Burrowing Owls - Field Trip, Thursday 31 March, 5 pm

Here's your chance to meet with Marco Island's Burrowing Owl specialist, Nancy Richie, at 5 pm at City Hall. We'll pack into a few cars and visit some active owl neighborhoods on the island. A great way to meet other folks who share your interest in nature, birds, Marco Island, and wildness in general. Space is limited. To register, please reply (below) with first name and number in your party.

Monday 7 February - Florida Native Plant Society

This should be of interest to Wild Marco people ...

The Naples Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society is sponsoring Dr. George H. Newman on Monday, February 7 at the Naples Botanical Garden - 6:30PM. This FREE presentation is open to the public and will feature Dr. Newman speaking on "Orchids of the Northeastern U.S."

This year's eaglets on Tract K, Marco Island

If you have other photos of Marco Island wildlife to share, we'd be glad to post them.

Learn More About Marco Island's Gopher Tortoises

For all who missed Julie Ross's multimedia overview of the Gopher Tortoises of Marco Island, Friends of Tigertail will be hosting a not-to-be-missed opportunity. From the Friends of Tigertail website:

Wednesday, March 16th

Friends of Tigertail proudly announces The Tortoises of Marco with Julie Ross, M.S. Environmental Sciences-FGCU, at 7:00 p.m. at the United Church of Marco, 320 North Barfield Drive. Join us to learn about this unique animal and Julie’s research with our island’s tortoises. The public is invited to this free program and refreshments will be provided. For more information call 394-4832 or visit http://www.friendsoftigertail.com.

You can also see Julie's presentation on our youtube channel -

http://ecomarco.blogspot.com/2010/11/gopher-tortoises-of-marco-island-part-1.html

The Latest Threat to Marco Island's Gopher Tortoises

You can read the whole story here ...

Another Tract K/Eagle Nest site update

You can read the latest from the Naples Daily News here:

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/nov/30/school-district-nixes-tract-k-potential-marco-char/

The Sanctuary Foundation sent out an email with this commentary on the article:

"At the end of the fourth paragraph, the article incorrectly states, The deed for Tract K specifies the land should be used for "school purposes".

The deed states that "School Site No. 1" must be used for "school purposes".

On page 5 the article incorrectly mentions that in 2009 citizens and officials were angry because they wanted a school on this property.

Residents were angry because they did NOT want a school on the property surrounded by a field of solar panels. Residents were outraged and protested. Because of this reaction, grant money disappeared and the project was scratched."

If you'd like to express your opinion on Tract K being preserved from development, you can vote on the page of the website with the article - in the upper left-hand corner.

Here's an update on Tract K from the Marco Island Eagle Sanctuary Foundation:

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Some of you may have heard by now, that Collier County School Superintendent, Dr. Thompson, has denied the Marco Island Academy's request to allocate or lease Tract K to the Marco Island Academy for their permanent high school location, siting the environmental impact as one of the issues.

Although this is indeed good news, we still need to remain vigilant in our efforts to preserve Tract K. I suspect we there will be more requests or possible appeals regarding land use for this land. Those of you who have written letters to the CCSB regarding this issue, thank you! Your input to the CCSB IS important. ...

Sign "Petitions of Support" - We will be at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday. Stop by and say hello, sign a petition, take a few copies for others to sign. These petitions will be submitted to the City Council on Dec 6th as our show of support.

Volunteers - We need volunteers to work a couple of hours with us at the Farmer's Market, to get petitions signed, and obtain contributions for the Foundation. We are a non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible.

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Their website should be up soon:

marcoeaglesanctuaryfoundation.com

It would be great if some folks from our group could volunteer to help at the Farmers' Market Wednesday ... At the very least, stop by, sign the petition, and introduce yourself as a part of Eco-Marco. Thanks!