Birds, Water, Coots oh my!

So like I said before, each week is themed, covering pretty much everything that it takes to make a muncipality...or three...run properly. So February 23 rolls around and it just happens to be "Environment Day". Now, I must tell you, back in 2002 in Teen Leadership, this day was just...well, my partner was the class clown. I was the victim of a typical adolescent male's pranks; bugs in my face, almost canoe tip overs and "Is that a snake?" every 10 minutes. Let's just say, this time, I was hoping that the 10 year difference was on my side. :) I'm going to apologize here because I tried to remember facts and names and they may be incorrect. If so, leave the correct facts in the comments and I'll be happy to edit the post.

So at a bright and early 7:30am, I head off to Babb Landing where we met with our fearless leaders of the day. There were representatives from the South Florida Water Management District, Osceola County Department of Natural Resources, Florida Wildlife Conservation and the Department of Fisheries...which might not be the official name, but what a cool part to work for! :) The best part? Most of them were UF grads...total plus in my book!

So they bought our love with a good cup o' joe and donuts for breakfast and then rolled into why their jobs here are so vital to animal, plant and water life. There is even an endangered bird we learned about that is a threatened species in our county, the Snail Kite. Zach (above) from the Florida Wildlife Conservation explains the danger of the animal's habitat due to the drought that came in 2000. The snail kites feed on apple snail (sounds yummy right?) and have marked South Florida as it's preferred nesting location, mostly in the Everglades. But you knew that right? :)


After this we headed out to Boggy Creek Airboat Rides and ventured onto Lake Tohopekaliga. We brought this along in case anyone got out of hand...

 

Talk about the wind-blown look. All the ladies were stylin' after this ride.

This was my first airboat ride. I must say it was one of the loudest, but most solemn things I've ever done. To think we were riding out to all this hardly disturbed water just to look at what nature has to offer. We got to see coots move out of the way, almost like they were walking on water and a few fishermen, which we learned that some men fish all day and that is how they feed their families day after day; catfish was the only one I remembered, but I thought he said there wasn't much. Speaking of which, Kissimmee's sponsored angler, Terry Segraves met us on the lake to tell us the facts about Osceola's popular competitive sport, bass fishing. It brings so many people to Central Florida and really helps boost our local economy.

 

Some things that you'd be interested to know... The largest bass caught on Lake Toho was a massive weight of 16 lbs, 10 oz! Also, you can't sell freshwater fish. (yeahhhh...I didn't know this.) The boat above is Terry's. We can't host the most popular bass fishing lake without having our own competitor! :) The middle guy is from the Fisheries dept and the man on the right own's Lake Toho Marina so it was an excellent panel that stood up to our hard questions.

It might not look like a monster, but this is Hydrilla. Hydrilla is a non-native, invasive aquatic plant that has caused a huge infestation in our lakes and creeks. It's carried by boats that visited other waters and then they thought it would be SO nice for Lake Toho to have some of it. I learned so much about University of Florida (my amazing alma mater) and what they are doing to test small areas to kill the hydrilla and what it will do on a large scale. On the plus side, this plant is a good habitat and food for fish & snails. If they would just eat it all, we might be able to top our own bass fishing record! :)

So after the airboat ride, we headed over to Shingle Creek. This is one of those places, that while I hate to admit it, I drive past all the time without noticing all it had to offer. So we arrive and we're met by our newest fearless leader, Bob Mendick, who looked familiar since we briefly sat on the Historical Society Board together. He first started to tell us how we'd be heading down the creek shortly which brought back some scary memories for me, but that was 10 years ago....right? :) To the left of the launching site, the county had restored an old cabin. Below are some of the 2011 class checkin it out!

 

Pretty crazy to think that was the way they lived back then. Makes me wonder how long I'd last without today's technologies. Shoot, I wouldn't even get in the canoe without my iPhone...I know I know...judge me all you want. :)


Bob asked us to partner up and so I spotted Jay, who works for the Sheriff's office. Pretty good choice right? Hey, I felt pretty safe! Jay was the best canoing partner a girl could have. He told me I didn't even have to paddle! What a guy! That is probably because I was hindering more than helping. I believe at one point, I was trying to paddle away and Jay was anchoring us with his paddle.  I was really confused...only later to hear Tall Tom laughing at me...its alright..I would have laughed at me too. :)

Not a bad view for the afternoon eh? I must admit, I wish I had known that this existed before. What a great thing to do on a lazy Saturday or for a friend's birthday. Definitely beats heading to some fancy restaurant!

So we dock the canoes and head up to the Babb property to eat lunch underneath this beautiful oak tree. I don't get outdoors much, given my career that involves sitting at a desk for 45+ hours a week, but I definitely will be doing that again. After lunch, we headed back to the vans, stopping on the way to enjoy some fresh citrus. What a perfect way to top of our lunch! We walked right up to the trees, picked them off, peeled em and ate em. Bob promised they hadn't been sprayed so we didn't hesitate!

 

We headed back to the Steffe House, near where we launched the canoes, to spend the afternoon at the "Environmental Fair" that the Natural Resources Department had set up for us. There were about 9 different stops that taught us so many things. Some of the things I learned that I never knew...

1. IFAS/UF Extension Services offers classes for free or nearly free on many subjects like sewing, gardening, farming etc. 

2. There are a lot of different kinds of mosquitos.

3. St. Cloud is working on a curbside recycling system. YES!!

4. Toho Water Authority gave us some great tips for saving water. My water bill is about $75 a month. I guess we'll see next month how everything pans out. You can pick up some water saving items at their office on MLK Blvd. (You're welcome Mary!)

5.  We learned why retention ponds are important and why you cannot build your home right next to the water in every case. They used this super cool mode to demonstrate where rainwater goes.

And my favorite part of the Environmental Fair? The solor panels...of course. These guys brought out a huge solar panel matt and made smoothies with solar power. Perfect way to end the long day.


So I guess you could say my favorite part was definitely the canoe ride. I'd never been happier to be without cellphone service. Plus it was a great way for us as a class to really get to know eachother. Not to mention the beautiful Florida orange after all that hard work. :)

Some words from my classmates -

Tom Sullivan - Environmental Day started off at Babb Landing, and then we were off to the Boggy Creek Airboats Pavilion.  We were greeted by a terrific group of experts -- Sherry Burroughs, Bridget Tolley, Zach Welch to name just a couple -- to discuss a variety of environmental issues.  We learned about the importance of Snail Kites and what an increasingly important and unique environment Lake Toho provides for them.  Needless to say, the airboat tour was fantastic and we got the chance to meet a professional fishing guide who makes his living through various fishing activities on Lake Toho.  Learning that about $25 million dollars a year is pumped into the Osceola economy from fishing activities was impressive, and eye opening to me personally -- what a great industry in our backyard!  We then headed to Shingle Creek for a terrific canoe trip and a nice lunch.  The rest of the day was spent at the Environmental Fair, which included an outstanding group of folks -- Bob Mindick, Eddie Snell, Energy Grant staff members, Tara Urbanik, Jessica Sullivan, Jennifer Nicholson, Bridget Tolley and Liz Block -- who provided us with a ton of great information, and a sneak preview tour of the Steffee Homestead.  All in all, another fantastic day of Leadership Osceola!



So let's hope 40 years from now when I'm in Leadership Legends, I'm much better at canoeing than I am now.


Bye for now,


Kelly