I really enjoyed going to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I
liked being out in the open with nature’s beauty surrounding me, knowing that
this place has so much history and is hopefully going to be protected forever.
It occupies about 13,000 acres and is part of the Western Everglades. It is
mostly made up of wetlands and nests all different species. One of the
endangered species that the sanctuary provides habitat for is the wood stork.
It also provides habitat for species like the Florida Panther, American
Alligator, Gopher Tortoise, Florida Sandhill Crane, Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill,
Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Big Cypress Fox Squirrel, and the
Florida Black Bear.
In the early 1900’s, egret and heron plumes were in high
demand for use in the fashion industry, so plume hunters could make a fortune
just spending a weekend hunting for egret and heron. Rhett Green was a warden
at the National Audubon Society and was in charge of protecting the Corkscrew
rookery. So when he found out that people were hunting for egret and heron just
so women could wear their feathers, they started a campaign to stop that demand
for the plumes, which was successful, so the plume hunters went away and it
became a protected area. I think that it is great how this happened so long ago
and it is still in affect today. People are continuing to protect this land and
the wildlife in it, and now people can go and see the natural beauty of it.
Corkscrew swamp is very flat and is only 17 feet above sea
level. It is very rainy during hurricane season, which is June through
September and sometimes extends through November. When rainy season ends, the
water is constantly evaporating into the atmosphere and being taken up by plans
and soaked into the soil. Fish eventually get trapped in the small pools and
birds start to come around which inspires nesting, this typically last from
October to May.
There is a unique system called the Living Machine. It is
used to purify wastes without additives, and recycles 90 percent of the purified
water back into the restrooms for reuse in the toilets. I think that this is
very clever because this place is trying to conserve nature and I think by
inventing something like this shows that they are trying to reuse water.
Overall, I found the whole experience very beautiful and
interesting to see something with so much history.
