The Trailblazer

As you hike, you'll come to 5 numbered trail markers (shown on the map). At each trail marker, and at the top of the mound, stop and listen to (or read) the short informational clip provided.  You can download each file separately using the links provided OR download the entire audio file and pause it between trail markers. You can also download  the text to read along instead of listening. Remember to bring a trail map, water, bug spray, and a snack with you and tell someone where you're going. Happy hiking!  Trail Map and Text Links >>Cockroach Bay Trail Map this is a geo-referenced trail map, meaning that if you download a mapping app like Avenza on your smartphone and open this PDF in the app, it will let you see your location on the map as you hike.  >>Full Hike - Text Only Audio Links >>Full Hike you only have to download one file, but you'll have to pause it between trail markers.  >>Introduction >>Trail Marker 1 >>T...

  Native Florida ecosystems and the wildlife they contain have evolved around the presence of fire for thousands of years. Florida boasts the largest number of lightning strikes in North America, a natural ignition process leading to fire. These fires presumably could have burned across the entirety of the state - from coast to coast. Natural and prescribed burning both enhance and promote the fire-dependent plants and animals in these ecosystems. Fire-adapted Florida Strictly speaking, ecosystems as a whole didn’t evolve to be fire-dependent. Plant and animal species evolve individually, and as individuals that make up the ecosystem, thrive with fire. The natural occurrence of wildfire via lightning strikes would have necessitated the adaptation of the wildlife present at the time. As the state of Florida became more developed, the addition of roads and large structures became prohibitive to the progression of these large-scale fires. Suppression and the deliberate exclusion of fi...

Why do we do what we do? Every organization has a driving purpose, a reason for bringing people together, a goal that  they're working towards. Recently, our team sat down together to figure out just what our  purpose is- to figure out our "why." We brought together a team made up of people from every level of our organization who  met every week, talking over our purpose together to condense hundreds of "why's" into  one cohesive, inspiring, and accurate phrase. What we came up with is a sentence that describes our main reasons for coming to work  every day- although there are so many reasons that we do what we do, these are the basic,  fundamental building blocks that inspire us. To passionately steward our conservation lands We work on some of the most amazing conservation lands in the state of Florida. Thanks to the Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP), Hillsborough County has over 63,000 acres worth of nature...