Nikon 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 AFS VR at 400mm, its longest extension.

The Nikon 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 AFS VR at its shortest extension of 80mm to show size on a D800

Die Skulptur eines Bären auf dem Hauptplatz in Matzen

Florida's wetlands are seen by residents and visitors alike as a unique attribute that the state possesses, being home to a wide variety of plants and animals that need this climate to survive. However, because Florida is also seen as such a profitable area for land development and tourism in the summer, these wetlands may be in danger from real estate developers. This fundamental problem is being taken care of with a system of wetland mitigation, which seeks to make up for any destruction of the wetland areas, by requiring them to sponsor projects that restore or create new wetland areas.

After World War II, Florida wanted to increase both its truck farming and its cattle business. Already it was the second largest cattle state after Texas, but they wanted more land. More than a million acres of Florida wetlands were drained with long canals such as in this scene where they did so though many ranches into rivers like the Peace River and the Myakka River. Today, through wetland programs much of this land is being converted by to natural wetlands by selling wetland mitigation credits to developers. Less and less water is flowing through these projects especially during the Spring dry period. In the Summer, this canal will deepen many feet with fast flowing water and silt into the Myakka River system. Little is drained from the Longino Ranch these days, though.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s much of Southwest Central Florida's wetlands was drained for cattle pasture land. The Slough Project where over a million acres were drained into the Myakka and Peace Rivers was born. Because of Wetland mitigation projects today, some of this land is being reclaimed as wetland. Here the channel is during the dry season and with less water than in prior years.

Longino Ranch wetlands in the morning. This is the early spring dry season with about three inches of water in the center of the pond. No fauna other than some small birds were detected in the center area. Coyotes are known to predate these type ponds this early in the season though known were spotted today. The Longino Ranch is 9,000 acres of ranch and woodlands located near the Peace River between Arcadia and Sarasota in the Southwestern part of Florida next to the Myakka River State Park. Much of the wetlands were drained in 1953 with the water sent to the Peace River or the Myakka River.

Sunset over Blackpoint Drive in Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 as an overlay of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. Consisting of 140,000 acres, the Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals.

Sunset at Blockpoint Drive on Merritt Island National Wildlife Sanctuary in East Central Florida. The refuge traces its beginnings to the development of the nation’s Space Program. In 1962, NASA acquired 140,000 acres of land, water, and marshes adjacent to Cape Canaveral to establish the John F. Kennedy Space Center. NASA built a launch complex and other space-related facilities, but development of most of the area was not necessary. In 1963. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed an agreement to establish the refuge and in 1975 a second agreement established Canaveral National Seashore. Today, the Department of Interior manages most of the unused portions of the Kennedy Space Center as a National Wildlife Refuge and National Seashore.

Winter Sunset over Blackpoint Drive in the Merritt Island Wildlife Sanctuary, East Central Florida bordering on the Cape Canaveral NASA facility. About 12,000 years ago, the first people reached Florida after crossing the Siberian land bridge and migrating across North America. At that time, the Florida peninsula would have been about twice as large as it is today with sea levels 20 to 30 feet below the present location. Archeological evidence shows that Paleo-Indian's would have shared Florida with large animals such as mastodon, giant armadillo, camel, bison, and mammoths. However, it is likely they consumed mostly plants, nuts, mammals such as rabbit, raccoon, opossum, squirrel, and deer along with fish and marine life. Thus the hunting and fishing as a means of subsistence in Florida began with the first inhabitants. From this time forward, history of the Space Coast – both cultural and natural - has been rich and diverse.

my cat has moments of insanity. he was attacking the branches for 30 minutes

D700 back controls and centered LCD

Nikon's tiny little 35 f/2 mounted on a D700 FX camera