Matanzas Pass Preserve

My friend and I took a trip to the Matanzas Pass Preserve for the class field trip. I would first like to mention that I was completely surprised to find where the preserve was located. We passed Bay Rd three times before we realized what we had been doing. I’m not going to lie, I was planning on making this a quick 15 minute trip, snap a few pictures and be done with it. At first site I was not very impressed. The area didn’t seem like a preserve to me. There were houses and a school right there and at the beginning and towards the end of the trails you could see the buildings and hear the traffic on the roads. I was impressed with the boardwalk, I thought that it made it look very interesting and almost mysterious, with the winding and bending and what not. The actual trails seemed all too familiar. They were very similar to the ones I used to run at Lady Slipper in North Port. I was interested in all the little holes that were spread across the entire trail. It finally dawned on me (when I saw a little crab crawling out of one) what those little holes were! I thought it was pretty amazing that those little creatures travel so far from the water. I was upset that I didn’t see any wildlife, it being a reserve and all. All I saw was a crane back behind a ton of twisted branches, and a little red nosed finch (I think that’s what it was) jumping branch to branch picking red berries.
After we started the walk I become very interested in the trails and decide to actually enjoy the quiet, peaceful trek through the woods before I had to return to my daunting hours and hours of homework that was assigned to me over my spring break. As sad as it might sound, this trip was the most eventful and exciting thing I did for spring break. I thought that the trees with the big knots were very interesting and different. Like I mentioned before, this place didn’t really strike me as a preserve, and this become more apparent when I came across some raccoon tracks in the mud stopped short by a tire tread. I guess I always thought that a preserve was just for animals, but I now I understand that it is for the conservation of the land as well.
Conservation 20/20 is, in my opinion, a gathering of individuals who truly care about conservation that are getting together and fighting/buying land to preserve. I think that it is a great program, and I believe 100% that our land is being torn up and “developed” way too quickly. I think without programs like Conservation 20/20 and other preservation plans, Florida would be nothing but concrete, tourist shops, and beaches littered with stands and trashcans.

I most definitely like to kayak the Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail and I would also like to visit more of the Conservation 20/20 preserves and see how they compare. One last thing... I find it kind of creepy that Matanzas means "slaughters!"

Overall, I really enjoyed my trek through the trails, and if I were in the area I can definitly say that I would do it again.