This event is part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s 75^th Anniversary of the wildlife management area system, one of the state’s greatest natural treasures. The FWC oversees this statewide network of remote and scenic lands, managing them for conservation and recreation. We hope you can come join us, see one of FWC's amazing wildlife areas, and help out!

Plant Scrub Oak Sprouts to Restore Habitat

This is the first of two planting workdays at Royce this year, the next one will be on Saturday, June 10.

Restoring this damaged area at the FWC Royce Unit helps create habitat for endangered Florida Scrub-jays and Gopher Tortoises.

Please wear sturdy footwear, long pants, long sleeves (or a T with sunscreen), and a hat. Please bring your work gloves and hiker’s water bottle or similar.

 We’ll have plenty of cold drinking and all the tools needed.

So we can plan properly, please let us know that you're coming by registering on this webpage (see button at top).

You can pick either an 8 AM or 9 AM start time as you register.

Directions to FWC Royce Unit

From the corner of US 27 and CR 621 in Lake Placid, go east on CR 621 1.7 miles to Hallmark Avenue on the left.  Turn left on Hallmark.  After 3.6 miles the road makes a sharp left and sharp right and changes names to Royce Ranch Ave.  After a total of 5.0 miles on Hallmark/Royce Ranch Ave, Royce Ranch is on the left, marked by an FWC logo.  Turn left onto the driveway and follow it back to the offices.

This workday is part of Project Acorn ... a multiyear effort by the Ridge Rangers to gather and pot scrub-oak acorns, maintain the sprouts, and plant the resulting baby oaks in damaged scrub oak habitat on the Lake Wales Ridge.

The FWC Royce Unit is part of the Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife and Environmental Area. The most distinctive natural community on the Lake Wales Ridge is scrub, home to one of the rarest collections of plants and animals in the world. Healthy scrub has the appearance of a miniature forest with trees seldom taller than 10 feet and open patches of sand. The WEA contains 20 of 22 federally listed plant species known to occur on the Lake Wales Ridge.