Blog #3

    Before I name some ecosystems that I saw at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, I wanted to share my idea of an ecosystem first. In my opinion, an ecosystem is an environment of living organisms and non-living things that exist cohesively. The swamp is a huge ecosystem itself, with an almost infinite number of smaller ecosystems within it. The canopies of the trees are an ecosystem, the small puddles of pond water, the small lakes, the underbrush; all of these house different types of inhabitants that depend on that particular type of environment to survive.

   The Corkscrew Swamp is a portion of the Florida Everglades. This ecosystem is crucial to the many different varieties of plants and animals that live here in Florida . Florida ’s economy and educational system depend on this ecosystem for revenue and to provide environmental understanding to our youth. Southwest Floridians depend on the Everglades for fresh water.

   Conservation is the act of responsibly working together to preserve natural resources. Stewardship is the ethic of the community working together toward conservation and improvement of the environment. The role of private non-profit organizations is to promote these two concepts and saturate the communities with the knowledge of the importance of them. Like-minded people can affect change by word of mouth, volunteering, and practicing what they preach. Civic engagement plays a factor in these two concepts because it ties into them both. Civic engagement can also be called civic participation which is more easily understood. It means that people and their communities have developed plans to address public concerns.

The motivation to preserve the swamp came about to save the Cypress forest that was rapidly diminishing in the 40’s and 50’s. Certain types of birds were also being protected during this time as the populations has plummeted due to the popularity of their plumes in woman’s hats.

   The government makes an annual determination on how much will be budgeted for conservation, restoration, and overall environmental well being. In my opinion, the idea of creating more condos in this area is obsurd. We need this ecosystem and its many smaller ecosystems to survive.