Freshwater Experience - Blog 2

As a new Florida resident I did not know much about the ecosystem and the water supply.  I had never really thought about where my water came from because it was always there.  After learning about CREW and their long-term goal I feel that this organization has performed services that will not only allow Floridians to live a nice lifestyle with water available to their convenience, but they are also keeping the natural environment for many different plants and animals.    

According to our textbook written by Margaret Robertson, “2.5 percent is freshwater… About 30.1 percent of the freshwater is available as groundwater. The water we can see – rivers, lakes, wetlands, clouds, soil moisture, plants and animals – makes up the remaining 0.4 percent of the fresh water” (p. 90). CREW has successfully preserved the 60,000-acre watershed that refuels the aquifers and provides Floridians water at their doorsteps.  One thing I noticed the most was how important it is to preserve these grounds.  When the video showed the aerial shot of the 60,000 acres it puts everything into perspective of how important it is to keep these ground preserved so Southwest Florida can flourish in the next thirty years. Another thing that I found very important was how these 60,000 acres have every habitat in the forest from different types of trees to black panthers and bears!

If CREW didn’t preserve the 60,000 acres of land then there would be a depletion of aquifers that could cause different animals to become endangered or even extinct.  According to Margaret Robertson, “Depletion of aquifers is another threat to biodiversity. Plants, animals, and other organisms in lakes, rivers, and underground water systems have evolved to suit the particular ecosystems where they live… [if] those ecosystems change and the organisms in them face local extinctions” (p. 93).  What I noticed was how important water truly is for CREW’s mission but as well as for us citizens to follow.  We wouldn’t be able to exist comfortably the way we do if CREW wasn’t preserved. 

Sense of Place - Blog 1

As we visited our favorite park I feel a sense of pride, pride that I live in such a beautiful area surrounded with large trees, pride that I live in a town that takes pride in its history, and pride that our town has come such a long way.  I grew up in St. Charles, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago.  My family and I moved to Florida just under a year ago, but St. Charles will always be home.  As I connect to my inner-self and my childhood the one place that I go back to is a park my parents brought my sister and I to, Pottawatomie Park.  

Pottawatomie Park view from the Fox River

Pottawatomie Park is in the heart of St. Charles surrounded by the Fox River and these very large and old trees.  Pottawatomie Park had a huge outdoor pool where my sister and I learned how to swim, a mini-golf course where my now fiancé, brought me on one of our first dates back in 2013 when we were just two kids in high school, and so many other water activities all of the locals would do in the nice spring and summer months.  The one trip that means the most to me is when one summer day my dad taught us about Pottawatomie Park.  My dad is a nature guy that knows a lot about trees and the ecosystem from growing up on a farm in Sterling, Illinois. 

Pottawatomie Park view of baseball fields and large grass hill surrounded by trees

My dad has always had a love for trees and when he first moved to St. Charles and into the house he built a family with my mom he had planted over 50 trees.  He would take the time with my sister and I almost every night and the three of us would put our hands on the trees to let them know we love and appreciate them.  From these experiences and all the knowledge my dad instilled in my sister and I we learned how important it is to take care of nature.  On our summer family field trip to Pottawatomie, my dad told us that it is very important to let the trees know that we love and appreciate them the same way we love and appreciate the trees at our house, because trees help us breath.  

4th of July fireworks at Pottawatomie Park picture I took (2014), we went every year

This became a ritual for the three of us because we knew how important it was and is to take care of our trees, flowers and rivers because they provide us with basic essentials.  The trees give us oxygen, the flowers feed some of the animals that we eat and without water from the rivers we wouldn’t survive.  In Sustainability Principles and Practice by Margaret Roberton, I learned about the drivers of ecosystem change and the most important fact that stood out to me is habitat destruction.  After learning about habitat destruction is makes me think of the lessons I learned as a young girl with my dad. If you love and appreciate the trees surrounding you then you shouldn’t cut them down for your own personal gain.  By doing this you are destroying the ecosystems surrounding them.  Pottawatomie Park is home to many different animals, insects, trees and flowers and if this park were to undergo habitat destruction it would ruin the natural ecosystem messing up all of the equal parts that make up the flow of life in the park.