Camp Chowenwaw Park

Entrance To Camp Chow

On Saturday January 26 Nature Man joined his Florida Master Naturalist Freshwater Wetlands class for a field trip to Camp Chowenwaw Park ( the locals call Camp Chow) in Eastern Clay County. Before I get into the wonderful things we learned on this field trip let me tell you about Champ Chow. The Park is a 150 – acre site that Clay County purchased in the Spring of 2006 from the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council. The Girl Scouts operated the camp for more than 70 years before deciding to relocate. The parcel has 100 acres of wetlands and 50 acres of uplands, and is located at the mouth of Black Creek. This relatively pristine site contains predominantly undisturbed upland and wetland natural communities. Camp Chow Park is located on 1.5 miles of shoreline on Black Creek and Peters Creek and provides a habitat for many water birds. The aquatic vegetation provides foraging areas for the St. Johns River manatee population as well as an ideal habitat for many fish species. Bald eagles, river otters, white tailed deer, turkeys, alligators, foxes, raccoons, migrating songbirds, as well as frogs, lizards, snakes, and turtles are just a few of the creatures you might see while visiting Camp Chow.

Macroinvertebrates


Macroinvertebrates

Barbara Beyerl Providing Instruction

Our day started out at 9AM at the small freshwater pond where Assistant Park Ranger Barbara Beyerl gave us each a canvas dip net, an observation pan to separate and clean up the creatures we found in the net at the bottom of the pond, a plastic cup to dip fresh pond water to observe the creatures more closely once they were "cleaned up" and a plastic spoon to get a real isolated look at mostly tiny freshwater Macroinvertebrates.  In this phase of our training we found the following interesting creatures: Mayfly, Damselfly, Dragon Fly, Gastropod Snail, Crayfish and various minnows just to name a few.  Needless to say we were amazed at the diversity of creatures we found in a 60 minute dip netting session.

Allan Hallman (FWC)

Bottomland Forest
Our next expedition was a short hike through a Flood Plane Forest or Bottomland Forest on the Jungle and Treehouse trails. On this two hour hike we found and learned about numerous woody and non-woody plants, trees, flowers, mushrooms and freshwater grasses from our instructors Carol Wyninger, Allan Hallman and Beth Smith. A few of the findings on these very instructional and wonderfully visual hikes were: Swamp Rose, Elm, Dahoon Holly, Air Plant, Rain Lily, Arrowhead, Witch Hazel and Devils Walking Stick. The day was capped off by Alan collecting Raccoon Scat (that's poop for you novices) in a ziplock bag so he could dry it out and share with children's school classes he instructs on nature.  By the way Allan is an Area Supervisor for the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) and believe me he is a wealth of knowledge.  He knows the Latin Name for just about every plant and creature known to man in Northeast Florida. In addition to being a very knowledgeable FWC Area Supervisor he also handles nuisance bear calls 24 hours a day. Early this very same day Allan got an early AM call about a large male Florida Black Bear that unfortunately was hit by a car and killed in Clay County.  Before joining us at Camp Chow Allan had help from a County Sheriff hoisting the 300 pounder up into the back of his FWC Ford Pickup Truck.  His description of how he and the police officer worked the bear up on the tailgate was priceless. Thank you Allan for all you do!

What Camp Chow Has To Offer
In conclusion, Camp Chow would be a great place for parents to take their children camping and share all things wonderful in nature while visiting the park. Recreational activities include camping, picnicking, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, fishing, bird watching, wildlife viewing, outdoor photography, and hiking. The trail systems through the uplands and the wetlands offer scenic tracts for the hiking enthusiast.  Camping facilities include 15 tent sites, two lodges with bunk beds sleeping 16 people per cabin, 9 tree house cabins, each accommodating 4 people, and 7 cabins with bunk beds sleeping 4 – 8 people.  Each campsite has a bathhouse with full restroom accommodations, and a unit house with electricity, including a stove and refrigerator.  Located throughout the park, and at each campsite, are picnic tables and grills for use by campers and park visitors.  To minimize impacts on natural resources and to protect our plant and wildlife communities, vehicle access is limited.  Camping sites and cabins are accessed by walking trails.  The park is ideally suited as a natural outdoor environmental education facility when you consider the setting, location, and proximity of diverse upland and wetland ecosystems.  Classes and naturalist programs for organized groups and the public are available in outdoor and indoor classrooms.  The natural outdoor laboratory allows an opportunity for all conservation minded organizations to become involved with projects to promote protection and conservation enhancement of aquatic, terrestrial habitat, and wildlife in St. Johns watersheds. Camping Reservations can be made by contacting the Park office: (904) 529-8058. 

Nature Man Photography is pleased to bring you the following:

Air Plant

Rain Lily

Black Creek

Dahoon Holly

Devils Walking Stick