Welcome
There's much to see here. So, take your time, look around, use the buttons at the top and learn all there is to know about us. We hope you enjoy our site and take a moment to drop us a line.
Longleaf Pine Tree Planting - A Success!
We Thank You!
Highlands County Audubon planted a special kind of tree in a special area Friday, June 16. Kudos to the team and their invited guest. Please look at the next section for photos. Thanks also to Dale Knapp whose generous donation helped fund this important project.
Most of you know of Platt Branch and its Red Cockaded Woodpecker population. They are thriving in this area because of the established longleaf pines. Our intent is to add more so we have been working with FWC to plant additional trees. This task for this year was completed June 16. These special birds only nest in living longleaf pines in our area because it provides them with safety from snakes and other predators. For this reason, we will be adding nesting trees and at the same time working on removing one metric ton of CO2e over the lifetime of each tree.
Volunteers
Steve Shattler (FWC Platt Branch manager)
Steve Blair
Paula Blair
Gene Esper (Steve B’s son in law)
Nathan Esper (age 15)
Jonathan Esper
Dale Gillis
Dale Knapp
Susan Volpita
Sue Njus
Dee Rawlings
Leslie McConachie
Fran Rolston
Ken Keck
Dorothy Harris
Bill Smith
Steve Turner
Great News
Highlands County Audubon has been awarded Volunteer Team 3+ for Visitor Services by the state parks. We won this because of our efforts in Highlands Hammock State Park to build the pavilion pictured on the left. This is a very significant award because of the amount of teams competing state wide.
Highlands County Audubon Society Volunteer Team
Volunteer Team 3+ Award for Visitor Services
The Highlands County Audubon Society built a sheltered, accessible observation pavilion to help visitors connect with nature at the park. Located beyond the fringe of scrub habitat in the primitive wilderness area of the park, the project includes an uplands elevated wildlife observation pavilion in pine flatwoods and an interpretive kiosk. The kiosk provides information about pine flatwoods and scrub. Visitors may see wildlife such as the Florida scrub-jay and various migratory bird species. Campers, runners and bicyclists who frequent this area are drawn to the pavilion.
The team is led by Roberta and Steve Lake and Steve Blair. The other members are Jim Howell, Dale Knapp, Mike Knapp, Tim Delaney, Susan Volpitta, Bob Grassman, Jim Upchurch, Steve Turner, Paula Blair, James Brogdon, Dale Gillis, Marian Jordan, Fran Rolston and Paul Ebersbach.
After a year, the design of the structure was approved. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Nov. 29, 2019, and was completed over 21 days on Jan. 21, 2020. Steve Blair served as the project producer/coordinator while Steve Lake directed and supervised the construction. Steve Blair and Roberta and Steve Lake contributed 90 hours for project planning. Overall, the team contributed 769 more hours for construction, for a total of 869 hours.
The observation pavilion honors Audubon members and sisters Miriam and Carol Beck for their love of nature and commitment and contributions to Highlands Hammock State Park. Miriam served as president of the Audubon chapter and Carol Beck worked at the park from 1949 to 1965.
The $50,000 project was funded from the Audubon Society’s Miriam Beck Memorial Fund. Funds are used for educational purposes such as high school scholarships and environmental education teacher training workshops.
Expenses for lumber, concrete, galvalume roofing, auger and scaffold rentals, the parking area and the kiosk totaled $13,210. The combined total value of the wildlife observation pavilion donation is $36,846.
A wetlands pavilion is planned for the future.