Wildflower event highlights local flora, fauna
SUN PHOTO BY CLINTON BURTON, cburton@sun-herald.com
Lemon Bay Conservancy board member and tour guide Eva Furner points out some of the invasive species that compete with native plants for resources.
SUN PHOTO BY CLINTON BURTON, cburton@sun-herald.com
Muriel Kowlaski of Cape Haze stands next to an information placard at Wildflower Preserve. The sign includes a code than can be scanned by smartphones to download an informational video.
SUN PHOTO BY CLINTON BURTON, cburton@sun-herald.com
A solar-powered birdbath is one way the Lemon Bay Conservancy attracts wildlife to Wildflower Preserve without impacting the environment. The birdbath is set up, along with hanging squirrel- and raccoon-proof feeders and traditional birdbaths, behind blinds so the birds can be observed and photographed without being scared away.
ENGLEWOOD — Riding in a golf cart through Wildflower Preserve on Gasparilla Pines Boulevard in Englewood is more than a little ironic, considering that six years ago the location was just another of the more than 1,200 golf courses in Florida.
Today, what was once the Wildflower Golf Club is quickly returning to its natural state of woodland, water and wildlife, but it didn’t happen overnight. When the golf course first closed in 2006, developers wanted to build condominiums. Public outcry and the economy derailed that plan, and the Lemon Bay Conservancy stepped in and bought the property, according conservancy board member Eva Furner.
