Blog Entry 2

While on the Corkscrew field trip I was surprised at the lack of wildlife that I expected to see.  All I saw was trees and birds.  I was hoping to see panthers, deers, frogs, or maybe even some alligators!  Go Gators!  I was disappointed when I didn't see much wildlife.  One distinct ecosystem that I saw was a butterfly garden.  I learned that the 2 mile boardwalk allows walking access through pine flatwoods, wet prairie, Bald cypress, Pond cypress, and marsh ecosystems.  The high pine ecosystem provides a habitat for birds and provides fire control, the prairie provides the animals with food, and the cypress swap provides a place for animals to escape from the heat. 

Conservation - preserving the land.  Stewardship - the people to make the conservation possible.  The role is to maintain and preserve the natural habitat for today and tomorrow.  Like-minded people help create environmental change by preserving the land and by making the community aware of the environment and it's issues.  Last semester I learned in Foundations of Civic Engagement that being civically engaged means to create attention or awareness and activity to an issue.  Civic engagement is how people become involved.  It is critical to the environment because it brings people together (activity) and educates (attention) them about the environment.  The motivation to preserve was to prevent endangered species and to prevent extinction.  The government does not help much, but does help because of protection laws.  We should not bulldoze because many of the birds that go to the swamp sanctuary are stopping there during their migrations.  Developing on the swamp would lead to an increase to and animal to people encounters, this would be bad for both animals and people.