More than a dozen WGI staff and their families helped the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management remove 375 pounds of trash from the 2,083-acre Cypress Creek Natural Area in Jupiter.

The group spent several hours removing trash; one group focusing on the clean-up of the natural area’s boundary with Indiantown Road. The other group entered the wetlands and removed trash that had been on site for decades – including “vintage” pull-tab beer cans, rusted car parts, car seats, and two truck tires.

The Cypress Creek Natural Area contains seven native Florida ecosystems: mesic flatwoods, wet flatwoods, hydric hammock, wet prairie, depression marsh, dome swamp, and blackwater stream. The natural area is part of the Northeast Everglades Natural Area and serves as a buffer for the Loxahatchee Wild and Scenic River. It is home to plant species including spatterdock, horned bladderwort, giant leather fern, common buttonbush, roughhair witchgrass, fireweed, skyflower, water hickory, sugarberry, and Florida royal palm. Animal species observed on the site include fiery skipper, eastern narrowmouth toad, pine snake, limpkin, peregrine falcon, barred owl, wild turkey, Bachman’s sparrow, white-tailed deer, and round-tailed muskrat.

Thank you, WGI volunteers, for helping the Department keep Cypress Creek Natural Area clean and green!