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Sponsored by the Friends of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve When most people think of prairie they think of the Midwest; flat, treeless land with acres upon acres of wheat or corn. Few conjure an image of dwarf palmetto and wiregrass stretching to the horizon, interrupted only by sparse hammocks of cabbage palm and small seasonal ponds. Yet Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, located in rural Okeechobee, is just that. KPP protects the largest remaining tract of the unique Florida dry prairie. Its 54,000 acres contain a mosaic of dry prairie, wet prairie, marshes, sloughs, cabbage palm and oak hammocks, flood plain - no less than 14 distinct natural communities - which sustain a vast and diverse array of flora and fauna. This is prairie in Florida, shaped by the sea, maintained by frequent fire, and with its own history. This is the land made famous by author Patrick Smith in A Land Remembered . In the fall, the Florida dry prairie is ablaze with color and texture: rich yellow g

Magnolia Chapter Gets College Students "Hooked" on FNPS

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By Scott Davis It is a wide known fact that the attention span of today's youth is short—and getting shorter. Twenty years ago, it would have taken hours (or days) of research to acquire the same amount of knowledge that can be obtained in just a few seconds of keyboard finger tapping today! Though the future of FNPS depends upon the successful recruitment of members from all age groups and cultures, it is obviously paramount to the society's future to adapt for the ever-changing interests of young people. The Magnolia Chapter's outreach has included local universities and the USFWS. If your chapter hasn't forged partnerships with like-minded organizations, now is a great time to start. Recently, the Magnolia Chapter developed some ideas that have proven to be very effective in "hooking" local youth. Magnolia chapter officers voted recently to establish three chapter leadership positions for student board members. These three positions reflect Tall