Thank you, Dellora, for land preservation

When the wind was buffeting me mercilessly on my bike ride I found shelter - thanks to Dellora.

I never met Dellora.

But in 1964 she and her husband, Lester, bought beachfront property here North of Naples and gave it to Collier County to be a nature park.

And what a wonderful respite on a long, grueling bike ride. The mangroves protected me from the beastly wind. Through the dense thickets led a path to the lovely beach - fairly deserted this blustery day except for a mixed flock of birds all lined up to face into the wind. I don't know why.

The thickets of mangroves are a perfect buffer from the wind. If my land were getting hit by a Katrina I would be glad to have mangroves between me and the hurricane!





Al and I had been here before. A year ago on a family vacation we had canoed down the Cocohatchee River for a picnic on this very beach. Oranges, as I remember. And maybe some nuts.

Today I ventured up the lookout tower to see the expanse of mangroves all around. Perfect spot for today's snack.

This was a gift from Dellora and her husband to the future - a little sanctuary of nature protected from the endless development of the Florida coast.

We hope to leave our own gift to the future - a little patch of prairie in east central Indiana.

And maybe some day a lone biker will stop at the Steussy-Williams prairie and thank us for our gift to the future.