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Long Key, which is operated by Broward County
Parks, is a rich Florida treasure hidden away
near the estate homes and gated communities of west Davie.
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We are the
Friends
Of
Long
Key |
Known as
FOLK, Inc., our Citizens Support Organization was
incorporated and registered as a 501 (c) (3)
non-profit organization in 2014.
The
primary goals of FOLK
include:
1.
Protecting Long Key’s ancient environment, and
2. Promoting the Nature Center’s purpose of providing a
valuable cultural, historical, botanical, and biological resource
for the citizens of
Broward.
3.
To
conduct fund raising activities for the benefit of the
Long Key Natural Area and Nature Center.
(To see
the complete list of
goals, click
HERE.)
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FOLK
volunteers were recognized for the group's
achievements at a Broward County Commission
meeting in December, 2015. The happy
folks in the front are Parks Director Dan
West, Paul Kragh, Jan Lowenthal, Long Key
Naturalist Kelli Whitney, Janice Malkoff,
Ann Haeflinger, commissioner Lois Wexler,
and Broward County Mayor Marty Kiar, who
handed out the t-shirts. |
LONG KEY -- BACKGROUND.
Until recently, this
elevated oak hammock was the longest of a small chain of
islands in the wet, east Everglades marshes, where
traces of human settlement go back 3,000 years. Long Key was a home to Tequesta Native
Americans, the first identifiable human inhabitants of
the giant swamp. This high-and-dry
location was later occupied by the Seminoles in the 19th
Century.
In the 1900s, Long
Key was variously a citrus grove, dairy farm, then
Pioneer City -- an Old West theme park with its own
railroad -- and finally, the highly-popular Kapok Tree
restaurant, which was known for its Imperial Roman motif
amidst spectacular landscaping. In 1990, following the demise
and demolition of the Kapok Tree, Broward County
acquired the land and began returning much of it to its
natural state by
restoring wetlands and transplanting non-native trees
to other parks.
The
new Nature Center, with
its exhibit and assembly halls,
theater, and classroom was completed in 2008.
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