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Walking with nature
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE CITRUS SPRINGS -- It was a good day for a hike. Cool, clear, slightly breezy. It was also a good day to answer some questions. What role does fire play in pine upland and scrub habitats? Is a bald cypress a deciduous tree? What is the single best method for preserving native plants and animals? And so 20 Citrus Springs Middle School seventh-graders; their teacher, Randy Hobson; and senior forest ranger Wendell Vaught set off down the dusty, sandy path at Johnson Pond Trail to answer these and other questions. The state forest (formerly Jordan Ranch) was purchased in 1997 by the Division of Forestry and the Southwest Florida Water Management District for conservational and recreational land use. It is open to the public from dawn to dusk, but Ranger Vaught said he is willing to lead night walks by request. The park includes an 8.4 mile horse trail and will soon have a primitive camping area. Vaught is also involved in projects to restore the forest to scrub jay habitat and attract bluebirds. The best way to preserve animals and plants is to preserve their habitats, he said. One of the first lessons of the day was preserving animal tracks. Chances were, a group of walking, talking middle school students was not going to attract wildlife. The next best way, then, to learn about the wildlife was to preserve tracks. They found one that might have been made by a coyote and the students mixed up a batch of plaster of Paris and poured it into the depression. It was picked up at the end of the hike and taken back to school. Tracks, Vaught explained, can not only be used to determine what animals are in the forest, they can also help the rangers determine populations. One student was curious about the blackened bases of some of the trees that led to Vaught's explanation of prescribed fires. They help clear underbrush and thin out trees to enhance the growth of larger ones. This visit to the forest was the third of four Hobson was doing to accommodate about 100 students. He organized the field trips, he said, "to give them a taste of the scrub and the sandhill environments in the county. This is primarily what Citrus County is all about. We've been covering a number of different environmental issues. I love getting them out in a setting where they can hike." During the walk the students visited Johnson's Pond, currently more of a marsh, where they learned that cypress trees are deciduous. Later they found Blue Sink, an underground drain into the Withlacoochee, which, Vaught said, is a good indicator of the ground water level. (The water level was low.) From the pond they went to an upland area that primarily supports long leaf pines and turkey oaks. The final stop was the Oxbow Trail, where the students had lunch. Vaught welcomes requests by schools or organizations for hikes through the forest. He can be reached at (352) 489-6507.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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