Nature

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Choctawhatchee Estuary Family Festival Apr. 30

Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park hosts educational day of fun for everyone Date: Saturday, Apr. 30 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, Friends of the Emerald Coast State Parks and the Mattie Kelly Cultural & Environmental Institute of Northwest Florida State College will sponsor the Choctawhatchee Estuary Family Festival. This family event will feature fun, educational activities and displays showcasing our coastal environment. Cheer on the crab races...

Fish in fresh water without a license Apr. 2-3

Get outdoors, take a kid fishing! Spring is a wonderful time for freshwater fishing throughout Florida. For starters, the weather tends to be especially comfortable. In addition, most sunfish – including bass, bluegill and redear sunfish – are in the shallows this time of year and fairly easy to locate. The stars must have been aligned, because this winter and early spring, freshwater anglers have been telling the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) that fishing is outstanding. If...

Colorful yellow pitcher plants blooming in Santa Rosa Beach

Spring in full bloom Yellow pitcher-plants (Sarracenia flava) bloom in a wetland area off of U.S. Hwy 98 in Santa Rosa Beach. Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants consuming insects as its main diet. Insects are captured in the hairy throat of the pitcher, to be digested in the liquid at its base. The yellow pitcher plant grows in continuously wet bogs and in wetlands....

Turtle Festival at Gulf Place April 30

Get ready for sea turtle season with a day of celebration Time: 1 – 6 p.m. Mark your calendars for April 30th when Turtle Watch, the South Walton Community Council and the Merchants of Gulf Place will join hands to host the second annual “Turtle Fest” held on the green at the Gulf Place Amphitheater at the corner of C30A and county road 393. This is a special time we set aside not only for the celebration of the turtle,...

Have breakfast with a ranger at Topsail Apr. 9

Learn about park life at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park Location: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on Scenic Road 30A, Santa Rosa Beach Saturday, Apr. 9 – 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Topsail Hill Preserve State Park will be having a Breakfast with a Ranger at 9 a.m. Join the Rangers of Topsail Hill and ask them all the questions you can think of about park life. This program is family oriented and ideal for...

That bunch of seaweed on the beach teems with life

Beach wrack full of curiosities When walking the beach this spring break, pause and ponder the virtues of stranded seaweed. Those scattered clumps along the high-tide line actually have a name – beach wrack – and are a pivotal part of the beach ecosystem. “Many might think sand makes a beach, but it’s the wrack that truly brings a beach to life,” said Blair Witherington, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologist who studies beach life. “It sponsors...