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, when covid concerns hopefully will have diminished. It will provide a foundation for understanding — and enjoying — the common habitats of Indian River County and what you may find in your yard. Field activities definitely will be included.
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”.
You can check out the 2020 schedule: 2020 FMEL Volunteer Class Schedule
Email Janice Broda at jbroda@ufl.edu if you are interested in joining a nature walk at ORCA.
After we being plagued by a miserable amount of mosquitoes in the hammock area at the South Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (SORCA) on our orchid stroll on June 18, 2022, we ventured in the sunnier and scrubbier part of the…
When we visited the South Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (SORCA) on 6-18-2002 to check out the blooming Florida butterfly orchids, we also saw this collection of small, round galls growing on Chapman oak (Quercus chapmanii). These adorable galls are the…
Red maple (Acer rubrum) is a well-known large tree of moist places throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada with distinctive 3 or 5-lobed leaves. Even in Florida, this deciduous tree brings red and yellow fall color. A substantial specimen grows…
Florida butterfly orchids (Encyclia tampensis) are easy to overlook. They are not the large gaudy orchids of prom corsages of bygone days. We saw lots of Florida butterfly orchids at the south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area when we visited on…
When we visited south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area on 6-18-2022, we saw blooming Florida butterfly orchids (Encyclia tampensis), the focus of our walk, as well as other plants with flowers and/or fruits, including …
Sometimes it can be hard to differentiate our native sword ferns – Nephrolepis exaltata & Nephrolepis biserrata from their invasive, non-native relatives – Nephrolepis cordifolia & Nephrolepis brownnii. All of these ferns, too often, are called Boston fern or, to…
Tall cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto) form a canopy along the St. Sebastian River at the South Prong Slough where we visited on 5/15/2022. Long ago these palms shed their boots (bases of old leafstems), as all cabbage palms do as…
Water hickory, swamp hickory, and bitter pecan are all common names for Carya aquatica, a large, deciduous tree of floodplain forests. It ranges from southern central Florida to the eastern Carolinas and westward to eastern Texas. We saw this tree…
Downy maiden fern (Thelypteris dentata) was volunteering along the foundation of the Ryall house at the South Prong Slough when we visited on 5/15/2022. Also known as downy shield fern, this attractive tropical/subtropical fern is naturalized throughout Florida, including along…
In 2006 Indian River County purchased 10 acres on the south prong of the St. Sebastian River for conservation and public enjoyment. Known as the Ryall property for its former owner, this property includes a house that will be home…
Giant leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium) is the largest fern in North America. Its fronds can grow to be 15′ tall. When we visited Osprey Aces Stormwater Park and Nature Preserve, we saw giant leather fern growing in the rocks on…
Australian umbrella tree (Heptapleurum actinophyllum), shown above at Osprey Acres Stormwater Park and Nature Preserve, is terribly invasive in south Florida. For years, most every “cookie-cutter” landscape included an Australian umbrella tree, most usually planted under the eveas of the…
Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 