Binoculars would help

After several years of restoration efforts, Robinson Preserve, nearly 500 acres in northwest Bradenton, opened to the public this summer. The barriers built to prevent salt water from killing crops when this land was used for agriculture have been removed, allowing tidally influenced waterways to again connect Palma Sola Bay, Perico Sound, the intercoastal waterway, the mouth of the Manatee River, and even the mouth of Tampa Bay. The preserve exists at an intersection of human-created boundaries; from the top of the observation tower, just 40 feet tall, you can see four counties. Here you can see two of the four (look closely, off in the distance).

I am off to take the GRE this morning (like ERBs or the SAT, but for graduate school admission). I will be back later with more about water quality, mangroves and succession, and bird watching.

Edit: I never got back to finishing this post (but good news: the GRE went well!) and now I am sitting in Rome.... a few thoughts, in summary:

Water quality: this preserve is important not only for the 480 acres of native habitat it provides, but for the impact it will have on the thousands of acres of land and water surrounding it. Take Palma Sola Bay, for example. Before Robinson's waterways were reopened, it took the water in Palma Sola Bay several months to recharge (that is, entirely circulate out of the bay and be replaced by fresh water). This is too long: just like the pump that circulates water in a pool, the water in a bay needs to circulate to keep it fresh. With the waterways of Robinson connecting to the bay, water circulation is happening at a much faster rate (apologies that I don't recall the exact figures).

Mangroves and sucession: Most of the shoreline of Robinson Preserve was covered in Brazilian Peppers (an invasive plant) that was torn out during the restoration efforts. Before volunteers could even start planting native saltmarsh grasses, mangrove propagules (who knows what a propagule is?) floated in and started taking root. While kayaking, I've seen all the stages of mangrove propagules planting themselves: from the propagule hanging on the branches of the parent mangrove, to them floating on the surface the water, to them getting heavy and one end hanging toward the bottom, to them finally taking root in the silt, growing, and sprouting leaves. As I walk around Robinson looking at the almost barren shorelines, I like to envision what it will look like in 5 or 10 or 15 years when these baby mangroves are all grown up.

Bird watching: I'll admit, I've never been into bird watching... until now. Robinson Preserve has turned me into a bird watcher. Flocks-- huge flocks-- of roseate spoonbills. Trees full of Ibises. Reddish egrets stalking dinner. Wood storks everywhere (have you ever seen a wood stork? they are impressive). A great blue heron that is nearly invisible as it perches on a dead tree branch. An osprey with lunch in its talons.

I have pictures documenting all the things I wrote about above, but... I am in Rome, and they are on the computer at home. C'est la vie.