Estero Bay Historic Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve

(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Our class had the privilege of visiting the Estero Bay Historic Cottage. There, we had a talk with a nice old lady about the history behind the cottage and the town itself. She spoke with us about a time before there were condos and hotels and all these stores around the cottage. She discussed with us about the history, and how there was a massacre in the area, which gave the name for the preserve, Matanza, which is Spanish for massacre. We got to see the shells and also the other things that were originally around, such as old tools and seashells. I really enjoyed the talk the old lady gave us and thought she was well spoken and actually kept my interest with her personal anecdotes. The cottage itself was very quaint as well, although it must be extremely cold in the winter.


(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)
After we looked around the cottage, we talked about Conservation 20/20 which is essentially a program involved in using tax payers' dollars to set aside land to be preserved.



(Photo courtesy of http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html)

They focus primarily on undeveloped lands in natural habitats. According to their website, they have four main objectives. 1. Protect and preserve natural habitat. 2. Protect and preserve water quality and supply. 3. Protect developed lands from flooding. 4. Provide resource-based recreation. (http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html). I think tax dollars used to pay for these pieces of land is smart and should be done for certain high risk areas, however I think there should be a limit as to how much money is used and how often people are taxed. I think at a certain point it becomes the responsibility of private funders to help preserve these lands since they are in a better position financially to do so. The preserve itself was a nice, serene place and I would like to visit more places like it this semester, and probably will during my time of volunteering, even though I'm not familiar with any of the others on the list. In addition to learning about Conservation 20/20 we got a chance to walk around the boardwalk and observed the environment around us, observing native species in their habitat such as the Turkey Vulture, Sabal Palmetto, and Mangroves.

(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Mangroves are extremely important to the environment in Florida. It provides resistance to the constant shore erosion that goes on along our shorelines and also provides a habitat for many small organisms such as small fish and crabs and provides protection for them. In addition, it also helps with carbon sequestration. All in all, it was a quaint time.