well our coverage of Florida waterways
continues now and we all know that the
rivers lead to somewhere right they have
to Shingle Creek is actually the
headwaters to the Everglades did you
know that but how does it impact people
here in Central Florida and folks
downstream in South Florida to answer
questions about one of Central Florida's
most familiar waterways we brought in
Daniel Mons from wild Florida welcome
welcome I'm glad to be here
we're excited to have you here and for
folks who haven't experienced wild
Florida you've got a lot of fun cool
things we can come and check out first
of all tons of stuff a wild Florida we
have a our name as wild for the airboats
and we have a gator park and what we
like to do is we like to explain and
teach people that the headwater every
plate starts here in our back door and
our back yard the start with Shingle
Creek and all the a lot of the rainwater
that we get here in Orlando filters down
to Shingle Creek and then comes down to
the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and from
their heads down south to Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee and one thing that we
can be we need to be aware of is that
everything we do all the waterways from
Shingle Creek which is near Conroy Road
that's where it starts down to Lake
Okeechobee is that's a big corridor for
a lot of our native animals and we need
to be aware that if we need to clean the
waterways keep those clean and we at
Wild Florida we take a big interest in
the waterways because we go out on our
airboats to show people the wildlife
that we have and the headwaters
Everglades is a huge housing area for
the animals so are you seeing you know
you've been doing this a while are you
seeing changes in recent years as far as
conditions yeah the water has a kind of
a tea color so it's kind of a dark color
but it's still clear which is a good
sign and we're seeing changes of water
levels there's still water flow which is
healthy other than that - where we'll
start getting concerned when we notice a
change in the wildlife you know that's a
big part of our business we're looking
at some pictures of you kayaking and
this is Shingle Creek right here that
we're looking at yes what we did is that
every year wild Florida we take an
annual trip down Shingle Creek just to
kind of bring a where
to that the ever headwater Everglade
starts at Shingle Creek and it flow all
the water flows south and so we get in
the kayak to kind of traverse that that
path in which the water takes and well
while for is known obviously for their
airboat tours but what kind of other
exploring have you guys done with gas
that can be used kind of as a teaching
tool for Central Floridians - yeah well
we go out on the lakes in the marshes
areas and we explain the kind of the
waterways and the canal systems and we
try to teach people that if we take care
of the water here in our area it'll
affect everyone down south and the the
main effect that we can it'll have is on
the animals and the wildlife in the
corridor between Shingle Creek down to
Oak Lake Okeechobee is a huge housing
area for for all of our animals and
that's a big part of what we are you
encourage you know educational tours you
know groups to come out and learn more
we do corporate groups people will take
any type of group we can get just to
kind of explain to them well what we
have in our backyard which is a huge
resource we all know that we were do or
dealing with water issues in Florida and
if we can bring awareness to the
importance of keeping our waterways
clean because of the wildlife or
whatever it may be we're happy to do it
do you think when people come and they
take a tour and they see the wildlife
out in the wild of course that maybe
inspires them more to take care of the
resources knowing that they've just seen
these beautiful creatures and then it
affects them absolutely I do I think
that a lot of people aren't aware that
we have this beautiful resource of the
Everglades in our backyard and I think
if they know that you know 30 or 45
minutes from from Orlando and Disney
they can come see this majestic palm
palm trees and cypress trees and lakes
and canals and in marshes and know that
they could do their part to help keep it
clean how important is it to bring your
kids out and see this and start this
message early very important we kind of
would live with all of our school groups
we do a lot of school groups and we
bring them out let them know
that it's very important to understand
why we need to keep the water clean
because it has major effect on us and
the animals I mean we can't stress that
enough that the water is important that
the cleanliness the flow it just affects
everybody I've seen the animals I mean
we want to be able to do what we can do
to help the precious resources thank you
for your work Daniel you're welcome
thank you I'm glad to be here come check
us out a wild Florida you need to we can
come Koko's la lemur even Gator I'm in
and they're all affected by water so yes
well