Lets face it. if you live in Florida, you know what sand is, it's everywhere.
Sandy soils are ideal for crops such as watermelons, peaches and peanuts, and their excellent drainage characteristics make them suitable for intensive dairy farming.
Recreation. Playing with sand is a favorite beach time activity. One of the most beloved uses of sand is to make sometimes intricate, sometimes simple structures known as sand castles. Such structures are well known for their impermanence. Sand is also used in children's play. Special play areas enclosing a significant area of sand, known as sandboxes, are common on many public playgrounds, and even at some single family homes.
Sand animation: Performance artists draw images in sand. One of the best sand art shows in the country is held every year in Fort Myers Beach. This sand art show brings in artist from all over the world.
The Balanced Nature caches on this Marsh Trail of the CREW are themed to just remind everyone of what we all take for granted. Nature must be balanced for the Earth to survive and the continuance of life here as we commonly know. As we stroll through the CREW on the Marsh Trail, take some time and look at what the Earth and nature has to offer us. Find the geocaches and look around to see if you can find the main theme to this cache. You may see it here, or you may see it elsewhere on the trails. Nature is all around, but…….. sometimes it hides. Just like geocaches. Have fun, look around for the theme of this cache and enjoy the day.
CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed) is a 60,000 acre watershed. A watershed is an area of land that absorbs rain and ground water and then drains it into a wetland. The CREW marsh is a 5000 acre wetland which holds onto the water it receives allowing the water to slowly sink into the ground. The marsh protects downstream areas from flooding during the rainy season and stores water for use during a drought. The plants in the marsh, dominated by sawgrass, filter the water, removing pesticides and other substances harmful to humans. After it is cleaned, the water through the force of gravity sinks into the ground through the spaces in the soil and bedrock ( rock that underlies the soil) recharging the underground aquifer. An aquifer is a permeable layer of bedrock that stores and conducts the water. The bedrock in the CREW marsh is composed of limestone which makes a good aquifer. This aquifer is the main source of drinking water for this part of Florida. Most of the 55 inches of annual rainfall the marsh receives comes in the summer and fall.