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Highlands Today

Students Get Close Encounter With Nature

Marc Valero/Highlands Today

From left: Emily Szlosek and Kimberly Perez examine a tar flower Thursday during a tram-ride tour of Highlands Hammock State Park. The girls were among about 35 students who attended Sebring or Hill-Gustat middle schools and are participating in science camp day trips this week. The students will go Key West and the Dry Tortugas next week.

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: June 19, 2008

SEBRING — From red-bellied turtles to green tree frogs to alligators big and small, students touring Highlands Hammock State Park on Thursday got a close up view of Florida wildlife and the effects of the drought.

During the first week of the two-week Sebring Middle School summer science camp about 35 students have been taking part in day trips that included a canoe trip down the Peace River on Wednesday and Thursday's exploration of the state park.

Park Specialist Dorothy Harris took the students on a tram-ride tour of the park stopping at various spots to point out wildlife, plant life and other features.

"What's out here is pop ash," she said. The plants in these wetland areas have wide bases and extensive roots to help them stay upright in the soft mud. This is organic soil - layers of rotting vegetation that can dry out and hold fire just as peat moss.

So these are areas that burn during times of drought, she said.

Normally the alligators go to the south canal, Harris said. "When we get up there you will see there is no water there either. So be thinking about what are they going to do when there's no water."

The students moved from side to side on the tram to see the alligators and pointed when they spotted one. Some of the smaller reptiles seemed hidden in the water and foliage and could only be spotted when they moved.

Students also saw many butterflies and caught a quick glimpse of a deer.

Justus Martin said Wednesday's canoe trip was fun, but tiring.

"We flipped about five times," she said. The 12-mile trip from Brownsville to Arcadia seemed to take "forever," six hours, she added.

Teacher Tom Libby explained there was a constant headwind so when the canoes turned slightly the wind pushed them. The students and adults had to do a lot paddling to compensate for the wind.

The students picked up enough debris to fill a 55-gallon drum. The junk they fished out of the river included beer bottles, cans and shoes.

Last year's science camp followed an ecology camp group from another county down the river, Libby said. As they were eating their snacks from the canoes they threw their wrappers in the river. The Sebring Middle science camp students picked up the other group's trash.

Next week the students and chaperones will go to Key West and the Dry Tortugas.

Libby said despite the economic hard times, "we got more money this year for scholarship money than we have ever gotten."

Parents pay a portion the expenses for the camp, but Libby said he appreciates the roughly 63 businesses, organizations and individuals who have made donations allowing the students to enjoy a learning experience they won't soon forget and may never forget.

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