We wrapped up our 2023-2024 season with a splash! Our "Springtime on the Chipola" and "Suwannee River Paddling Festival" trips were brimming with fantastic paddlers, delectable food, captivating speakers, soulful music, and picturesque venues. A heartfelt shoutout to Florida State Parks for graciously hosting us! 

As we explored options for our 2024-2025 season, the Kissimmee River saga and its decade-long restoration project emerged as an exciting opportunity. Not only does it allow us to explore a new river, but it also symbolizes renewed hope for the Everglades Headwaters. In this issue, we're thrilled to feature Doug Alderson's article titled  "The Kissimmee Saga: New Hope for the Everglades Headwaters".  Alderson's insights shed light on the remarkable journey of the Kissimmee River and the restoration efforts that have unfolded over the years.  Our collaboration extends to the Florida Atlantic University Center for Environmental Studies, who will  generously share their extensive research and knowledge about the Kissimmee River Restoration. Together, we'll explore the intricate web of ecosystems and witness firsthand the positive impact of this ambitious project. 

Mark your calendars for the Kissimmee River Saga Paddle in 2025! We invite you to join us as we navigate this rejuvenated waterway, celebrating its revival and the promise it holds for our environment. 

Join us for our 2024-2025 season of educational paddling adventures as we explore Florida's most spectacular destinations and immerse ourselves in the uniqueness of each environment. 

From the Suwannee River to the Florida Keys, join us as we weave together the ecology, history, and the magic of these pristine waterways. 

Whether you're a seasoned paddler or a curious beginner, there's something for everyone. Let's paddle, learn, and celebrate the beauty of Florida's diverse ecosystems! 

Paddling hand-hewn dugout canoes, Seminole Indians once cruised the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and Kissimmee River. They camped on unspoiled islands and shorelines, encountered numerous alligators, and reveled in soaring bald eagles, ospreys and snail kites. It’s not surprising that even after these early inhabitants were repeatedly driven deep into the southern Everglades during successive wars in the nineteenth century, small bands returned to this region and forged friendships with many of the early pioneers and ranchers who had settled the area. 

In the late 1800s, steamboats churned up and down the Kissimmee River’s twisting channel. “There is no more pleasant way of spending a week than to take the trip to Basinger,” wrote an anonymous reporter for The Kissimmee Valley Gazette in 1899, referring to a steamboat run along the river. “Birds of all kinds are in sight the whole way; flocks of ducks, coots, herons, cranes, limpkins, curlews, plume birds and water turkeys without end. Also alligators, rabbits and water snakes and plenty of fish, too.” 

Boat operators often cursed the Kissimmee’s “bewildering crookedness,” but when water covered its marshy floodplain, navigation was equally confusing. In 1882, Archie P. Williams, as part of an expedition that promoted canals and dredging throughout the system, found themselves sailing on a flooded Kissimmee. Despair was setting in as light faded. “We look in vain for some friendly clump of trees in the distance, under which we may pitch our tents for the night,” he wrote. “Nothing meets the eyes but sky, marsh and water, without a foot of dry land in sight.”  [Read More…]

Please join us in congratulating Kenneth Sulak and his lifelong contribution!

Kenneth Sulak is a research fish biologist retired from the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Sulak has Ph.D. and Masters degrees from the University of Miami School of Marine Science, and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. From 1985-1994 he was Director and Senior Fish Biologist at the Atlantic Reference Center, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, New Brunswick, Canada. He has conducted international research as a NATO Fellow in England, a U.S. National Academy Exchange Scientist to Russia, and Chief Scientist aboard a large number of oceanographic research cruises. Dr. Sulak has published extensively on marine fish community ecology and sturgeon life history and conservation. He has 50 years of experience researching fish ecology in coastal rivers, estuaries, and the deep-sea in the Atlantic, Arctic, East Pacific and Indian oceans. His Gulf sturgeon research filled critical gaps in knowledge of life history, population biology and habitat requirements in coastal rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, facilitating conservation of this species. Offshore research focused on deep-reef fish communities off the U.S. East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, and on yellowfin tuna attracted to oilrigs. Dr. Sulak led four years of intensive USGS research on the impacts of the BP oil spill upon Gulf of Mexico shelf-edge reef fish communities. Sulak is a founding member of the North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society. In 2008, he was honored with the GIBBS Foundation McAllister Award for excellence in marine fish conservation research.

Riverwoods Field Lab sits along the banks of Riverwoods Run, a historic 5-mile section of the Kissimmee River. Riverwoods Run’s floodplain was severed from the river’s flow since the channelization was completed in 1971. The dried-out floodplain had reverted to dry pasture lands and the river levels were very low and had no flow for many years. However last year, the restoration reached Riverwoods and the flow was restored to Riverwoods Run!  With the restored flow and flooding resulting from Hurricane Irma – the wetlands adjacent to Riverwoods are coming back to life!  The return of aquatic invertebrates and juvenile fish to the restored floodplain have provided a buffet banquet for wetland and wading birds. The most exciting indicator of the health of the restored river is the return of the endangered Everglades Snail Kites!! The reflooded wetlands have provided excellent conditions for the apple snail, the Snail Kites’ primary food source, to return to the Kissimmee River.  [Read More …]

Get your very own Camp Coffee Mug! $20 to help support our environmentally friendly dish program

How To: Choose a PFD

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