Adventures in the Charlotte Harbor Watershed

A Story of Four Animals and Their Neighborhoods

Learn about the environment of southwest Florida through the adventures of four animals: a yellow-crowned night-heron on the Caloosahatchee River, an alligator on the Peace River, an otter on the Myakka River and a mullet in the estuaries. The Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) created this 60-page book to help children better understand the natural environment of southwest Florida.

This book was made possible because of the support provided by several financial partners and the talents and generosity of the author, illustrator, designer, contributors and reviewers. See the Acknowledgements page of the book for a complete list of those who helped make this book a reality.

In April 2008, CHNEP provided approximately 16,000 free copies of the books to the school districts of the seven counties that participate in the CHNEP. The school districts will be giving each third grade student a copy. The book is available free as a PDF file from this website (below). Printed books are available for a donation of $8.95 ($14 if mailed) and $5 if a quantity of the books are ordered plus shipping. More guidance on how to request your book will soon be posted on this website. All proceeds received will help allow the CHNEP make the book available free to the third grade students next school year. 

Please send comments, reviews and questions to mhilgendorf@swfrpc.org.

This website provides other resources to help make all who live, work and plan in the region better stewards of the precious natural resources found here. Please check out the grants offered and the Curious Kids Nature Club website that was developed in partnership with WGCU Public Media. The CHNEP is developing a guide of parks an other places to learn more about the environment, a directory of environmental events and other resources.

CHNEP is a partnership program that works to protect the natural environment of southwest Florida from Venice to Bonita Springs to Winter Haven.

To view and print the Adventures in the Charlotte Harbor Watershed, you need Adobe Acrobat. You can get Adobe Acrobat Reader free by clicking on the icon and following the instructions.

PDF file of entire book (17,469 KB)

Children's book page by page (file sizes range 232 KB to 1,997 KB)

• Cover

• Credit

• Title

• Acknowledgements

• Contents of Chapters 1 and 2

• Contents of Chapters 3 and 4

• Index Idea Page

• Map

Chapter 1: Tidal Caloosahatchee River

• Section 1: Hickey Creek Swamp (page 1)

• Section 2: W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam (pages 2 and 3)

  • Lock and Dam

• Section 3: Fort Myers Shores (pages 4 and 5)

  • Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons

• Section 4: Owl Creek and Trout Creek (page 6)

• Section 5: S.R. 31 Drawbridge (page 7)

• Section 6: Manatee Park (page 8)

• Section 7: Caloosahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (page 9)

  • Mangroves

• Section 8: Russell Park (page 10)

  • Flooding

  • Residential Development

• Section 9: Lofton Island and Centennial Park (page 11)

  • Dredging

• Section 10: Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve (pages 12 and 13)

  • Kinds of Mangroves

• Section 11: Redfish Cove (page 14)

  • Canals

• Section 12: Fisherman Key (page 15)

  • Florida Gulf Refuges

Chapter 2: Peace River

• Section 1: Banana Creek Marsh (pages 16 and 17)

  • Alligators

• Section 2: Lake Hancock (pages 18 and 19)

  • Dams and Lake Hancock Dam

  • Phosphate

• Section 3: Peace River (page 20)

  • Phosphate Mining

• Section 4: Peace River Park (page 21)

• Section 5: Fort Meade Recreational Park (page 22)

  • Exotics and Invasive Exotics

• Section 6: Pioneer Park (page 23)

• Section 7: Peace River Canoe Trail (pages 24 and 25)

  • Alligator Behavior

• Section 8: Brownville Park (page 26)

• Section 9: DeSoto Park and Morgan Park (page 27)

  • Beef Cattle

• Section 10: Lettuce Lake (pages 28 and 29)

  • Visible Pollution

  • Salinity

• Section 11: Shell Creek (page 30) and Section 12: Alligator Bay (page 30)

Chapter 3: Myakka River

• Section 1: Myakka Head (page 31)

• Section 2: Flatford Swamp (pages 32 and 33)

  • Otters

  • Agriculture

• Section 3: Myakka City Park (pages 34 and 35)

  • Invisible Pollution

• Section 4: Tatum Sawgrass March (page 36)

  • Myakka Island

• Section 5: Upper Myakka Lake (page 37)

  • Surface Water

• Section 6: Lower Myakka Lake (page 38)

  • Land Stewardship

• Section 7: Carlton Reserve (page 39)

  • Ground Water

• Section 8: Snook Haven (page 40) and Section 9: Jelks Preserve (page 41)

• Section 10: Myakka State Forest (page 42) --continues on page 43

  • Endangered Species, Threatened Species, Species of Special Concern

• Section 11: El Jobean (page 44) -- continues on page 45

• Section 12: Tippecanoe Bay (page 45)

Chapter 4: Estuaries from Dona and Roberts Bays to Estero Bay

• Section 1: Lemon Bay (pages 46 and 47)

  • Mullet

• Section 2: Stump Pass Beach State Park (pages 48 and 49)

  • Seagrass

• Section 3: Don Pedro Island (page 50)

• Section 4: Cape Haze and Island Bay National Wildlife Refuge (page 51)

  • Mullet Life

• Section 5: Gasparilla Island State Park and Cayo Costa State Park (page 52)

  • Hypoxia

• Section 6: Pine Island Sound and National Wildlife Refuge (page 53)

  • Shellfish and Aquaculture

• Section 7: Sanibel Island and San Carlos Bay (pages 54 and 55)

  • Fishing

  • Barrier Islands

• Section 8: Mound Key Archaeological State Park (page 56)

  • Intracoastal Waterway

• Section 9: Estero Bay Preserve State Park (page 57)

  • Florida Aquatic Preserves and State Buffer Preserves

• Section 10: Lovers Key State Park (page 58)

Epilogue (page 59)