Resources

Looking for lists of native plants and where to buy them: Go to www.CoastalWildscapes.org The non profits mission is to actively preserve and restore the highly significant biodiversity of the Southeastern coastal ecosystems.

For information on getting a garden plot, ways to support the community garden or become involved, www.Skidawayfarms.com.

There are two garden clubs at The Landing with active memberships: The Landings Garden Club (www.thelandingsgardenclub.com) and Coastal Georgia Living (https://www.landingslandlovers.com/happenings_list/coastal-georgia-living/)

You can download the plant brochure for the Pollinator Berm at Sparrow Field (To print, select landscape and shrink to fit.)

To determine whether or not to irrigate, do what our golf course superintendents do. Go to www.GeorgiaWeather.net, next go to Skidaway, then look at “Yesterday’s Conditions”. If there has been little evapotranspiration over the past few days, you can keep your irrigation system in the OFF position.

Learn about what to do (and what NOT to do) if you find a bird that needs to be rescued on the website http://www.orphanedbirdcare.com/ . Bird rehabilitator Pat Wolters founded this organization at The Landings in 2002.

Having an expectation of what to look for in our birding population in any given month is a great assist in identification.

We are fortunate to be able to share Russ Wigh’s bar chart for birds on Skidaway. As you might expect from a college professor, he is rigorous in accepting data, “I do not accept everything I am told unless it makes sense, I know the observer and the observer has credibility.”

A trustworthy checklist, a pair of binoculars and a good bird guide should get you started.

Skidaway Island State Park is a 588-acre Georgia State Park operated by the Department of Natural Resources. The park borders the Skidaway narrows part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and attracts 200,000 visitors a year. A scenic campground of 87 campsites and 3 cabins stays busy year round. Five open-air picnic shelters and enclosed group shelter are popular spots for parties, reunions and other celebrations. The park’s interpretive center houses a 20-foot tall Giant Ground Sloth Replica, birding room, reptile room and historical and natural displays about the island. Six miles of trails wind you through maritime forest and on boardwalks over salt marsh. Daily educational programs are offered to the public of all ages from guided hikes to nighttime owl programs.  For more information, go to www.gastateparks.org/skidawayisland or call 912-598-2300.

We share the island with UGA Marine Education and Aquarium, http://gacoast.uga.edu/uga-aquarium/visit-us/, a site that offers up schedules for community programs, information about the aquarium, a natural history of coastal Georgia and, under Related Links, a connection to places to visit.

Savannah Ogeechee Audubon www.ogeecheeaudubon.org  is a chapter of the National Audubon Society. Many Landings residents and noted birders are members and a number serve on the board. The website is full of opportunities for educational meetings and field trips. Current president is Sandy Beasley.

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) www.nwf.org  mission is "Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world"   The web site contains all kinds of information about wildlife conservation and creating habitats for wildlife.

Free app iNaturalist  www.inaturalist.org is a global online community that allows every individual around the world to contribute to  biodiversity science by recording observations, sharing with other citizen scientists.  Skidaway Island projects can be found at iNaturalist here - to view the observations reported in The Landings/Skidaway Island Project click here:

 https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-landings-skidaway-island-ga

The Plant a Tree program of the Savannah Tree Foundation (www.savannahtree.com) enables you to plant trees in honor or memory of someone. The foundation offers many ways to be involved — educational programs, work parties and opportunities to explore. 

An environmental education center 17 miles from The Landings, Oatland Island Wildlife Center(www.oatlandisland.org) makes for a wonderful outing for visitors to Savannah, and especially for children who can run and jump along the trails and extensive boardwalks that go out over the marshes and see a wide variety of wildlife and birds. The wolf exhibit is spectacular, especially if you hear them howling. Open every day from 10 to 4 p.m. (guests can remain on grounds until 5 p.m.) except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

There are seven wildlife refuges that make up the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. They run in a chain from Pinckney Island, SC (near Hilton Head) to Wolf Island NWR near Darien, GA, a span of 100 miles of coastline, and are operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The largest of the refuges is the Savannah Wildlife Refuge

The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge reopened on July 29, 2011. The Savannah NWR consists of over 29,000 acres of freshwater marshes, tidal rivers and creeks and bottomland hardwoods. The refuge is located in the heart of the Lowcountry, a band of low land, bordered on the west by sandhill ridges and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, extending from Georgetown, South Carolina to St. Mary’s, Georgia.

Another in this chain of wildlife refuges is Harris Neck Wildlife refuge  nearly 3000 acres of diverse habitat that attracts many different species of birds in all seasons. The trip to Harris Neck in Townsend, GA 31331 is under an hour and a half from Skidaway Island

Nextdoor.com has a group called Nature and Science where neighbors can talk all things nature.