CREW Land and Water Trust was established 27 years ago, in 1989, with the hopes of better organizing the management, acquisition, and public use of approximately 60,000 acres of land. The land is better known as the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed which stretches over an impressive amount of counties in southwest Florida which include norther Collier counties and also southern Lee counties. Within CREW, there is the Corkscrew Marsh, Flint Pen Strand, Bird Rookery Swamp, Camp Keais Strand, and also the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Over the 27 years of its creation, CREW has been able to ensure that about 50,000 acres of their land is under strict preservation. With human population numbers constantly growing, along with the population’s needs; demand for natural resources continues to rise. This growth is putting even more stress on the land. CREW’s ultimate goal is to ensure that all 60,000 acres fall under their complete protection for the sake of not only wildlife habitats but human recreation as well, something I believe to be extremely important.
On my own personal adventure throughout CREW, I surprisingly didn’t come across as many species as I thought I would see. I mostly saw varying type of birds. I saw many different kinds of storks and one very large vulture and I found myself thinking; “Only in Florida can you see a stork, walk a few minutes and then see a huge vulture.” It was amazing all the different types of ecosystems that the CREW included. It was interesting to think of all of the different types of life that such a place could home.
All of the wetlands that are included in CREW are essential to the species of the land. The wetlands not only help to bring hundreds of different plants to life after the rainy seasons but it also helps to purify water that has flowed through these plants and soil, a fact that I found to be very interesting, and also a fact that benefits all walks of life. With all of the growth these lands allow, all of the animals, and bugs too, are able to flourish. The land offers to them a bountiful array of food and homes choices so that they may live easily.
Along with the wetlands, there are the watersheds. Through my research I came to the conclusion that you cannot seem to have one without the other. The reason for this is that the watershed is what keeps the wetlands intact by acting as a type of barrier for the water itself.
It is essential to the many species of life that these watersheds and wetlands remain intact. Thankfully, with the help of CREW, that goal is able to be kept. CREW helps to lessen the blow of negative human impacts on the land which improves the opportunities for all the species that live there and play an important part in our, and their own, ecosystem. From bears, to birds, to bugs, CREW ensure that all have a chance to make their rightful impact.
I will definitely visit CREW again because I had a wonderful experience exploring all that it had to offer. It was a lovely getaway from the stressful academic week that I had been having and provided a neat opportunity to bond with my boyfriend as we trekked through the forrest. I also enjoyed the educational aspect that the field trip provided. With each poster or board we passed, I seemed to learn something new or was reminded of something I had forgotten about our forever interesting state of Florida and all that it can offer.
Works Cited:
*Spurgin, Madison. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS. 2016. JPEG file.
-(Located in slideshow)
*History. (2011, March 07). Retrieved January 14, 2016, from http://www.crewtrust.org/about/history/
Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida 