Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation

There are some great talks scheduled at SCCF this weeK. I have been to several and they are always very informative. Here are a few that look interesting this week:
The Alien Invasion
Over 500 fish and wildlife species, 1,180 plant species and
who knows how many insects that are not native now live
and multiply in Florida, after being introduced by humans.
Some like the pythons in the Everglades are having devastating
effects. Come and learn about Sanibel’s “Alien Invasion.”
Wednesday, January 23 at 10 a.m.

Hurricanes!
Hurricane Charley roared in from the south, skirted
the coast and made landfall over North Captiva Island,
rushed through Captiva Pass, swept the northern end of
Pine Island on August 13, 2004. It followed the warm
water of Charlotte Harbor and made landfall again over
Punta Gorda. Storms in 1873, 1910, 1945, and others
rearranged sand and with each swipe, they re-sculpted the
islands and shaped wildlife, vegetation and human existence
here. Wednesday, January 23 at 2 p.m.

Turtle Tracks
Sanibel Island had one of the first sea turtle monitoring
programs in the country. Learn about the life cycles and
habits of the sea turtles and shorebirds that nest on our
beaches, SCCF’s monitoring activities, and what we are
doing to protect them. Thursday, January 24 at 10 a.m.

The Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish
The smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) is an endangered
species that is found in Southwest Florida. In fact, it was
the first endangered marine fish in the United States. Detailed
studies on the species were never conducted prior
to the population collapse, so researchers with Florida’s
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) —
including speaker Greg Poulakis — have been working in
the Charlotte Harbor estuary for over a decade conducting
research on the remaining population. Friday, January
25 at 10 a.m.