Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area
440 acres adjacent to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, University of Florida/IFAS
The Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) is finalizing the schedule of its 2019 Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class for the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA). This 6-week, free class is taught by researchers and staff from the FMEL and other educational institutions. It provides an foundation for understanding — and enjoying — the common habitats of Indian River County through classroom talks and field activities.
Class participants are asked to “volunteer back” and share what they have learned at the ORCA, another nature preserve, a nature center, or another venue. You craft how and where you “volunteer back”.
Please email the Program Coordinator Janice Broda at jbroda@ufl.edu for more information or to express your interest in the 2019 class.
The 2019 class schedule will be posted soon, and it will be similar to the 2018 Class Schedule — with some different speakers & topics. For now, check out last year’s class schedule: 2018 FMEL Volunteer Nature Class Schedule
Last year this giant land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) decided to check out “higher ground” and clambered up the railing to our first floor. Also known as the Great Atlantic land crab, these semi-terrestrial crabs live in burrows — crab holes…
Judith Fillipich, Ellie Klebonis, Diane Morgan, Fran Robinson, John Warner, Thomas “Tom” Wilson, and Dotty Workman enjoyed a walk to the Observation Tower at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) on 9/9/2018. The wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa) was full of…
It’s not the goldenrod that’s irritating your respiratory tract. The pollen of goldenrod is too big & too sticky to become a human allergen. Pollinators — like this bumblebee — love goldenrod. We should, too, for its beautiful bright yellow…
Winged loosestrife (Lythrum alatum var. lanceolata) seems more prevalent this year, perhaps due to Hurricane Irma spreading it about. Sandee Dawdy (Class of 2016) contacted me at the beginning of the summer to identify a “new” blueish-flowered plant that appeared…
Evidence of rampant and illegal saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) berry harvesting is shown above at south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) in 2014. Beginning on July 17, 2018 anyone harvesting saw palmetto berries is required to have a Native Plant Harvesting…
It’s a little bit early for lateflowering thoroughwort (Eupatorium serotinum) to be in flower, but this native wildflower was flowering — profusely and in multiple spots — at the Indian River Lagoon Greenway when we visited on 8/11/2018. Also known…
