Nature Trails
Sun City Center Nature Trails
Willing to Help with Nature Trails? Details below.
Nature Trails
Sun City Center Community Association West Campus Nature Trails
The West Campus Nature Trails is one of the projects managed by the SCC Audubon Club Conservation Committee. The SCC Audubon Club has partnered with the SCC Community Association to act as stewards of the Trails. Club members have contributed hundreds of volunteer hours to the project. The Conservation Committee has applied for and received two $20,000 restoration grants from the Hillsborough County Pollution Recovery Fund. The first grant was used to complete restoration on the 16 acre trail side of the 37 acre property and the second grant was used to restore the remaining acreage. In addition, the Club has committed several thousand dollars in support of the project. Current plans include expansion of the trail on the opposite side of the stormwater conveyance that bisects the project.
Members of the committee oversee the management of the Nature Trails that wind through 16 acres that recall “Old Florida.” A surprising number of varied habitats include pine forest, pine flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, small wetland meadows and a cypress swamp. The Conservation Committee members remove exotic and invasive species alongside the trail that threaten biodiversity and native habitat. Maintenance within the interior of the property is contracted out to specialists in ecological restoration. As part of the partnership agreement, the SCC CA maintenance crew periodically grooms the trails for hiking comfort. An informational kiosk, furnished and updated by the Audubon Club, displays a map and timely information about what one might see along the trails. Since everything has its season, visiting at regular intervals reveals new perspectives and insights. The trails are open to residents of Sun City Center and Kings Point.
In order to make the trail easier to navigate, color coded wayfinding posts were recently installed on the existing trails.
Click Here for a map to see where the trails and markers are located.
The trailhead is on W. Del Webb between Seton Hall Dr. and Vincennes Dr. Appropriate dress includes closed toe shoes or boots, long pants and long sleeved shirt, hat, sunblock and insect repellent.
Trail Blazing
Monthly Column by John Lampkin
as published in the "News of Sun City Center"
Column #40, May 2020
Southern Skipperling
Fifty is a nice round number and cause for celebration in life events such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries. So, let’s celebrate!
The smallest skipper butterfly in North America, the Southern Skipperling, showed up on the Sun City Center West Campus Nature Trails recently. Copaeodes minima is the fiftieth butterfly species documented on the parcel since I started keeping records in 2015. This is not a rare species by any means and frequents southern meadows from Texas to Florida, so why is it uncommon in SCC? Here’s why.
After mating, the female lays eggs on host plant grasses, including Bermuda Grass. At all stages, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult, skipperlings are prey for other species in the food web like Palm Warblers that glean morsels from low-lying vegetation. But the biggest “predator” in Sun City Center is the lawn mower because unmown naturally growing grassy meadows are necessary for most skippers to complete their life cycles. If some areas in our abandoned golf courses were mowed only once per year in December, say, meadows would magically appear, and we would see not only more butterflies but other species as well. Such meadows would maintain themselves by naturally occurring wildfires but of course fire is suppressed because of safety concerns for our community.
Meanwhile, the SCC Audubon Nature Trail stewards do preserve several small open grassy areas by cutting out encroaching oaks and palmettos. The tiny Southern Skipperling is a sign that our preservation and conservation efforts are succeeding, so indeed, let’s celebrate!
The Nature Trails is an ongoing project of the SCC Audubon Club in cooperation with the SCC CA. The trailhead is located opposite North Lake on Del Webb West between Vincennes and Seton Hall. Join us on the first Tuesday of the month at 9 am for interpretive walks and the possibility of sighting yet another new butterfly species!