Field Trips

Be sure to register for all field trips and evening events to assure your spot.
NOTE: Some field trips have costs associated with trip. Each trip has a letter/number. Use this letter/number on registration form.
Field trips will take you to a variety of natural areas highlighting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers or facilities for rearing, displaying, and/or studying endangered and rare plants and animals. Each tour will be led by a knowledgeable naturalist, botanist, or specialist such as an entomologist or herpetologist.  

Field Trips • Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Field trips offer a wealth of close encounters with nature, led by our state's expert guides.

Field Trip A –   Ordway-Swisher Biological Station 
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  7:30 am - ca. 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  4 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Dick Franz, Associate Scientist, Florida Museum of Natural History
Limit:  20

Description: Take advantage of this invitation to visit a Florida landscape which few Floridians get to experience. The property was formerly the private hunting and fishing preserve of a Jacksonville family and is now managed by the University of Florida as study/conservation area.  The Station contains a mosaic of habitats such as sandhill, baygall, wetland, xeric hammock, and upland mixed forest (see http://ordway-swisher.ufl.edu/index.htm).  Your guide Dick Franz is an expert on the natural history of the sandhill ecosystem, including the isolated, ephemeral ponds that are essential in the life histories of many species such as the striped newt. Dick is an engaging speaker who will also share his expertise on techniques used to study the local plants and animals, such as gopher tortoises, upland amphibians, and Florida mice. Dick has worked 40 years on a diverse array of natural history studies in Florida and the Caribbean.  He has published more than 150 scientific and popular papers on amphibians, crustaceans, reptiles, other vertebrates, and most recently fossil tortoises.

Field Trip B   O’Leno State Park and River Rise State Preserve 
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  7:30 am - ca. 50 min drive from hotel
Trip duration:  6 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Anne Barkdoll, Environmental Specialist, Florida Park Service
Limit:  12
Cost:  $4.00 per car at park gate

Description:  Take a walk through time on this 6+ mile hike as you explore the natural land bridge where the Santa Fe River goes underground in O'Leno State Park and reemerges over three miles away in River Rise State Park before resuming its journey to the Suwannee River.  The area was important for prehistoric and historic peoples; a portion of the old Bellamy Road remains.  O'Leno, one of Florida's first state parks, was first developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.  The trip will cross a diversity of habitats such as mesic flatwoods, bottomland forest, upland hardwood forest, and upland pine habitats.  O’Leno is known for its spring wild flower display, which can include wild azaleas, violets, milkworts, and other flatwoods plants.  Your leader Anne has a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and an M.S. in Soil Science from the University of Florida.  Her current focus is upland restoration, invasive exotic plant control, cultural resources, and prescribed fire. 

Thursday Field Trip C   Ocala National Forest – Riverside Island
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  7:45 am - 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 4 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:   Carol Lippincott
Limit:  15

Description:  Ocala National Forest contains some of the best remaining stands of longleaf pine and wiregrass in central Florida.  Enjoy these open, rolling sandhill forests and spring wildflowers as you hike four miles of the National Scenic Trail.  The endangered red-cockaded woodpecker nests in the forest, and their cavities are easily observed.  This trail is a personal favorite of your guide, Carol Lippincott, a native Floridian who is an independent environmental consultant living in Gainesville.  She has a Ph.D. in Botany, with an emphasis on ecology, from the University of Florida.  This trail is locally popular, so the hike is scheduled during the week to ensure participants can experience this habitat in relative serenity. 

Thursday Field Trip D   Silver River Pontoon Boat Trip 
Trip Rating:   Easy
Hotel departure time:  7:45 am and 11:45 am (two trips) – 1 hr 15 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Captain Vince Druding, Awareness Adventures Inc.
Limit:  12
Cost:   $15.00 per person

Description: Silver Springs is world renowned as the largest documented artesian outflow and for its long history as a tourist attraction with reputedly the first glass bottom boats.  What is not publicized is the beautiful journey the spring water takes along the pristine Silver River to the Ocklawaha River through dense swamps and floodplain forests of cypress, ash, gum and red maple.  More than a dozen small springs occur below the head springs, and abundant vegetation and fish are easily seen in the crystalline water.  A diversity of wildlife utilizes the lowland habitat, including wading birds, alligators, turtles, river otters, and the most unusual local denizens, the Rhesus monkeys, originally released by an early concessionaire in the 1930’s.  Caption Vince has been leading river trips for more than 15 years and is a graduate of Florida Master Naturalist Program.  This trip by Captain Vince along 6 miles of the Silver River to the head springs is a favorite for the local Audubon Chapter and Silver River State Park Volunteers.

Thursday Field Trip E   From Pinelands to the Gulf - Roadtrip to Cedar Key
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:   8:00 am
Trip duration:  ca.  4-5 hr (excluding 1 hour travel time back to Gainesville)
Guide:   Dana Griffin, University of Florida Botanist (retired)
Limit:   20

Description:  Enjoy the delightful botanical narratives of trip leader Dana Griffin during multiple stops along a scenic country drive to the charming Gulf coast village of Cedar Key.  For Dana, who taught a local flora class for 34 years, every plant has a fascinating story to tell; origins of its scientific name, unusual properties, uses by indigenous people, etc.  Dana's educational story-telling is legendary and this "March to the Sea" trip always receives rave reviews by participants.  Participants can see over 50 species of flowering plants in diverse road-side habitats ranging from pine flatwoods, scrub, and fresh and salt water wetlands.  At the end of the trail, Cedar Key offers excellent seafood restaurants (the clams are locally grown), historical sites (including the recently restored Andrews house which exhibits equipment used to manufacture Donax whisk brooms from palm fiber), and great bird watching.

Thursday Field Trip F   Rice Creek Conservation Area
Trip Rating:   Difficult
Hotel departure time:   7:30 am – ca. 1 hour drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 5 hr (excluding travel time from hotel)
Guide:   Willy the Losen
Limit:   15

Description:  This hike will take participants deep into the swamp that forms the headwaters of Rice Creek, a large tributary of the St. John’s River.  An 18th century rice and indigo plantation on this site has since reverted back to a magnificent swamp and floodplain forest.  Part of the hike will follow the Florida Trail on top of what remains of the plantation dikes.  Part of the hike will be off-trail and may require wading, depending upon water levels.  The focus of the hike will be to find the handful of remaining old growth cypress.  One of these living giants is about 8 feet in diameter, while others have hollow cavities large enough for several people to stand in.  Your leader for this adventurous hike is Willy the Losen, a true Florida native who was born and raised in the Putnam/Alachua County area.  Willy has spent countless hours in the Rice Creek area hiking, exploring, and maintaining the Florida Trail.  Last April, he and a group of concerned citizens formed the Putnam County Land Conservancy to help ensure that the amazing natural areas of Putnam County remain connected and preserved for future generations of wildlife and people.

Thursday Field Trip G   Paynes Prairie – La Chua Trail 
Trip Rating:   Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:15 am - ca. 30 min drive from hotel
Trip duration:   ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Ranger, Paynes Prairie State park
Limit:  20

Description: Join a Paynes Prairie Ranger for a 3-mile walk on the La Chua Trail, which begins on a beautiful oak hammock bluff and descends onto on an earthen dike that leads through the vast wet prairie landscape to an elevated observation deck.  Seasonally, dazzling displays of marsh marigolds, American lotus, and pickerelweed paint this “Great Alachua Savannah” just as described by naturalist and artist William Bartram, in 1774 in his book Travels.  Paynes Prairie Preserve is a natural resource of national importance with more than 25 distinct biological communities, comprised of more than 800 plant species. This provides an impressive array of habitat for wildlife. Visitors can observe alligators, bison, wild horses, sandhill cranes, bald eagles, hawks, and migrating song birds.  Come discover why the Preserve is recognized as a National Natural Landmark and has been a lure for people for over 12,000 years (see www.prairiefriends.org).

Thursday Field Trip H   Cross Creek Canoe Trip
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:   8:15 am – ca. 50 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:   ca.  3.5 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:   Lars Anderson
Limit:   22
Cost:  $25.00 per person for boat rental; $15.00 per person if bringing own boat; these prices represent a special discount for the FNPS meeting

Description:  Cross Creek is a charming little thread of water connecting two of North Florida's most beautiful and storied lakes, Orange and Lochloosa.  On it's brief, mile-long run, the slow flowing Cross Creek meanders lazily under a nearly complete canopy of oak, maple and moss draped cypress. On the downstream end, Orange Lake is a vast, open expanse, famous for it's "floating islands" and density of bald eagles.  There's hardly a more scenic setting in north Florida to enjoy osprey, cormorants, anhingas, several species of duck, egrets, herons, and of course alligators and turtles (see www.adventureoutpost.net).  After your canoe trip, take time to visit the historic home (now a state park) of Cross Creek’s most famous resident, author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for The Yearling.  Lars Andersen is a well-known naturalist and full time river guide, leading tours on over 40 waterways throughout north Florida.  Lars is a published Florida historian (including Paynes Prairie, Pineapple Press, 2001 and 2004) and his columns and articles have appeared in several publications.

Thursday Field Trip J  Split Rock Conservation Area
Trip Rating:   Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:30 am - 15 min. drive from hotel (Transportation will be provided)
Trip duration:   ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guides:   Geoff Parks and Susie Hetrick, Habitat Naturalists with City of Gainesville Nature Operations Division
Limit:   30

Description:  Find out why Split Rock is the best kept secret of the Gainesville Park System.  Habitat diversity, an impressive limestone outcropping, and limited access make this park a favorite among local botanists and bird watchers.  The park boasts hammocks with huge swamp chestnut oaks (Quercus michauxii) and Red bays (Persea borbonia), and a wide range of upland plant species including rough leaf cornel (Cornus asperifolia,), sand holly (Ilex ambigua), buckthorn (Sageretia minutiflora), and blackseed needlegrass (Piptochaetium avenaceum).  A seepage stream—Hogtown Creek—meanders through a picturesque floodplain forest of water elms (Planera aquatica) with under story plants such as clustered sedge (Carex glaucescens), starrush whitetop (Rhynchospora colorata), and dotted smartweed (Polygonum punctatum).  Bring your binoculars, because with both field research experience and graduate coursework in bird conservation, Geoff knows his birds.  He is currently pursuing an M.S. in botany at the University of Florida (UF).  Susie studied botany as an undergraduate and received an M.S. in wetlands ecology from UF.

Thursday Field Trip K   Morningside Nature Center
Trip Rating:   Easy
Hotel departure time:  8:45 am - ca. 20 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:   ca. 2 hr (excluding travel time and living history farm tour)
Guide:  Gary Paul, Programs Coordinator for Environmental Programming, City of Gainesville, Nature Operations Division
Limit:  20

Description:  Come "botanize" in remarkably pristine pine flatwood and sandhill habitats in the crown jewel of the Gainesville Nature Parks System (see www.natureoperations.org).  Morningside has the most diverse living collection of wildflowers and plants in the region (550+ species), which your leader Gary Paul is currently describing in a plant guidebook of the park.  Participants will be given a checklist of the wildflowers and selected woody plants of the park.  Spring blooming flowers include the milkweed  Asclepias amplexicaulis, white lobelia Lobelia paludosa, the meadow beauty Rhexia petiolata, the morning glory Stylisma patens, Stylodon carneum, 2 species of Tephrosia, and the long-leaf violet Viola lanceolata.  Gary has extensive experience as a botanist, serving as Director of Leu Botanical Gardens in Orlando and Executive Director of the Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden in Alabama before working at Morningside.  After the botany tour, participants can tour the 10-acre living history farm at Morningside with a staff interpreter.  The living history farm represents an 1870's single family farm.  It features heritage breed farm animals and original historic buildings moved to Morningside from Alachua County and environs.

Thursday Field Trip L   Goethe State Forest - Butterfly field trip
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  9:00 am - ca. 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  4 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Kathy Malone, founder and president of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Chapter in Gainesville
Limit:  20

Description: Goethe State Forest is the secret woods of north central Florida – 54,000 acres of wonderful wildflower, bird, and butterfly habitat that few people visit.  It has large tracts of contiguous, old-growth pine flatwoods that are home to one of the largest red-cockaded woodpecker populations on public lands in Florida.  During the annual 4th of July NABA butterfly count in 2006, 44 species of butterflies were spotted in Goethe.  The wildflower-rich roadsides are calling cards to many beautiful butterflies, including Swallowtails and Sulphurs.  Unusual species can be seen, such as the Little Metalmark, the only metalmark found in Florida, and Sweadner’s Juniper Hairstreak, a green jewel of a butterfly that is locally uncommon.  Your guide to the butterfly hotspots of Goethe is Kathy Malone, who began “butterflying” 11 years ago in south Florida.  She moved to Gainesville two years ago to create Project Butterfly WINGS, a national 4-H informal science education program based at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Thursday Field Trip M   Lubee Bat Conservancy
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:   1:30 pm – 30 min drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 1.5 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Dana LeBlanc, Lubee Curator
Limit:  20

Description:  Enjoy the unique experience of touring the Lubee Bat Conservation Center, which houses the most diverse collection of fruit and flower bats in the world and is not generally open for public tours.  Founded in 1989 by the late Luis F. Bacardi, a Bacardi rum family member with a particular fondness of bats, the Lubee Center has a dynamic program of breeding, research, and global conservation for bats (see www.lubee.org).  Dan LeBlanc, who has worked at Lubee for 15 years, will give a presentation on bats, their ecologically vital role as pollinators and seed dispersers, and challenges facing them in the wild.  Visitors will then tour the facility to see the largest fruit bat species and some very endangered fruit bats up close.  Participants can learn first-hand about the rearing, including enrichment activities, and cooperative research programs conducted at Lubee to save these fascinating and often underappreciated mammals from extinction.

Thursday Field Trip N   Hidden Treasures Tour - Florida Museum of Natural History and Department of Botany
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  1:30 pm
Trip duration:  ca. 2.5 hr (transportation provided)
Guide:  Christine Edwards, Ph.D. candidate, University of Florida, Botany Department
Limit:  14

Description:  Come get a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the research and collections areas at the Florida Museum of Natural History and Department of Botany, University of Florida. Participants will tour selected areas in Dickinson Hall, a unique pyramidal building now closed to the public, designed by renowned architect William Morgan.  Areas will include the UF herbarium, containing more than 500,000 vascular plant and bryophyte specimens, led by collections manager Kent Perkins; the mammalogy range with extensive manatee and marine mammal specimens, led by Laurie Wilkins; the bird range, the world’s fifth largest collection of bird skeletons; and the Botany Molecular Systematics and Ecology labs.  Participants will also visit the UF botany department greenhouses with greenhouse manager Kathleen Kabat. Your leader, Christy Edwards, is currently studying the systematics and population genetics of several genera of mints endemic to the southeastern U.S.including Conratina etonia, endemic to Putnam County.

Thursday Field Trip O   McGuire Center Butterfly Garden and Vivarium
Trip Rating: Easy
Hotel departure time:  2:00 pm – 5 minute walk from Hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 1.5 - 2 hr
Guide:  Jaret Daniels, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Research, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity and IFAS Assistant Professor of Entomology, University of Florida. 
Limit:  None
Cost:  $7.50 adult, Florida resident; $6.50 senior over 62
Fees to be paid at McGuire Center prior to entering Butterfly Rainforest

Description:  Come learn about butterflies and butterfly gardening from an expert, Jaret Daniels, who has published over 40 scientific and popular articles on insect conservation, butterflies, and landscaping for wildlife.  In the first part of the trip, participants tour the Florida Wildflower and Butterfly Garden at the Florida Museum of Natural History and McGuire Center.  This newly installed outdoor exhibit showcases a variety of native Florida plants that can be used to help attract the over 186 species of Florida butterflies. Host and nectar plants are included.  In the second part, participants will tour the Butterfly Rainforest, a 6400 square-foot living tropical rainforest exhibit beautifully landscaped with waterfalls and over 600 different plant varieties and supporting some 2000 free-flying butterflies from around the world (see http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/). 

Sunday Field Trips • April 21, 2007

Sunday Field Trip P   Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve
Trip Rating:   Moderate
Hotel departure time:  7:45 am - 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Carol Lippincott
Limit:  15

Description:  A hike is planned through the most scenic and botanically diverse portion of this secluded reserve; scrub, flatwoods, and panoramic vistas of coastal salt marshes.  Both longleaf and slash pines occur within the flatwoods but slash pines predominate. The scrub is dominated by species such as sand live oak, myrtle oak, and Chapman’s oak, along with rusty lyonia and saw palmetto. The habitat is being managed by mechanical cutting and prescribed burning, which should be conducive to spring wildflowers. Your guide, Carol Lippincott, a native Floridian, is an independent environmental consultant living in Gainesville.  She has a Ph.D. in Botany, with an emphasis on ecology, form the University of Florida.  Bring your binoculars, because the Florida Scrub Jay, Bald Eagles and Ospreys nest in the reserve.  After your hike, visit Cedar Key to enjoy excellent seafood restaurants, historical sites, and great shorebird watching.

Sunday Field Trip Q   Ocklawaha Canoe Trip
Trip Rating:   Moderate
Hotel departure time:   7:45 am – ca. 1 hr 15 min from hotel
Trip duration:   ca.  3.5 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:   Lars Anderson
Limit:   14
Cost:  $29.00 per person for boat rental; $25.00 per person if bringing own boat; these prices represent a special discount for the FNPS meeting.

Description:  On this trip, you’ll explore a section of the beautiful Ocklawaha that was spared destruction during the partial completion of the Cross-Florida Barge canal.  The channel on this part of the river is wider than above the reservoir, offering an excellent panorama of river forests and swamps that in places extend a half mile back from the main channel.  Wildlife is abundant. Cormorants and anhingas dive for fish in the tannin-stained water while wading birds tiptoe through spatterdock, pickerelweed, and cardinal flowers at the rivers edge searching for small fish, crustaceans, and amphibians to eat.  Alligators and turtles are commonly seen basking on logs. Observant paddlers may also see river otters diving for fish along the river’s edge (see www.adventureoutpost.net).  Lars Andersen is a well-known naturalist and full time river guide, leading tours on over 40 waterways throughout north Florida.  Lars is a published Florida historian (including Paynes Prairie, Pineapple Press, 2001 and 2004) and his columns and articles have appeared in several publications.  He will provide the remarkable history of the river, the canal project and dam, where one of the most famous conflicts between politics and environmentalism occurred in Florida.

Sunday Field Trip R   Goethe State Forest - Orchid field trip
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  8:00 am - ca. 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Paul Martin Brown
Limit:  15

Description:  Enjoy the beauty of some of the largest tracts of contiguous, old-growth pine flatwoods in Florida as you look for orchids with renowned orchid expert Paul Martin Brown.  Paul has spent 9 years working with the wild orchids of Goethe State Forest.  He has authored 'Wild Orchids of Florida' and 8 other regional field guides, and is editor for the 'North American Native Orchid Journal.  Up to ten orchid species, including the grass-pinks Calopogon multiflorus and C. barbatus, rose pogonia Pogonia ophioglossoides, and six Spiranthes species, may be seen on this field trip.  Participants will be given a copy of Paul's 'Goethe Orchid Flowering Chart.  Bring your binoculars, because Goethe also has one of the largest red-cockaded woodpecker populations on public lands in Florida.  The woodpeckers have been known to drop in on Paul's previous orchid field trips.

Sunday Field Trip S   Ichetucknee River Canoe/Kayak Trip
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  8:00 am - ca. 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Maynard Hiss
Limit:  20
Cost:  $17.12 per person for canoe or kayak rental, or $9.00 per person for shuttle if bringing your own boat; $5.00 per person state park fee for canoeing/kayaking will be paid at the park.

Description:  The Ichetucknee River is one of the most spectacular karst spring-fed rivers in the US.  Paddling this quintessential Florida river should be a rite of passage for all who cherish the unique, natural landscapes of this state.  The 4 mile trip will begin at the head spring, declared a National Natural Landmark by the U. S. Department of the Interior.  The banks of the river are a picturesque mix of hardwood uplands and floodplain forest.  A quarter of the trip travels through a large flooded marsh called Grassy Flats which is dominated by wild rice.  The large diversity of wetland and aquatic plants and fish are abundant and easy to see through the crystalline clear water.  Few people know the “Ich” better than your trip leader, Maynard Hiss, who has paddled the river once weekly for six years as a volunteer for the river patrol and monitoring program.  Maynard is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida.  He works on regional conservation comprehensive planning issues, especially longleaf pine ecosystems, has a wealth of knowledge about Florida spring ecology and environmental history, and can provide valuable insight on how participants can develop a river patrol program where they live.

Sunday Field Trip T   Ocala National Forest
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:00 am - ca. 1 hr drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Bob Simons
Limit:  15

Description: Come find out why this trip, led by retired forestry and ecology consultant Bob Simons, is a perennial favorite of the Alachua Audubon Society.  The Ocala National Forest contains the largest concentration of sand pine and scrub habitat in the world, some of the best remaining stands of longleaf pine in Central Florida, and the southernmost Atlantic white cedars.  Participants will take 1-mile hikes at several locations to see scrub, sandhill, and Atlantic white cedar wetland communities.  Many species of threatened or endangered plants and animals can be found in Ocala National Forest.  Plants that participants will likely see include the Atlantic white cedar, climbing fetterbush (Pieris phillyreipholia), largeleaf grass of Parnassus (Parnassia grandifolia), Florida willow (Salix floridana), yellow anise (Illicium parviflora), Ashe’s calamint (Calamintha ashei), and the scrub morning glory (Bonamia grandiflora).   Unusual animals participants may see include the Florida scrub jay (the only bird endemic to Florida), red-cockaded woodpeckers, flying squirrels, and red widow spiders.  Bob received his degree in forestry from the University of Florida in 1964.  He has extensive experience in conserving, protecting, and managing areas of high biological diversity.

Sunday Field Trip U   Paynes Prairie By Bicycle
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:00 am - ca. 30 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Ewen Thomson
Limit:  15   Bring your own bicycle.

Description: Enjoy a guided ride on the historic Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail.  See native plants and wildlife and rare vistas of the grandeur of Paynes Prairie Preserve.  Trade your modern life for the days of cattle ranching, citrus groves, small railroad towns, and steam engines as you learn about the history, geology, flora, fauna, restoration, and archeology of the Preserve.  The easy 12 mile ride will include frequent stops to explore points of interest.  Ewen is the President of FROGHAT (Friends of Gainesville Hawthorne Trail).

Sunday Field Trip V   San Felasco Hammock State Preserve 
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:15 am - ca. 20 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Tony Davanzo
Limit:  10
Cost: $2.00 per vehicle (up to 8 people per vehicle)paid at preserve parking lot; exchange change needed.

Description: The 6,900 acres of San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park contains one of the finest examples of climax mesic hammocks remaining in Florida. The park’s limestone outcrops and extreme changes in elevation provide conditions for at least 18 biological communities, including sandhill, hydric hammock, upland pine and swamp. The karst topography has produced a picturesque landscape of sinkholes, steephead springs, ponds, and small lakes in the preserve.  Several creeks flow through San Felasco, dropping into swallows which drain back into the aquifer.  Rare and unusual plants can be found along the slopes of the ravines and sinkholes.  Several champion trees are also found in the preserve.  Varied wildlife, including migrating songbirds, can be observed.  Your guide, Tony Davanzo, is an environmental consultant who has a Masters degree in Botany from the University of Florida and a degree in Wildlife Ecology.  Tony enjoys spending his free time in the forest with his four-year-old son looking for edible plants.

W   Mill Creek Nature Preserve 
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:15 am - ca. 40 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  2.5 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Sandra Vardaman and Michael Drummond, Alachua County Department of Environmental Protection
Limit: 20

Description: Come discover why the 1,194 acre Mill Creek Nature Preserve was the first acquisition in the Alachua County Forever (ACF) program.   The beautiful slope forests on the meandering creek system contain magnificent mature oak, hickory, basswood (Tilia caroliana), maple, southern magnolia, and the southern-most population of American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) in the US.  Listed plants identified on the site include cinnamon fern, royal fern, greenfly orchid and pond spice.  Other habitats, including pine flatwoods and mesic hammock, are in the preserve.  A variety of birds, including migrating passerines, can be observed.  Mill Creek is part of the Emerald Necklace Land Conservation Initiative - a publicly accessible, connected, and protected network of trails, greenways, and open space surrounding the Gainesville area.   Your leader, Sandy, has an M.S. in Biology from Florida International University and has conducted environmental work for the last 17 years, including 5 years with the ACF.

Sunday Field Trip X   Anhinga Roost 
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  8:30 am - ca. 30 min drive from hotel
Trip duration:  2 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Dale Crider
Limit:  20

Description: Florida’s fabled environmental troubadour, Dale Crider, is opening his rustic, cypress and pine stilt home to the FNPS (see www.anhingaroost.net).  The home sits on 60 acres of land that overlooks the pristine, 7,000-acre Newnans Lake.  The lake was made famous during 2000 when 148 archaic canoes, ranging from 500 to 5,000 years old, were recorded in the drought-exposed lake bed.  Dale is a wildlife biologist, retired from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.  He previously worked on Project Wild that brought schoolchildren outdoor living tips coupled with lessons about the fragile environment.  Dale is famous for combining art and science in his songs about the ecosystems and animals that make Florida unique.  Dale is happy to share his extensive knowledge of the ecology, biology, and history of the Newnans Lake area, including the use of plants for food and locomotion.  Participants are welcomed to bring their own canoes or kayaks to paddle around Newnans Lake following the tour. 

Sunday Field Trip Y   LEAFS sites - Longleaf Pine Restoration
Trip Rating:  Moderate
Hotel departure time:  8:30 am - ca. 30 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  2 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  John Winn
Limit:  None

Description: Want to learn about how you can restore pine flatwoods on your own property?  Come visit two longleaf pine restoration sites with John Winn, trustee of the Longleaf Ecology and Forestry Society (LEAFS) who has worked on these sites for LEAFS since 1993.  John's personal experience as a self-educated forester restoring pine lands on private land is invaluable and fascinating.  Both LEAFS sites have interpretive trails with brochures describing the restorations, which will be provided to participants.  Participants will learn about and see the results of prescribed burning and planting of longleaf pines.  The diverse understory plants of flatwoods that may be seen include sundews, pawpaws, grass-pink Calopogon tuberosus, hooded pitcher plant Sarracenia minor, and tarflower Befaria racemosa.

Sunday Field Trip Z   Ashton Biodiversity Research and Preservation Institute
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  8:30 am - ca. 40 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 2 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Ray and Pat Ashton
Limit:  30

Description: Take this rare opportunity to visit a private sandhill preserve, part of the Alachua County Forever Land Conservation Program, and see it from the perspective of one of its most intriguing and charismatic residents – the gopher tortoise.  More than 400 gopher tortoises have been identified on this property, in which fire is used to maintain a tortoise-friendly, high diversity understory in the long-leaf pine/turkey oak forest.  Pat Ashton, a botanist, has conducted groundbreaking studies on the complexities of tortoise diet and foraging in a habitat containing more than 500 plant species.  Ray, a herpetologist, studies tortoise social behavior and proper management techniques required to save this species and its commensals.  Participants will see research areas for studying low frequency sound communications by tortoises, a recent and exciting discovery at the preserve. The Ashtons coauthored the well-known “Handbook to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Florida,” and have extensive experience as a field biologists, educators, authors, environmental consultants, and conservationists (see www.ashtonbiodiversity.com).

Sunday Field Trip AA  Prairie Creek Canoe/Kayak trip 
Trip Rating:  Moderate (may be snags or muddy spots)
Hotel departure time:  8:45 am - ca. 15 min. drive from hotel
Trip duration:  ca. 3 hr (excluding travel time)
Guide:  Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson, Project Manager, Alachua Conservation Trust
Limit:  20
Cost:   $10.00 per person for canoe or kayak rental (no fee if participant brings their own boat)

Description: Come visit the wildest place in Alachua County where everything is BIG - the trees (old-growth cypress), the birds (owls, hawks, herons, and egrets), and the reptiles (turtles, snakes, and alligators).  Enjoy the primordial scenery of a dark-water creek meandering through a swamp forest canopied by giant trees and highlighted by blooming blue flag irises and pickerel weed.  Your leader "Hutch" has been paddling Prairie Creek for over four decades and is delighted to share this special place with participants.  Alachua Conservation Trust recently acquired additional properties in the basin, to add to the Water Management District and State Park lands along the creek.  Participants will have the opportunity to take a break from padding to hike in the surrounding ACT uplands in search of orchids and other spring-blooming plants.

Sunday Field Trip AB  Native Plant Commercial Landscape Tour 
Trip Rating:  Easy
Hotel departure time:  9:00 am (carpooling recommended)
Trip duration:  3 hr
Limit:  20
Leader:  Claudia Larsen, Member, Paynes Prairie Chapter

Description: A perennial favorite for the annual FNPS Conferences, this tour will visit several public properties landscaped with native plants.  Veterans Park is the site of a garden planted by the Paynes Prairie FNPS members in honor of member Carl Miles.  The garden is placed on a hill overlooking Chapman’s Pond, a local Audubon birding hot-spot.   Carl’s Garden, now in its third year, is filling in with Foresteria, Sideroxylon, Osmanthus, Euonymus, Prunus, Crateagus, Vacciniums, Rhamnus, and various grasses and wildflowers.  The Matheson Historical Center in downtown Gainesville received a grant to create an inner city park to connect the public library, the historic center, and the Matheson House.  The garden includes many native azaleas and a drainage area planted with wetland plants and grasses.  The trip will end with a custom tour of the historic Matheson House.