The Everglades: threatened wilderness

There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known. Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) in The Everglades: River of Grass.

There are interesting parallels between threats to the Florida Everglades and those facing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Protection of the Refuge had an indefatigable champion in Margaret Murie (1902-2003) whose life is detailed in Two in the Far North. Both of these extraordinary women were conservationists, writers, and lived to be over 100 years old.

The Everglades and the Refuge are still under threat -- the Refuge of oil drilling, and the Everglades of development (mainly -- this is Florida after all), agriculture, invasive plant and animal species, and plans to restore it. The environment has changed noticeably even in the past 10 years we have been visiting.

Leaving the National Park Service offices in Everglades City on a boat trip through the Ten Thousand Islands

At high tide there are actually about 14,000 islands as some are connected at low tide by sand bars. It is very easy to become disoriented among these islands as you become completely surrounded on the way out to the Gulf.

The islands are populated by mangroves that are virtually impenetrable -- a typical coastline.

April is a great time to see birds with juveniles in their nests. Passing signs on the boat we saw more than one family of Ospreys. If you click on the photo you can actually see their faces.

Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin surfing behind our boat. There were several and they were clearly having fun.

Bougainvillea outside the Rod and Gun Club in Everglades City

The Rod and Gun Club is an interesting historical site that has hosted many celebrities in the past -- from Theodore Roosevelt to Mick Jagger. The restaurant has great seafood and a charming screened veranda overlooking one of the city's canals. While it gets mixed reviews online, we have always found the food wonderful.

Shark Valley is always worth a stop. The National Park Service has a 15 mile road into the Everglades with an open-air tram that makes a 2-hour circle through the park. It is unquestionably the best way to see wildlife in the Everglades. The above photo is of a man-made water body with a great blue heron on the edge.

Moorhens (Gallinula tenebrosa) look very much like Purple Gallinules, and I had to run after some guy to tell him I wrongly identified these as the latter. Anyone who knows me will not be too surprised as my bird-identification skills are marginal at best.

Cypress trees forming a tree-island surrounded by saw grass/sedges.

Attentive blue heron juveniles waiting for their mother to return with food.

A Painted turtle resting in the sun on a rock -- I think it is a male as their orange bellies are brighter than those of females.

Typical Everglades landscape.

There are always a large number of alligators in Shark Valley. They are very active in April as it is mating season.

... although this one isn't so active.

A mating pair.

I have never seen one with it's mouth open outside of the plastic replicas at theme parks.

A great blue heron.

... taking flight.

A baby alligator on a lily pad. There is a lot of detail if you click on the image.

A female Anhinga

Landscape from Big Cypress Swamp

An Everglades spotted gar (x2) in the Big Cypress Swamp.

Vultures feeding on a dead alligator (possibly roadkill).

Abandoned shed in the Fakahatchee Strand.

An active bald eagle's nest in the Fakahatchee. If you enlarge the photo and look carefully you can see the female eagle to the left of the nest (you can even see the yellow beak and an eye).

For those of you interested in the Everglades I can recommend five wonderful books 1) Swamplandia! by Karen Russel (very weird fiction); 2) The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald (nonfiction); 3) The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (very weird nonfiction); 4) Ten Thousand Islands by Randy Wayne White (fiction, mystery but based on a true story); and 5) Killing Mister Watson by Peter Matthiessen (fiction but based on historical facts). It helps to have been there if reading the last one.

The Everglades are unusual and so different from any other place. The Gulf Coast of the southwest Everglades is made up of low mangrove keys and tall sawgrass marshes, thriving on brackish water. I refer to this area as "The Islands." The Everglades in Proper is on the mainland and made up of low thin grass prairies, cypress and pine trees which grow in fresh water only, there are no mangroves. I refer to this area as "The Glades". On the mainland, separating "The Islands" and "The Glades" are mangrove and sawgrass marshes. This area between "The Glades" and "The Islands", I refer to as the "The Mangrove Mainland", and the two combined I call the " The Mangrove Countries".

by Totch Brown at http://www.florida-everglades.com/totch/past.htm

Life in Fairbanks -- January through March

Fairbanks has had a cold and snowy winter. The month of February was the second-snowiest February since records began in 1904. We also had the second largest number of days 40 degrees below zero or colder this year.

My life has changed considerably since adopting Savannah and, as many friends have noted, I have been spending much less time on the internet. I will try to cover the highlights of life in the frozen north from January through March in this post. These include dog walks in Goldstream Valley, the Fairbanks dog park, the North American Open Sled Dog Championships, and the International Ice Art Competition.

From a walk just before sunrise on January 24th.

The sun rose at 10:01 on the 24th and set at 4:06. We usually set out at dawn which, strangely enough, occurs well after 9:00 am. It is a beautiful time of day.

This section of one of the trails we use I think of as "the cathedral". The spruce are tall and thin with some forming arches covered in snow.

We walk in ALL weather -- here Savannah leads the way in a snowstorm.

A snapshot from the Fairbanks dog park. We go everyday and know most all of the dogs (and people).

Savannah investigating another dog's ball. She doesn't really get the concept of "fetch", but when she gets the ball she likes to play "keep away".

Here she is playing with Elroy -- an impressive great dane.

It is difficult to think of Savannah in Florida. I can't even imagine her adjusting to summer in Fairbanks.

This is our neighbor, Neptune -- a newfoundland puppy that is now much bigger than Savannah. Neptune is a tornado!

... and here is Wallace -- her favorite friend.

One of my friends at the dog park calls Savannah "the African queen".

Coming home from a walk.

The cabin in early March.

Red polls that have come to investigate the bird feeder.

A boreal chickadee

A black-capped chickadee.

Another creature that likes black oil sunflower seeds.

The North American Open Sled Dog Championships March 18th - 20th

It starts and finishes on 2nd Street - Fairbanks main street

One of the dogs that didn't get to participate. He looks very sad, doesn't he?

The World Ice Art Championships were held February 21st to March 25th.

It is impossible to capture the magnitude and delicacy of these sculptures -- you really have to see them.

Although this one didn't win, it was my favorite.

I am currently in Florida and will be here until the end of the month. We are planning a trip to the Everglades and have been up the Nature Coast. I will try to do a post before I go back to Fairbanks.

Much love to you all!