Blog #2 Corkscrew Sanctuary

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is some of Florida's freshwater wetland ecosystems. The swamp contains the only wetlands that haven't been noticeably affected by human behavior. We need more protected ecosystems like this. The Sanctuary has many plants and animals that are protected from our waste and destruction. The boardwalk for visitors also provides education for many of Florida's students and that may spark interest in at least a few of them. The more knowledge that is instilled in children of south west Florida about the wetlands of Florida, the better chance of these protected areas have of staying protected. The Sanctuary also is a great place for scientists to research, because they don't have to worry about being interrupted by land development or anything of that sort.

      One of the really good things that they are doing with the wild life is creating an "Invasive Species Task Force" that launched in 2009. An invasive species is a plant or animal that is not native to a certain habitat, but somehow they are there anyways. They are usually brought from overseas by travelers and usually released into the wild accidentally, sometimes purposely. The Invasive Species Task Force monitors these species and are making an effort to controlling these species because most of them bring destruction to ecosystems and it is very important that populations of these invaders don't soar and bring more destruction to our wetlands. One species that is a huge problem is the Burmese Python. This species of python is very dangerous and is moving from the wild and into cities. Just imagine going in the shower, looking up at your shower head and instead it's the head of a python with his mouth opened up to the size of your shoulders, not cool.

       More vital than anything to Florida is our water levels. If anyone hasn't noticed, Florida is completely flat, so monitoring water levels is very important. Of course monitoring water levels is important for more reasons than just keeping us from going under. Different species of plants and animals benefit from the water being at certain levels, and monitoring these levels closely is very important for helping those species survive. The water levels affects us humans too, for instance the water we get from Lake Okeechobee. Water flows from Lake Okeechobee to south west Florida and south east Florida and that flowing water needs to be closely monitored for our sake.