Welcome to Siesta Key Chapel’s Field Guide (Beta Version)

You are entering a coastal maritime hammock undergoing ecological restoration following the hurricanes of 2024.

Before identifying plants, consulting the Field Guide, or taking photographs, set down your phone for a moment.

Take a few deep breaths. Relax. Allow yourself to become present to your surroundings.

What do you see, smell, and hear? Is the ground spongy or crackling beneath your feet? Is the air warm, cool, humid, or dry? Do you feel a gentle coastal breeze, a stronger wind, or stillness?

What about the other inhabitants of this place? Dragonflies darting, birds calling, squirrels moving through the trees, insects visiting flowers?

What else enters your field of attention?

What relationships can you notice among the living things around you? What seems to be changing? What remains difficult to see or understand?

What questions does this place raise?

Whatever you notice is a good place to begin.

EXPLORE THE FIELD GUIDE

The Siesta Key Chapel maritime hammock is a living ecosystem recovering from hurricane damage and undergoing ecological restoration. This Field Guide invites visitors to explore its plants, wildlife, fungi, and changing landscape—and to participate in its recovery.

The Field Guide is a work in progress. As the hammock changes, so will our understanding of it. Your observations, questions, and discoveries can help shape what comes next.

SEEING IT — What do you notice?

Explore the hammock’s trees, shrubs, vines, groundcovers, fungi, and wildlife. Learn to recognize what’s growing, moving, and changing around you.

KNOWING IT — What might it mean?

Discover how organisms interact, how the hammock responds to disturbance, and why certain species contribute to its recovery while others threaten its ecological health.

DOING IT — How can you participate?

Explore restoration activities, learn practical stewardship techniques, and contribute photographs and observations through our ecological monitoring program.

A FIELD GUIDE THAT GROWS WITH YOU

This is not a finished catalog of answers. It’s an evolving invitation to notice, question, learn, and participate in the life of the hammock.

PHOTO MONITORING — Watch the Hammock Change

The maritime hammock is constantly changing. Through repeated photographs taken from designated locations, visitors can help document its recovery following the 2024 hurricanes.

Each photo point provides a reference photograph, instructions, and a place to contribute your own observations. Together, these photographs create a growing visual record of ecological restoration.

Photo Point 01 — Maritime Hammock Restoration

Explore the first monitoring location, compare photographs, and contribute your observations.

Photo Point 02 — Triangle Restoration Zone

Follow the Triangle Zone’s recovery as native vegetation becomes established and the landscape changes over time.