Downtown Fort Myers Historic vs. Current

Historic Downtown Fort Myers vs. Actual Downtown Fort Myers.

The difference between the two pictures is tremendous. It is hard to imagine that for many many years Fort Myers was a small couple of blocks. Everybody knew each other by their names and relatives. Cmparing it againts the current picture, it is hard to imagine the change that we have been able witnessed in Fort Myers over the yers.

Downtown Fort Myers

Everyday I go to Downtown Fort Myers, I work there. owever, I have never seen it the way we did on wednesday on our field trip. Our teacher tolds us that Fort Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee River as a base of operations against the Seminole Indians.

IAter the war people from all over South Florida came to Fort Myers. They were searching for building material. Around 1870's a number of settlers began to moved into the area, and by 1876 there were enough people living on properly surveyed land to justify creating the community officially.

Seminole

I wanted to share a picture of the Seminole indians and their clothing. Also, in the other pciture we can see a map of Florida, where the Seminoles resided.

Seminoles Tribe

The Seminoles are a Native American tribe originally of Florida. The Seminoles lived primarily in the state of Oklahoma. The Seminoles were composed of Native Americans from Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, most significantly the Creek people, as well as African Americans who escaped to Florida from slavery in South Carolina and Georgia.

Fort Myers - Museum at night.

Florida Forest Fire Facts

1 Florida has about 5,000 wildfires each year, with the most active time of the
state’s 12-month wildfire season occurring March through June

2 On average, Florida experiences the second highest number of wildfires in the
nation. During dry years, Florida experiences severe wildfires—wildfires that
destroy homes, disrupt people's lives and impact our economy

3 The continued drought and several hard freezes that killed grasses and woodland
brush, and hurricane debris have significantly increased the occurrence of
wildfires throughout Florida

4 The Florida Division of Forestry administers Florida’s outdoor burning and forest
fire laws

5 Prescribed fire is a cost effective tool to reduce fuel buildups which can cause
dangerous wildfire conditions, thus providing increased protection to people, their
homes and the forest

6 It is illegal to burn household garbage including paper products, treated lumber,
plastics, rubber materials, tires, pesticide, paint, and aerosol containers

7 About 25 percent of all wildfires are intentionally set, making arson a leading
cause of wildfire in Florida

Everyone should be aware of these 7 facts about forest fire.

Lets protect our forests!

Life Care Center of Estero

This is me watering the flowers that we planted at Life Care Center of Estero.

Service hours

This picture was taken at the Life Care Center of Estero, a nursing home. The lady next to me is Gladys, she is the most adorable lady at the nursig home.

Everytime I went to the nursing home. Gladys would invite me to her room for some banana bread. She loved spending time with us, and so did we.

It was the best 10 hours that I have spent in a long time.

ECO-Animals

At ECO we saw animals like rabbits. I love rabbits, I think they are very cute and friendly animals. Rabbits live in many areas around the world, they live in groups, and the most common and known specie, the Europena rabbits, live in underground, the rabbit holes.

An interesting fact: more than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America.

Here is a cute picture of a huge rabbit that we saw at ECO. :)

ECO-Moringa

At Eco, the plant that caught my attention the most was the Moringa plant. It interested me because of it's incredible quantity of nutrients, minerals, and because it is Eco's most popular plant.

The most widely known species is the Moringa oleifera, which is a multi purpose tree. It is native to the foothills of the Himalays, India.

Moringa is a very popular plant, currently it is used to combat poverty and malnutrition. It grows quickly in many types of environments, and much of the plant is edible.

The leaves are rich in proteins, vitamins A, B, and C, and it is very rich in minerals.

ECO-Composting worms

Some of the worms that are used for composting are, Red Wriggler, Tiger Worm and Indian Blue, but the most common worm used in the composting industry is the Red worm.

The worm compost is made of recycled kitchen food scraps and soft garden waste into a rich form of worm compost through the digestive system of worms. It sounds gross, in fact, but worm compost is actually packed with full of micro-organisms and nutrients, ready to apply direct to your vegetable garden.

mmmm delicious!!! hehe

Neem leaves

Traditionally Indian Farmers have been planting Neem Trees at borders of the farms,for few simple reasons.
1. Neem tree provides healthy clean air( it absorbs sulphur dioxide fumes)

2. Volatile components of neem tree leaves contains substances which are antibacterial in nature.

3. Neem tree prevents soil erosion.

4. Neem tree leaves and fruits are used by the farmers for his Farming, Dairy & Medicinal Purposes.

Neem leaves are plucked and then boiled in water to prepare a simple water extract. This extract is sprayed on the entire foliage of the plant/herb/tree which is useful to the Farmer.This is Anti fungal.
The same water extract is used for bathing purposes to wards of skin diseasesas.

More ecosystems affected

The boreal forests are another type of ecosystems that are being affected due to the increase in temperatures. The boreal forests consists of one third of the earths forests, covering 1,5 billion hectares. The main concern at the boreal forests are forest fires, an increase in temparature leads to more forest fires. Records show that a single fire in 1996 burned 37,00 acres of forest, destroying 200 homes.

Climate change

The increase in temperature is causing many changes to the artic tundras ecosystems.
There are many species that live in the artic tundra, animals like: polar bears, gray wolves, and artic fox. Because of the increase in tempartures many animals from the south, like the red fox, are migrating into the artic tundras. Therefore, the artic fox and the red fox are competing for food and territory. For that reason, the impact that this will have in the artic fox is unknown.
The main concern is that the artic tundra is actually contributing to global warming in the Earth. The permafrost at the artic tundra is melting, for that reason, the dead plants are decomposing and realeasing CO2 into the atmoshpere.

Fort Myers Beach - olr drilling

I wanted to share this artcile from the new press. It reads about oil drilling at Fort Myers beach. I think oil drilling will kill many animals like manetees and it will also kill theire habitats. Lets stay togther and proctect our beaches.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100213049

Estero Bay at Matanzas field trip

Matanzas field trip

Owned and operated by the Estero Island Historical Society, the Historic Vottage serves as host to the entrance of the Matanzas Pass Wilderness Preserve. It contains Calusa indian artifacts, a collections of Estero island sea shells, and other relics that depict the history f pioneer life on Estero island. The fourth home built on fort Myers beach, the cottage was once located on the gulf of Mexico shoreline. There, it served ts family for three generations before being converted to the sand castle kindertgarden, the island's first preschool.

Racoon

At the Corkscrew Sactuary we saw a raccon. It was great to be able to see one so close.
Racoon:
Medium size mammal, who is native to North America. Their original habitats are decidius and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountains areas, coastal marshes, and even urban areas, where some homeowners consider them to be pets.

Sabal Palm

The Sabal palmetto is also known as Cabbage Palm, Palmetto, Cabbage Palmetto, Palmetto palm, and Sabal Palm. It is one of 15 species. The Palmetto is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas.
The Sabal palmetto grows up to 6 ft in height and each leaf is 5 to 6 ft long. This Palm is also eatable.

Corkscrew field trip

I thought the field trip was a great journey. It took us away from our normal envioronment and showed us the beautiful flora and fauna we can find in our area.
I have attached the link for corkscrew. Check it out.
http://www.corkscrew.audubon.org/