As promised, today I'm going to talk a little about our great adventure here at Tiger Creek Preserve on the Lake Wales Ridge of Florida. I'll also show you some pictures I took while Wiley's family was here last weekend.
The Preserve is located on the Lake Wales Ridge, which is high ground that runs down the center of Florida. A couple of million years ago, most of FL was underwater, and there was just a chain of islands. When the ice age lowered the water level and the peninsula of Florida reappeared, the islands became the Lake Wales Ridge. Because the plants and animals had been isolated so long, they're very different from anything now found in the area. Because the ground is so high, it was planted in lots of orange groves and cattle ranches sprawled over the area. Eventually, lots of homes were built. So very little of the unique ecosystem still exists. Much of what does remain has not been allowed to have natural fires, so it has grown up in scrubby forests, which are not good for the low-growing herbaceous plants and uniquely adapted animals. The Nature Conservancy is trying to restore this unique habitat with fire and by controlling invasive plants and animals.
Wiley and I are helping out here in many ways, including trail clearing, getting rid of invasive plants, maintaining tools and equipment, cleaning the barn and office, and monitoring the eagles. I also work four days a week in the office for a couple of hours. It hardly feels like work--we've always done this sort of thing for fun! We're especially enjoying riding around in the all-terrain vehicles.
The closest town is Frostproof. We took this picture at sunset just as the lights in town were coming on. It has a population of about 3,000 and sits between two pristine lakes, Reedy and Clinch. Frostproof is the hub of the citrus industry in Florida, with both growers (Ben Hill Griffin, Inc. and The Latt Maxcy Corporation) and juice processors (Cargill Juice). We do our banking and grocery shopping there.There are also lots of parks and nature preserves in the area that we're looking forward to visiting.
Last week Wiley's family visited. We had a blast. Cathy and the kids slept in a tent next to the camper and Mag and Wiley slept in the camper. It was a full house!
We went to the beach (New Smyrna) and Wiley and his nephew did some metal detecting (I think they came away with less than 50 cents, but they had fun!). It's possible to find treasure from old Spanish shipwrecks on the beaches in this area. 
The next day, Wiley and Cathy and a co-worker of ours, Laura, went fossil hunting on the Peace River. Mag, Wiley and I toured Frostproof and Lake Wales and had lunch at a nice little 50's diner.
This afternoon I'm going out to monitor the eagles' nests with a visitor to the Preserve. Yesterday both nests were occupied for the first time. I'll try to get a picture for you--it's my favorite job ever! Stay tuned!
2 comments:
I'm curious about mail delivery. Do you mean a mailperson has to drive "all the way back there to the Preserve" to deliver mail -- every day? Does Frostville have a newspaper? Since Florida was under water at one time, what if Wiley found a ship laden with gold underground -- would that be his? Well, I can imagine, can't I! Glad to hear your arm is out of the cast. I can't wait to see some pictures of "your" eagles. Very interesting blog.
Yup, the mail gets delivered out here every weekday. The office is open from 9-5. Frostproof has a newspaper (includng national and international news), but I believe it's a weekly. If Wiley found treasure, the state would take part of it (and possibly the Federal government, too, depending on where he found it), but he would get a percentage of it, too. The treasure museum we visited had a video about some treasure seekers who found a very rich sunken ship.
Post a Comment