Category: Environment

Sandy Creek State Forest

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Photo Credit: Bear Creek Forest Florida Forever Project by Lauren YohoWildpath

Welcome to Sandy Creek State Forest!

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has acquired 12,243 acres in Bay County that will become a new state forest system. The new forest acreage will expand the Florida Wildlife Corridor; it will also provide a new natural destination for public recreation in Northwest Florida. Completed under the Bear Creek Forest Florida Forever Project, the new acreage protects a key portion of the St. Andrew Bay Watershed. Protecting the watershed helps 1) safeguard water quality, 2) reduce flooding in surrounding communities, and 3) supports a wide variety of habitats. Habitats include: longleaf pine forests, wetlands, and floodplains. The habitats support wildlife like the keystone gopher tortoise, the Florida black bear, and other potentially threatened and endangered species like the reticulated flatwoods salamander and dark-headed hatpins flower.

The property will be managed by the Florida Forest Service to support both conservation and recreation. DEP Secretary Alexis A. Lambert says, “With the creation of Sandy Creek State Forest, we’re not only preserving vital ecosystems and expanding wildlife habitat but also connecting conservation lands from Eglin Air Force Base to Apalachicola National Forest. This new state forest will offer meaningful public access while protecting the natural resources that make our state so special.”

The park isn’t open to the public quite yet, but will offer hiking, wildlife viewing, and outdoor education once it is. According to an email from the DEP Press Office, “Florida is at the forefront of the nation’s land protection efforts and continues to be a model for other land acquisition programs across the country. Through the Florida Forever Program, the state conserves land that provides environmental, recreational and preservation benefits, including water quality and quantity safeguards; resilience from storm impacts; habitat and species protections; and outdoor recreation opportunities.”

For more information about the Florida Forever Program, visit Florida DEP here.

2nd Annual Sandhills Celebration

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Click image to learn more!

Founded in the Bay County, Sandhills Native Nursery is hosting their 2nd Annual Sandhills Celebration! It’s an event focused on education and conservation taking place on April 12th &13th. Join them for two family-friendly days of scheduled educational talks, local community organizations, animal ambassadors, local artists, food, trails, and more! The event is free to attend but bring cash for art vendors, food and drinks from local cafe Wild Root, plant purchases, and more. Parking is limited, please carpool. 

 

Coastal Plant Giveaways

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Escambia County is hosting two FREE costal plant giveaways for the public this April. The giveaways will take place at Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key. The plants will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Additionally, there will be a limit of one plant grouping per household. Participating citizens will receive a small grouping of several species to encourage diversity and resiliency within the coastal ecosystem. The giveaway plant species include sea oats, blue stem, dune sunflower, blazing star, blanket flower, beach morning glory, and other coastal natives. The plants are being donated by Gulf Coast Fencing and Dune Restoration following local seed collection as part of the Pensacola Beach Dune Restoration Project. Please bring small boxes or baskets to transport plants.

Plant giveaways will take place at the following locations at the following times:

April 25: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Perdido Key Community Center, 15500 Perdido Key Drive
April 26: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Pensacola Beach Community Church, 920 Panferio Drive

 

Don’t Start Outdoor Spring Cleaning Just Yet!

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Photo by local artist, Mx. Noah (click photo for more)

Your landscape, be it yard or garden, is an important part of your home. Many people have felt the urge to start straightening their outdoor spaces but don’t get ahead of yourself! The changing of the seasons is not a light switch; it’s a gradual shift. This means there are still cool days ahead. It also means that most of your garden is still snoozing or just beginning to break dormancy. Pollinators including all our beautiful butterflies, caterpillars, moths, and more over-winter in yard debris like fallen leaves and spent flower stems. When you pick the debris up and stuff/shred it into a waste bag to haul away, the next generation of beneficial pollinators are killed before they can emerge and start the cycle over. Pollinators play a vital role in healthy ecosystems; in fact, without the Southern Blueberry Bee (Habropoda laboriosa), we wouldn’t get to enjoy such a rich flush of Rabbiteye blueberries here in Florida (learn more about the crucial relationship between food production and pollinators here).

Here’s some tips and tricks for keeping your plants safe for potential weather shifts while supporting the beautiful pollinators who call our ‘yard waste’ home during the winter.

Click to enlarge
  • When it comes to trimming unsightly cold damage, please don’t. Leaving the damaged foliage helps insulate the plant and keeps it from going into shock during future cold night. Wait until spring has officially arrived to trim dead foliage (learn more about March 20th, the Spring Equinox). 
  • Want to get out in the garden but don’t want to hurt your plants or local wildlife? Consider doing one of these tasks instead of pruning/burning: start seedlings, clean your gutters, repair any broken fencing/bed edging, weed unwanted grass from beds, transplant seedlings from undesired areas, maintenance any garden tools so they’re ready for the equinox – there’s lots to do to get ready for spring!
  • When can you clean up? “Watching for insect activity is the easiest way to know when to clean up. When you start seeing insects, the spring emergence is underway. Wait a few days to be sure and go for it. Remember, leave the garden a little messy. Old twigs, perennial stems, and leaf litter all make excellent nesting and habitat sites for the coming season. If we all pitch in, we can save our pollinators, as our food chain and survival depend on these insects.”(source)

Have You Heard About the Poor Man’s Fertilizer?

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‘Snow is a poor man’s fertilizer’ is an infamous expression that some consider nothing more than an old wives’ tale. But snow is actually quite useful in the garden. With record breaking snowfall across the Florida Panhandle, we got curious about the benefits of snow:

  1. Snow collects nitrogen and other particulates like sulfur as it falls through the atmosphere. When it melts, those helpful elements can help revitalize soil. 
  2. The moisture snow provides can help nourish seeds, sprouts, and seedlings so they survive sometimes unpredictable spring rainfalls without assistance. 
  3. Snow acts as a natural insulator; it has a crystalline structure that creates air pockets useful in protecting delicate roots and bulbs against radical temperature fluctuations during hard freezes.
  4. Snow moved from hard walkways such as walkways, patios, decks, or driveways can be added to grass, flowerbeds, or garden plots. This will add extra moisture to the soil rather than allowing it to evaporate.
  5. Snow can be collected in rain barrels, open troughs, or other containers to use for watering gardens or pots once it melts. 

Want to learn more about the poor man’s fertilizer? Tim Travers further explains nitrogen in his 2002 article (click here to open). 

Bays Estuary Program Fundraiser

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The St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bay Estuary Program is celebrating National Estuaries Week on September 28th! They will be hosting a 5k through the scenic wetlands of Conservation Park in Panama City. There will be a Kids’ 1K Fun Run will begin at 8:30am CDT with the 5k following at 9:00am CDT.

The event directly benefits the St. Andrew & St. Joseph Bay Estuary Program with all proceeds going towards their efforts to protect and restore the beautiful and vital estuarine ecosystems of the local Bays. The Kids Run will be $20 and the 5K is $25. *There will be a price increase after 9/21*

Interested in registering as a runner or sponsoring? CLICK HERE!

3 Easy-to-Grow Flowers for Florida Summers

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The humidity is more persistent than the mosquitos and the summer storms don’t happen often enough; we’re in the thick of summer here in the Florida Panhandle! The periods of intense heat can sap the life out of everything green; porch plants are wilting, ornamental shrubs are browning, and extra waterings just seem to cause sun spots and yellowing leaves.

If you’re looking for plants that can handle the heat and the blackest of thumbs, look no further than the list below! It’s curated entirely from native plants; this means they’ve all genetically evolved to better handle local Florida weather. While all plants need a period of establishment when added to a garden (i.e. supplemental waterings) or daily waterings (if kept in a pot), native plants require less supplemental watering each year, require no fertilization to produce blooms, and are typically much lower maintenance than typical ornamental flowering plants. 

Blanket Flower (Galliardia spp.)

This is an easy-to-grow, short-lived perennial with richly colored, daisy-like flowers. The plant forms a slowly spreading mound, and the common name may be a reference to how they can slowly spread and “blanket” an area. They self-seed readily; if you’d like to stop them from self-seeding or want to extend the bloom time, you can dead-head the flowers (more on dead-heading flowers). 

Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)

A colorful perennial with fragrant flowers; thrives in sunny and well-drained soil. It also appreciates being deadheaded. Scarlet sage can be found with red, white, or pink flowers. It’s deer resistant and easy to grow. While it can grow to 2-3ft tall, it handles pruning quite well and can be kept to a desired height easily. Best of all, it attracts everything from butterflies to bees to hummingbirds!

Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora)

This is the plant to accompany all other plants! Frogfruit is the perfect plant to add to hanging baskets, to keep down weeds in your well-kept beds, or function as a walkable, mowable groundcover to replace costly turf grass. Another benefit? It’s popular with pollinators including small bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies. Frog fruit is the host plant for three butterflies: the phaon crescent, buckey, and white peacock.

 

National Endangered Species Day

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Today is National Endangered Species Day. It’s the result of the America’s Endangered Species Act of 1973; the act sparked domestic and international conservation by providing a framework for protection. Protecting endangered species is crucial for the preservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems. Every species plays an essential role in maintaining the balance of their ecosystems; 881 animal species have gone extinct since around 1500. We need to protect the ones that are left. 

Unfortunately, endangered species are currently under attack due to the America’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation Act. Currently up for voting in Congress, this act masquerades as positive wildlife conservation while actually working to revoke funding from critical conservation programs. The Act also seeks to weaken the Endangered Species Act by tightening the definition of “critical habitat” under the law. By tightening the definition, the Act will keep crucial areas from being protected and increase the danger to endangered animals. 

Do you want to help your favorite endangered species? Giant pandas, sea turtles, polar bears, and whales are just some of the over 1,300 endangered species under threat by this Act. Sign the Ocean Conservacy’s Protect the Endangered Species Act petition, call your elected officials, and share the crisis with friends and family. 

Sea Turtle Nesting Season

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Sea turtle nesting season is officially underway on beaches in the Florida Panhandle! Turtles will lay their eggs from May through September. Did you know that a female turtle may nest several times in a season? Baby turtles hatch after 45-60 days; typically, a nest contains 50-150 turtles. Only 1 in 1,000 hatchlings make it to adulthood which makes limiting the human impact on their numbers especially crucial; they already have to fight through all kinds of natural predators to make it to the ocean!

Below is a list of some ways visitors can help the sea turtle hatchlings make it safely to the sea:

  • Turn off your outdoor lights if you live close to the beach. Turtles come ashore at night in the dark; any bright lights along the shoreline from condos, restaurants, homes, or even walking along the beach with a bright flashlight discourages them from coming ashore. Additionally, hatchlings can end up wandering towards the lights rather than the sea. 
  • Volunteer to walk the beach to find, mark, and protect turtle nests. These volunteers are called turtlers.
  • Leave No Trace; remove chairs, umbrellas, trash, and other beach equipment each night to help the mama turtles and hatchlings a clear, safe path. 
  • If you dig a hole at the beach, fill it in! Turtles can get trapped or injured in holes.
  • Education! Learn about sea turtles and share your knowledge with others. Many organizations educate on sea turtles and their nesting habits. Consider visiting the St. George Island Visitor’s Center or the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center. 

Florida is a Hotspot

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Did you know that Florida is a biodiversity hotspot?! The state ranks 7th for animal biodiversity with 4,368 known species. We rank 6th for vascular plant diversity, with 3,038 species. Florida also ranks among the top five states in endemic species; endemic species are animals or plants that are found only in our state. For instance, 269 species of animals can be found only in Florida. 

In fact, Florida is part of the North American Coastal Plain – the low-lying land stretching from Texas to Florida to New England. In 2016, the North American Coastal Plain was named the 36th biodiversity hotspot in the world. Biodiversity expert Reed Noss said, “Florida, in term of endemic species, is the hottest spot within the Coastal Plain.” There are one-of-a-kind species such as turtles, frogs, freshwater fish, mice, birds, and many types of plants and invertebrates.

Why are biodiversity hotspots important? Well, there’s a lot to cover but the overall message is that biodiversity creates a healthier ecosystem for all life on Earth, including humans. To learn more, check out this article by the Rainforest Action Network.