1-5
NatureServe Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life
For a catalog/database of animal and plant species, check out this site. You can search by state, name, status or ecological community. For the entire list (several pages long), see http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?loadTemplate=tabular_report.wmt&paging=home&save=all&sourceTemplate=reviewMiddle.wmt. A search for Florida, then scrub, turned up mostly plants like scrub blue-eye grass.

1-12
Great Florida Birding Trail: Southern Florida Public Meetings
The Great Florida Birding Trail is a great way to find places to see wildlife. Run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the GFBT is still under development. The eastern and western sections have been completed, but guides to the panhandle and southern Florida haven't been published yet. If you live in southern Florida and would like to recommend sites that are good for bird watching, this page lists a series of meetings in the region this week. Even if you can't make it to a meeting, but you know a good southern Florida birding spot, download the nomination form to recommend your favorite spot.

1-21
Miami Herald Outdoor Guide
If you're thinking about doing something in southeastern Florida, you can get ideas at this site. From tips to first-hand accounts of hikes, biking trails, wreck dives, paddling trails and more, this special section of the Miami Herald site will give enough ideas for just about every weekend of the year.

1-26
Audubon at Home
We enjoy spending time outdoors and admiring nature, and there are simple things all of us can do to help make sure our natural areas are there for years to come. Here, the Audubon Society present 5 things everyone can do to help the environment. Extra links on the page lead to more information, such as better pest control. Also see the Audubon guide to sustainable seafood choices.

2-5
Earth Talk: Questions and Answers About Our Environment
What effects does mercury have on unborn children? What is the status of the world's frogs? What is biodiesel fuel? If you have a question about the environment, this MSNBC site is one place to go to get answers, responded directly in Q-and-A style. Links for more information round out the research.

2-9
Rustle the Leaf
If you teach or entertain children any time (or if you are a kid), check out this new site for environment-related activities, featuring a leaf character named Rustle. Besides doing the "Rustle Hustle," this leaf has some interesting friends (including an acorn, a water droplet and a bug), all of whom help kids learn about poisons and chemicals, recycling and more. Word games, Flash games, comics, coloring pages and desktop computer wallpaper are some of the things you can get here. Teachers can get lesson plans that incorporate Rustle and his pals.

2-23
Kayak Route Guides
This one is for the paddlers and paddler wannabes. This simple site presents kayak route reports from regular people who have paddled the routes. Scroll down the page to Florida, where there are more than 50 trip reports. Each report provides basic information like directions, fees, water level, skill level required and facilities available. Most have at least one photo taken along the paddle route. Trip reports also include what the paddler/writer saw while on the trip.

3-1
Suwannee River Wilderness Trail
For those who have been waiting to hear more about the planned Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, at last! On the Florida State Parks Web site, paddlers and nature travelers can get information about the trail that rolls for 207 miles along the Suwannee. Get maps with boat ramps and camping areas along with a list of package tour providers for your paddle down Florida's famed historic river. Spring would be a great time to do it, too, whether you paddle all of the river or just a part.

3-8
BadBirdz.com
Subtitled "An E-zine of North American Birding," this is a helpful site for bird-watchers going to a place for the first time. Although I've been to the places I'm going to this weekend, this site has pointed out some good birding information about those places (e.g., species to look for in certain seasons, if a specific park requires an admission fee and how to get there). There's even a map of red-cockaded woodpecker trees in Osceola National Forest. The site is heavy on Florida birds and bird-watching places; just scroll down the home page for Florida links. I found all the Miscellanea links to be broken, however.

3-22
Florida PantherNet News
Florida panthers have been in the news lately because apparently a mother and her cubs have been coming too close for comfort to some Miccosukee homes on the edge of Big Cypress National Preserve. According to news reports, panthers have been seen hunting in plain view of families with children, whom some fear could be their next prey. Elsewhere in the news, a group on Hutchinson Island is offering a reward for photographic proof that a panther lives in this Treasure Coast area. So even though the Florida PantherNet site as a whole has already been recommended to EcoFloridians, I thought I'd point to the news page of the site. The panther biologists' field notes -- in PDF format --- are interesting, with comments about births, infighting, and vehicle-related deaths. Definitely check out a page that tracks one panther clear into central Florida and provides a map. You might want to bookmark this page and return to it every month.

3-29
Governor's Save Our Everglades Update
Did you know Florida Governor's Web site includes a mini-site about the Everglades? I stumbled across the site a couple months ago. There is some good information here, including a table showing acquired land parcels, endangered species, Everglades components like Big Cypress and Lake Okeechobee, and what's happening with the Kissimmee River. The downside: there are references to Governor Lawton Chiles, and it looks to have been updated last in 1998 or 1999.

4-5
Removed because site taken down

4-12
Bird Call Challenge
Are you good at birding by ear? Many birds are secretive or just too twitchy to get a good enough look at them in order to identify them by color and markings. The eNature site has a fun quiz to test your bird call ID. Enter your zip code, listen to a song, then select the right bird from a choice of three.

4-19
The Eleven Percent Solution
If you're up for some reading, here's a page with some food for thought. The problem with nature-based tourism and recreation (especially passive or "non-consumptive"), many people say, is that it's hard to track people who participate in these activities, and hard to tell just how much they spend. The writer of this essay, a leader in helping communities develop nature-based tourism, says one way to get around that is to offer a voluntary fee. People who take part in passive outdoors recreation (i.e., not hunters) would be able to voluntarily pay a fee that supports such programs and that enables a state to count them separately from hunters. He has started developing such a system in Texas.

4-26
Hike Florida!
There are already numerous links from the EcoFlorida Web site to the Florida Trail Association Web site, but since the FTA redesign, it's worth pointing out again. This page in particular is a good place to begin for those who aren't as familiar with Florida hiking areas, or those who haven't hiked in a while. Here, the FTA recommends hikes from one day to one week or more. There are also links to hiking books and maps. Viva la FTA!

5-3
Kids Ecology Corps
This is the site for a children's environmental group based in Fort Lauderdale. Kids can visit the site to learn how to build a rainforest, create acid rain in the kitchen, make homemade paper, and more. Grown-ups can learn from the site, too, including steps to reduce pollution, save energy and water, and be a smart consumer. Educators can use the curriculum programs available in PDF format. The other tips and information are a good way to introduce kids or enviro newbies to the basics of caring about the environment.

5-10
Timely Topics Newsletter
I found a nice article about nesting least terns here. This is the current newsletter of the Pinellas County Extension office of the University of Florida. The newsletter is regularly published at this site in PDF format and includes mostly gardening advice: make your yard Florida-friendly, what to do in your garden this month, how to prevent pests, etc. But it also touches on nature topics that EcoFloridians might find interesting: when to hire a wildlife trapper, backyard wildlife and birds of the area.

5-17
Repair Work at Remote Florida Fort Promises to Be a Lonely Job
With birding trips to the Dry Tortugas at their height, I thought this article might be nice to recommend. The article is about the repair of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles west of Key West. The fort is the main landing place (by water or air) for visitors. Park staff offer guided tours of the fort, which was built before the Civil War -- thus the need for repairs. Be sure to read the end of the article, which briefly mentions Samuel Mudd, from whom the cautionary phrase "Your name will be Mudd," supposedly came.

5-24
Jay Watch Prepares for Annual Census
Florida scrub jays are in the news all over the state: in the southwest, where scrub land banks are being proposed; in Brevard County, where the state recently purchased scrub land for conservation; and in Florida's highlands, where the Lake Wales Ridge is the scene of the Jay Watch. This annual Florida scrub jay count takes place for about month starting in late June, and the organizers are looking for a few good bird-watchers. This page on the Nature Conservancy site offers details.

6-7
Forest Trees of Florida
Can you see the trees for the forest? Florida has an interesting mix of temperate and tropical trees, presented here on this framed Florida Division of Forestry minisite. A simple description and black-and-white illustration of each tree may come in handy when you want to identify a tree from your last hike, to tell all the different mangroves apart, or to figure out what your neighbor just planted. There are more than 100 trees listed. If you don't want to save this site in your Favorites folder, you can download the list in PDF format and save it to your hard drive.

6-14
Surf Your Way to a Campsite
While camping tends to slow down during the summer in Florida, campers are just now getting started in some other parts of the country. This week's link is an article at the New York Times Web site with details on how to find and reserve a campsite across the country. Florida state park campers will already be familiar with ReserveAmerica, which the state park system uses for its campgrounds. Other Web sites in the article are for national parks and forests, and a few select states. Don't forget to click through to the second page of the article. (In order to access the article, you must sign up for a free registry with the New York Times.)

6-21
Animal Photo Galleries
Got a favorite critter? Maybe you'll find it at this portion of the National Geographic Web site. Here, you can find out how the photos were taken, under what conditions, and using which equipment. Links to other images like landscapes and people are toward the bottom of the page. Find National Geographic images that you can capture as your computer desktop wallpaper.

6-28
Urban Bird Studies
This site is by the Cornell [University] Lab of Ornithology -- the same folks who run the Great Backyard Bird Count. Here, they offer another way to participate in bird research. Scientists are looking at the kinds of birds that live in cities and encourage groups to take part in “Celebrate Urban Birds!” July 9-18. This site-within-a-site also offers information on other urban bird studies, including studies on city-dwelling crows, gulls, doves and pigeons. Find the site's list of “typical city birds."

7-6
Florida's Exotic Wildlife
EcoFlorida often gets asked to identify a peculiar lizard, almost always an exotic species not native to Florida. EcoFlorida doesn't really deal with exotic wildlife, so we sometimes refer people to this site, which is part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Web site. The main page provides statistics on exotics in Florida, but the best part is toward the bottom of the page, where you can select your county for a list of known non-native species reported there. You can also look up exotics by type of wildlife (i.e., mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.). The left-side navigation links take you to other areas of the wildlife portion of the FWC site -- mostly native Florida wildlife.

7-12
Science & Nature: Animals
OK, so this site doesn't really have anything to do with Florida. But it's summer, right? So take a little desk-side vacation and visit this BBC site for features on all kinds of wildlife. Read articles about wildlife around the world, see wildlife photo galleries, view videos, get screensavers, take quizzes and more. There are special sections for animal-loving children and about pets.

7-19
Real Florida Passport
The Florida State Park Service has just come out with a nice-looking guide to all of the state parks. I haven't seen this $8 spiral-bound book, but it looks nicer than the usual free guide you can get in a state park. Visitors can use the new passport to find state parks and get the information they need to visit (although the information still looks brief), plus get their passport "stamped" when visiting. Care to visit all 150+ state parks?

7-26
Florida Water Resource Management
Speaking of mangroves and rivers, water is so important to everyone and everything that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has given it its own page. This is the jumping-off point for State of Florida information on everything from drinking water to dams to the Everglades and Florida's springs.

8-2
Hiking and Camping at CREW
Many people from around the world love to visit the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary east of Fort Myers/Naples. But most of them may not know about CREW: Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, a nonprofit. CREW acquires conservation lands in southwestern Florida, and this page provides details on the hiking and camping that CREW lands offer. Also check out the CREW events and newsletter while you're at the site.

8-9
Butterfly Rainforest at FLMNH
This coming Saturday, the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida campus in Gainesville will open its latest exhibit, the 6,400-square-foot Butterfly Rainforest. This screened-in garden will house hundreds of butterflies (at least 55 different species) and be a place where people can learn about our favorite winged insects and how to landscape for them. This minisite features not only information about visiting the Butterfly Rainforest, but also an online game, butterfly Q&A and list of butterfly classes.

8-16
Water Watch
This is just a page, but an interesting one. It shows a map of the state of Florida and the real-time streamflow across the state. You can see where Hurricane Charley dumped a lot of water -- those areas are shown in bright blue. This would be a handy page to bookmark if you go paddling or boating around the state so you can check on water levels.

8-23
BirdForum
I was recently made aware of this site, which calls itself “the Net's largest birding community, dedicated to wild birds.” This site is so comprehensive that you'll find discussions not only on birdwatching around the world, but also on birding resources, photos, rare birds, backyard bird feeders and nesting boxes, optics/equipment and other wildlife life reptiles and mammals. Check out the bird database and reviews of bird-watching locations.

8-30
Everglades Restoration Movement
This nonprofit group of volunteers has taken it upon themselves to aid the Everglades by removing exotic plants and replacing them with native plants, among other projects. The ERM site offers Everglades facts (like the wildlife and why the Everglades is important) and information on what is plaguing the ecosystem (like the exotic plants volunteers are working to remove). The “outings” and “news” pages haven't been updated in quite a while, but visit the site for information and for volunteer opportunities. (The group is still active.)

9-13
Florida Highest Named Summits
A lot of Florida is at sea level, but many places have “high points.” This page lists those high-altitude areas in descending order. Walton and Washington counties in the panhandle tout levels above 300 feet. Central Florida's scrubby Lake County also hits the 300 mark, and Polk and Hernando aren't far behind. Click on the name of each hill for a topographic map. The same Web site offers a table showing Florida cliffs, valleys, forests, etc. listed by county.

9-20
Managed Area Table
Have you ever wondered where all of the state's natural lands are? Try this table that lists them by Florida county. It probably isn't the most up-to-date listing because the top of the page says "Preservation 2000," which is now called Florida Forever, the state program to acquire natural lands for conservation. However, it's a good start for those times when you want to travel somewhere different.

9-27
Nature & Science: Natural Sounds
This is a National Park Service page that introduces the idea of a soundscape and how national parks contribute to preserving the natural sounds of the Earth. Click on the images at the top of the page to hear a wolf howl, waves crash or birds call. Use the navigation bar on the left to access other Nature & Science pages about national parks' air, water, geology and biology. Look up Gordon Hempton, known as an "acoustic ecologist," for his efforts to preserve natural soundscapes.

10-4
Regulations.gov: Your One-Stop Site to Comment on Federal Regulations
In the spirit of voting that seems to intensify every election year, this week's hot link takes you to a Web site where you can see what legislation and rules are open to public comment. This is especially helpful for EcoFloridians when it comes to taking part in influencing what happens on our public lands and with our wildlife. You can search by keyword, agency (like U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) or topic. Then read what's proposed and click on a handy link to let the government know what you think.

10-11
Weather: National Parks, National Forests and Outdoor Recreation
This Weather Channel page is a handy link if you like to visit federal natural lands. You can get the weather for any national park or forest across the country. Select a state, then select a place. Unfortunately, even though the Weather Channel mentions national forests, they don't seem to be available -- only those areas overseen by the National Park Service (parks, historical sites, monuments, etc.), not the U.S. Forest Service. However, national parks, national wildlife refuges, national wilderness areas and other places are listed at Recreation.gov (Florida), where you can select a place, then scroll to the bottom of the page for the weather forecast.

10-18
Green Map Atlas
The Green Map people develop maps of natural and cultural areas for cities around the world. New York, Jakarta, Hiroshima and Toronto are a few of the cities that have Green Maps available for tourists and residents. Besides New York, the only other U.S. city that has a Green Map is Milwaukee, so let's hope this idea catches on more in America. Download the map/guides for free. Florida's Volusia County once published a similar map.

10-25
Florida Backyard Landscaping for Wildlife
This is a great time for planting and landscaping, and this University of Florida page has links and tips to help you create a backyard wildlife habitat with all the important components: water, food and cover. Learn how birds select habitat, the best types of mulch to use, eco-friendly pest management and more. Find native plants for your area.

11-1
Wildlife Viewing Information
Continuing the wildlife theme from last week, this Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission page offers great tips for wildlife watching. From the importance of not disturbing animals during critical times, to drawing them out into view, to planning and equipment recommendations, this is a great place to check if you're a wildlife watcher. Don't miss the animals signs link, which takes you to a pull-down menu to view tracks and scat of various native Florida wildlife.

11-8
Green Gift Guide
There are only about six weeks left until the end-of-year holidays arrive, if you can believe it. This California Department of Conservation site offers suggestions for “green” gifts of all kinds (like recycled jewelry and office products, and ecofriendly clothing and home décor), and links to Web sites where you can buy them. You'll also find tips on environmentally friendly decorating and gift wrapping, and other steps each of us can take to conserve resources. Another gift site to check out is http://www.organicbouquet.com.

11-15
Alternative and EcoTravel Adventures
Thinking about a year-end vacation? Here is a page full of links to articles about nature-based recreation and other unique ways to tour an area. The links on the right side of the page under “More Categories” help you pinpoint exactly the kind of specialty travel you're interested in. See our archives for a variety of articles on places to tour in Florida with nature in mind.

11-22
Biodiversity Hotspots
If you're into the environment, you probably are aware of the idea of biodiversity hotspots, or places that are known to be rich in various kinds of life forms and in need of conservation. This site by Conservation International is devoted to what it considers the 25 biodiversity hotspots around the world. Some of these places are amazing just to think about: for example, the Andes has 20,000 plant species and 1,500 vertebrate species; Madagascar has already had 46 species go extinct. Get the details of each hotspot's ecosystems, species and conservation, including maps. Interestingly for us EcoFloridians, the Caribbean hotspot also includes southern Florida. You can sign up to get a free e-mail newsletter, or find archived newsletters on the site.

12-6
Interfaith Climate Change Network (ICCN)
This time of year, spirituality is on the minds and in the hearts of many people. If that's you, then you may want to check out this site. The ICCN offers suggestions on ways to promote actions against climate change in your home, place of worship and in government. Many of the suggestions concentrate on energy efficiency as ways to be "good stewards of the Earth." You can also sign your name to letters sent to elected officials and companies to promote roadless areas and more fuel-efficient vehicles, among other issues. There's also the option to sign up for e-mail updates.

12-13
Debra's List: Links to Nontoxic, Natural and Earth-Wise Products
A couple weeks ago, the hot link was for a site full of environmentally friendly gift ideas. Now that the holidays are upon us, here is yet another site that will help you find “green” products. The top of the page currently lists holiday-oriented suggestions, while the left-side navigation will point you toward beneficial household products, office supplies, pet products and more. Site visitors also can sign up for a free e-mail newsletter about green products.