440 acres adjacent to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, University of Florida/IFAS
Get trail maps and information about the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area — and other Indian River County conservation lands — with Indian River County’s new Map App. Click here to check it out.
Nature does nothing uselessly — Aristotle
Nature is everywhere. Enjoy exploring the puzzles & complexities of nature at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area & on this website. You will find some of the plants, insects, and animals that you see here in your yard, along the roadsides, and elsewhere.
Enjoy nature everywhere.
The Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) will offer its twenty-fourth Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class for the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) in 2023 after a 2-year hiatus due to covid. This 6-session class will provide a foundation for understanding — and enjoying — the common habitats of Indian River County and what you may find in your yard. Each session will include outdoor activities..
Class participants are asked to “volunteer back” and share what they have learned at the ORCA, another nature preserve, a nature center, or in another venue. You craft how and where you “volunteer back”.
The class tentatively is scheduled to begin on Saturday, December 3, 2002 and in 2023 on Saturdays January 14 & 28, February 11 & 25, and March 4. Check back for the scheduled speakers/topics.
Please email Janice Broda at jbroda@ufl.edu if you are interested in participating in the 2023 class.
Love vine (Cassytha filiformis) is used in love potions. It purportedly is an aphrodisiac, contains a good bit of caffeine, and has a root beer-like taste. Other common names for this hemi-parasitic vine include woevine, laurel dodder, devil’s gut, and…
Carolina sealavender (Limonium carolinianum) is a perennial herb of salt marshes from Florida to Texas to Quebec to Labrador/Newfoundland. It blooms throughout the year in southern central Florida and South Florida and in spring/summer in cooler climates. At the Toni…
Florida is home to 12 different species of greenbrier vines, vines in the genus Smilax. Only 3 species occur in the Indian River County, and all 3 of these species grow at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. Common names for…
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is a wide-ranging, high-climbing woody vine that often brings smidges of seasonal color. Also known as woodbind, American ivy, and fire-leaved ivy, Virginia creeper grows from Quebec through the Northeast U.S. to Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas,…
As Hurricane Nicole approaches on 11/9/2022, a blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) has worked hard to raise the height of the entry to its burrow. Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) and Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) are home to lots…
So sad to see that a large redbay (Persea borbonia) in the mesic hammock at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) has succumbed to laurel wilt. Laurel wilt (Raffaelea lauricola) is an invasive fungal disease that arrived in the U.S.…
Largeflower Mexican clover, largeflower pusley, Florida snow, fairy bells, and fairy cups are all common names given to the plant Richardia grandiflora, an invasive plant that has spread widely and swiftly in south and central Florida. For a weed that…
Leo Tolstoy: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way Hurricanes are part of life in Florida. Each hurricane is unhappy in its own way. In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit the Panhandle and…
Sweet Sam, Bob Montanaro’s dog,, stands at the trailhead to the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, wondering about the wet conditions. This picture was taken in early September of 2016, a year with “usual” summer rainfall. Every year is different, and…
Yellowtop (Flaveria linearis) flowers each fall behind the beach dunes at Sebastian Inlet State Park. It is shown below in 2013 growing between the roadway and a swath of sea oxeye daisy (Borrichia frutescens). Yellowtop generally flowers in the late…
It’s that time of year, again! Love bugs flourish twice per year: April – May and August – September. Also know as honeymoon bugs, double-headed bugs, and March flies, these short-lived insects are harmless to people but hell on automotive…
Populations of blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhami) have declined dramatically over the years due to over-harvesting and habitat loss. They are most active at dawn and dusk near the full moon. September and October tend to be their most active…
Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 