Corkscrew Tour

As I researched the next field trip for class, I was not really looking forward to driving over an hour away to view Corkscrew Sanctuary. But my mind was quickly changed as soon as my brother and I started walking on the boardwalk.  It was completely different than anything around where I live. Nature just seemed to be at peace there. Animals and plants are just allowed to go about living in their natural environment. Walking through the fireproof boardwalk, my little brother and I were able to explore a couple different ecosystems. Not only were were able to see many animal and plant ecosystems, we saw wet prairies, swamps, and freshwater marshes.

Conservation and stewardship refers to peoples ability and actions to keep our environment safe and clean.  This involves the process of managing the land and water that surrounds us so others can enjoy it when we are gone.  Private non-profit companies play a huge role in the conservation and stewardship endeavors. A great example of this is the Audubon Society. They saw the growing number of visitors coming to the Corkscrew Sanctuary and wanted to be more accommodating to the visitors. Through many trials, John Todd's Living Machine was finally selected to be used as the restroom design that proved to be environmentally friendly. The John Todd's Living Machine is also an example of how like minded people can affect change. Although it took the government a while to approve it, people had a vision of a better Sanctuary and wanted to provide environmentally friendly bathrooms. So by the like minded people pushing for what they believed in, they were able to finally get approved for the bathrooms.

There was a lot of motivation to preserve the land that the Sanctuary is on in Southwest Florida. Many people fought for the land to remain as it is today because they wanted to see nature and not ruin what little we have left. In my opinion, the government should not have as much power as they do over the environment. They should be responsible for the safety regulations and laws that go into building and construction. But I do not believe they should be able to halt projects for months on end because they are taking too long to figure things out. There should be a way for the projects to be passed through the government faster. Ecologically it would not be a smart move to just bulldoze and build condos. The environment is already hurting and getting destroyed. We need to save what we have left.