Fall 1999

Otters

by Deborah Green, FOWR Member

The great wildlife videographer Marty Stouffer says of the river otter, " If playfulness is a measure of intelligence, then river otters must be among the smartest of all wild animals". The river otter along the Wekiva River has no predators except alligators, has abundant fish, frogs and crayfish to eat, and does seem to have energy left over for fun. Supremely designed for swimming, the otter has webbed hind feet and a muscular tapering tail, that moves in unison with the rear of the body for propulsion. River otters swim up to 6 miles per hour and can go faster by "porpoising" along the surface. On land, they can move as fast as 15 miles per hour, with a combination of scooting and running.  

Otters belong to the weasel family, along with skunks, minks, badgers, wolverines, fishers, martens and ferrets, and like other members of this family, they can produce a strong scent from their anal glands. Biologists trapping otters for research often have no choice but to drop an otter, when this scent is emitted.

Although river otters once occurred throughout North America, in many states they were hunted to extinction for their fur by the early l800s. Pollution and habitat destruction are now greater threats than hunting, yet river otter reintroduction programs are underway in several northern states. In Florida, river otters are fairly abundant in wetland habitats, mostly in freshwater, but also in coastal tidal areas, and they have no special protection status.

You can most often spot river otters swimming in pairs, close to the banks. The female is the slightly smaller one in the pair. They have valve-like flaps of skin over the nostrils and ear openings to keep water out when they submerge, and can stay down over 2 minutes. When they disappear, watch their bubbles to figure out where they go. Otters are primarily nocturnal, so if you do not see them too often along the river, that may be why. As is typical of nocturnal animals, they have well-developed senses of smell and hea_Óring. Their whiskers, called "vibrissae," help in detecting prey in the water.

River otters may live up to 19 years in captivity and up to 15 years in the wild. They begin reproducing around two years of age, with mating season in late summer or fall. At the Wekiva Marina, right in front of the canal from the boat launch, I once had the opportunity to see otter mating. The male had the female in a tooth grip on the back of her neck, which he lost from time to time, and they were yipping and sliding around each other in and out of the water, carrying on for longer than I cared to watch.

For bearing young, otters use a den of a hollow log or overhang, which may have its only entrance through the water. Usually two blind, helpless pups, called "kits," are born in late spring. These kits are weaned at about 3 months, but swimming lessons start earlier. By 6 months, the kits have learned to catch their own food, but they usually stay with their mother until they are about a year old.

Females travel with their kits, with or without the adult male. Kits may also remain together after separation from their mother. River otters may travel ten miles a night looking for food, although they usually travel over only a few square miles. In addition to fish, frogs and crayfish, they eat insects, turtles, birds, eggs and small mammals. I have seen them plowing their heads along the bottom of a spring probably inhaling the tiny fish that stay there, crunching on crayfish, and eating foot-long fish, always tail first. As you are canoeing on the Wekiva River, keep your eyes out for the playful, intelligent river otter.

[Deborah Green is author of Wekiwa Springs State Park Habitat Tour and Watching Wildlife in the Wekiva River Basin.]

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Join the Friends of Wekiva River and many other conservation organizations in celebrating the Florida Black Bear Festival on Saturday, Oct 2, 1999 from 9 a.m. to 6 pm. at the city park in Umatilla, Florida. It will be a beary great day of activities, field trips, booths, displays, music and art for the benefit of the Florida black bear and the people of Florida-and it's all free ! This is a fun way for everyone to learn about the unique Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) and the importance of protecting the wildlife habitat in Florida.

Jim Fowler- accompanied by a black bear- will make a special appearance, and in the afternoon, Margo Rochelle and the Rodeo Drive, and Cole Sevars will entertain with country music.

In the Kids Activity Pavilion children can make bear masks, finger puppets, action figures, and photo frames, as well as an "Umbrella Species" concept mobile showing why saving the black bear saves Florida native plants and animals.

Biologists and Rangers from the Ocala National Forest will lead educational field trips into bear habitat looking for bears and bear sign such as paw prints, evidence of foraging, and claw marks on trees. Friends of the Wekiva will have a small photo exhibit and will distribute brochures.

 For more information call Christine Small at (352) 735-3562; Judy Gillan at (850) 921-4484 or visit >http://www.villagecircle.com/flbearfest/<

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Park CSO now called Wekiva Wilderness Trust

 by Deborah Green, FOWR Member

 The Citizens for Wekiva Basin GEOPark, the park citizens support group, has a new name and a new look. Now called the Wekiva Wilderness Trust, the group's mission is to educate the public on the values and needs of the Wekiva Basin GEOPark, which includes Wekiwa Springs State Park, Rock Springs Run State Reserve, and Lower Wekiva River State Preserve. The group seeks to broaden community support and involvement through volunteer services to the park. Fundraising efforts by the group are used to support park projects requested by park administration or initiated by the group. A major fundraising currently aims at replacing the decaying wooden boardwalk through the hammock near the spring and making it wheel-chair accessible. The group developed a small natural history museum near the park Concession, which volunteers keep open on weekends.

 Upcoming events are a Celebrity Golf Tournament, October 11, the Real Florida 5K Run and Walk, January 15, Florida Then and Now, March March 8-10 for schoolchildren and March 11 for the public, Welcome Back Songbirds, April 15. For more information, call (407) 263-8030.

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Public Investment in the Wekiva Basin Threatened

by Western Beltway Extension

 by Polly Miller & Nancy Prine, FOWR Board Members

Since 1983 over $116,000,000 of public funds have been expended to protect over 64,000 acres of land in the Wekiva River Basin. (Data provided by Land Acquisition Department of SJRWMD) Wekiva River Basin lands have been acquired parcel by parcel over a period of 30 years through negotiations for purchase by the State's CARL (Conservation & Recreation Lands) program, its successor program Preservation 2000, the SJRWMD Acquisitions Divis-ion, and Seminole County.

Acquisitions actively began in 1983 with purchase under the CARL program of 8,559 acres of undeveloped river marsh and upland bounded by the Wekiva River and its main tributary Rock Springs Run for a purchase cost of $7.3 million. As well as helping preserve the River's 300 square mile watershed drainage basin, Rock Springs Run, like popular Wekiva Springs State Park and Lower Wekiva State Preserve, serve each year as valued recreational retreats for thou-sands of Florida residents.

Following Governor Bob Martinez' personal visit to Wekiva Springs State Park and his appointment of a Task Force to study the environmental significance of the Wekiva River Basin, the 1988 Legislature enacted the milestone Wekiva River Protection Act to preserve the ecological viability of the Wekiva River System through strict adherence to criteria for low density land use, as well as through continued land acquisitions.

Construction of a major highway across fragile wetland and forested uplands would sever the ecological connection forever.

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Consoling Thoughts

from a Man who Loved Florida's Wild Places

"Being a naturalist, living in the woods, and having the peculiar background I have, I am especially susceptible to the disease of bitterness over the ruin of Florida-over the partly aimless, partly avaricious ruin of unequaled natural riches of the most nearly tropical state.

Because to anyone who has known Florida as long as I have, and whose main interest in the place has been its wild landscapes and wild creatures, the losses have been the most spectacular events of the last three decades

...But there is a great lot left. The organization of the old landscapes has been disrupted but scraps of it remains, and if your eye is tuned to the country, any venture beyond the subdivisions will turn up good things to see...What is really worth writing, then, is probably not how Florida once was or how it ought still to be, but rather a catalogue of what remains of natural Florida for the discerning eye to see..."

- Preface to "A Naturalist in Florida" by Archie Carr.

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Field Sightings from the Wekiva River

on August 12, 1999. Kayak run from Katie's Landing, North to Chub Slough and back :

Little Blue Heron

Tri-Color Heron

Great Blue Heron

Kingfisher

White Ibis

Osprey

Barred Owl

Pileated Woodpecker

Cormorant

Limpkin

White-tailed Deer

Mullet (leaping)

Southern Stingray

Florida Spotted Gar

Bream (many species)

Soft-shelled Turtle

Alligator (juvenile to adult)

Swamp Rose (blooming)

Swamp Lily (blooming)

Scarlet Hibiscus (blooming)

- BB & SP

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FRIENDS OF THE WEKIVA RIVER, INC. 1999-2000

 General Information: Pat Harden, Chair (Pat4fla@aol.com) Tel. 407-323-5678

 All Programs begin at 7:30 p.m. at Seventh Day Adventist Church, Markham Woods Rd, Longwood, Fla.

 Programs and Field Trips Open to the Public.  Please sign up for Field Trips ten days in advance

SEPTEMBER 2, 1999. Board meets at 6:30 p.m.No Program or Field Trip.

OCTOBER 7, 1999. Program: ' Archaeology of Wekiva's Twin Mounds midden' by Dr. Brent Weisman, University of South Florida.

Oct. 9: Field Trip: A Visit to Twin Mounds with Dr. Marilyn Stewart, Rollins College. Paddle or Hike via the river or Rock Springs run State Reserve. Starting time approximately 9 a.m. Contact: Steve Phelan, phelan@Rollins.Edu, tel. 407-646-2409 to sign up. Launch and trail head locale TBA.

NOVEMBER 4, 1999. Program: 'Water Everywhere?' (A primer on hydrology in the Basin) by St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) staff member.

November Field trip. TBA. Contact Pat Harden. Tel. 407-323-5678

DECEMBER 2, 1999. Program: 'Frogs are Fun' by Paul Moeller, Florida Wildlife Commission. Special refreshments for Christmas. No Field Trip for December.

JANUARY 6, 2000. Program: 'Put Some Spring in Your Life!' (Hydrology of Springs) by Dr. Louis Murray,

USGS.

 Jan. 15, 2000. Field Trip: Four-Wheel vehicle tour and hike through Seminole State Forest including visit to springs with Ranger Jim Bishop. Meet at 9 a.m. at SR 46 entrance to the Forest. Contact: Bill Belleville, billybx@gate.net. Tel. 407-322-8825 to sign up.

 FEBRUARY 3, 2000. Program: 'Public Land Management in Lake County' by Lake County Water Authority and SJRWMD staff.

 Feb. 5, 2000. Field Trip: Canoe and Kayak Lake Norris in Lake County at head of Blackwater Creek with dwarf cypress and 'Camp La-No-Che Springs'. Contact Pat Harden Pat4fla@aol.com) to sign up. Time and launch locale TBA.

MARCH 2, 2000. Program: 'Know Your Legislature' by former Florida public servants Lou Frey and Dick Batchelor

March 2000. Field trip: "Your Legislature in Action." Overnight to Tallahassee to meet with our elected representatives and talk about the Wekiva. TENTATIVE. Contact Pat Harden or Polly Miller (pollym@ao.net). Tel. 831-0843 by Dec. 1, if interested in this trip.

APRIL 6, 2000. Program: 'It's For the Birds' (Birds of the Basin) by Parks Small, Wekiwa Springs State Park Biologist.

April 8, 2000. "Birding Outing in the Wekiva Basin'. Leaders: Deborah Shelley and Nancy Prine. Time and locale TBA.

MAY 5, 2000. ANNUAL FOWR BANQUET & AWARDS at Wekiwa Springs State Park. Overnight in cabins optional. Contact: Deborah Deal (ddeal@firstmarketinggroup.com) Tel. 8621367. Details in future newsletter.

June 6, 2000. ANNUAL WEKIVA RIVER AWARENESS DAY at Wekiwa Springs State Park. Paddling, hiking, entertainment and refreshments. Details TBA.

 JUNE 1, 2000. Program: 'Butterflies are Beautiful' by Marc Minno, SJRWMD.

 June 10, 2000. Field Trip: 'Butterfly ID in the Basin'. Leaders: Mary Keim & Randy Snyder. Contact Nancy Prine tel. 897-9200 or Deborah Shelley 330-6727 . Time and locale TBA.

JULY 6, 2000. Program:' Animals of the Wekiva Basin' by Bryan Emmanuel, Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

 July 10, 2000. Field Trip: Canoe or Kayak the Blackwater Creek in the Seminole State Forest. Meet at 9 a.m. at SR 46 entrance to the Forest. Contact Katie Moncrief to reserve space at katie@ktland.com or Tel. 407-322-4470. Leaders: Katie and Bill Belleville

 AUGUST 3, 2000. Program: 'River Dwellers: Aquatic Invertebrates of the River ' Speaker: Florida Wildlife Commission. TBA.

 August 5, 2000. Field Trip: Canoe or Kayak Alexander Springs run in the Ocala National Forest. Time and locale TBA. Contact Katie Moncrief to reserve space at katie@ktland.com or Tel. 407-322-4470. Leaders: Katie and Bill Belleville.

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PLEASE NOTE: All FOWR Board Meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Markham Woods Road, before the Programs. All members and public are welcome to attend. Refreshments are served.

• E-mail - FOWR@aol.com
• Fax - (407) 324-8472
• U.S. Mail - Currents, P.O. Box 6196, Longwood, FL 32791-6196
• Phone - (407) 322-8825