Adventures in the Charlotte Harbor Watershed

A Story of Four Animals and Their Neighborhoods

2010 edition

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.

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• 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 (pages 42 and 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)