Calusa Land Trust
& Nature Preserve of Pine Island, Inc.
Our Accomplishments
Since we began in 1976, our membership has grown from the original 4 founders to over 800 members (almost 10% of Pine Island residents). As of April 2018, we have acquired over 2,400 acres of native wetlands, pinelands and uplands. We manage over 67 parcels and help protect over 2/3 of Pine Island’s mangroves - the heart of our fragile subtropical ecosystem. This protects young fish, birds and wildlife, filters water and protects us from storms.
Environmental Overview
Most of the stately native pines for which Pine Island was named have been destroyed. At least 80 % of the native palmetto and slash pine uplands upon which they grew have been converted to crops and housing - all in the last 100 years. Only some 8 % have been preserved. The remaining 12% are under constant and unrelenting pressure for conversion for agricultural or urban use. Unless something is done, all of the larger and most significant parcels will be lost within the next five years. Even the small upland parcels interspersed between rural housing could be lost within a few decades.
The Calusa
South Florida was once the domain of the Calusa Indians, a powerful and complex society which had as its homeland the rich estuaries of southwest Florida. Using locally available materials — wood, plant fibers, bone, shell, and sharks' teeth — they fashioned ingenious tools: a saber made by attaching shark teeth with resin to a wooden branch, an axe made by fixing a large, sharpened sea shell to a wooden handle, palm-fiber nets that could capture fish in great quantities. And they painted, carved, and engraved, producing works of art that are known the world over