Lovers Key-Field trip 2

Lovers Key State Park

I am sitting on a park bench looking out over the water in a nature trail and it’s absolutely gorgeous. There is a slight breeze coming off the water that is cooling me off and I‘ll can help but feel is a calm, relaxing, and at peace feeling. It is incredible how the outdoors can make you feel. The birds are chirping, branches swooshing. Its nature, at its best.
The natural elements have shaped this environment by the water and weather. The water shaped it by the waves. As the waves come up on the shoreline it washes away some sand over time creating a new shoreline. The weather has shaped it by the way the sun hit’s the plants. Some plants need more sunlight and are growing better on that side versus the ones that need a little shade.
The surface features affect the plant and animal life because not everything can grow and survive with salt water surrounding it. Certain plants need fresh water to flourish and Lovers Key is surrounded by the ocean.
There is many plants growing wildly at Loves Key State Park. Just to name some of them there is; beach sunflower, tropical sage, Spanish bayonet, strangler fig, Spanish moss, prickly pear cactus, catclaw blackbead, common persimmon, Florida silver palm, and cabbage palmetto. Some bird species located in this area are; American kestrel, reddish egret, white ibis, piping plover, and boat-tailed grackle. I saw some animal life. There is great [potential to see many others but they weren’t out while I was there. The ones I did see were Julia butterflies, gulf fritillary butterflies, a brown anole lizard, a ton of red fire ants, and even a few great land crabs. The park ranger said I could see tortoises, squirrels, raccoons, bottled nosed dolphin, manatees and some marsh rabbits.
A unique characteristic about this park is that it has something for everyone. It has beaches, nature trails, and pavilions for picnics, kayaks and canoes. Many places around this area don’t have much stuff to do. It’s either just a beach or just a nature trail. Lovers Key is an exception. It is great tourist attract as well as a getaway for locals.
In the 1900’s the islands were accessible only by boat. A road was built in 1965. Fish camps were located on Black Island from the early 1900s’ until late 1950’s. Then in the 1960s the four islands were slated for development. Preparations for development damaged the islands. So the state acquired the islands in 1996 and they merged with the adjacent Carl E. Johnson County Park to become Lovers Key Carl E. Johnson State Park,
As you walk through the Black island trial you can see all the mangroves sitting on the shore lines. The estuaries are a great sauce for animal and plant life. These animals and plants can adapt to this ever changed lifestyle.