Friends of Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Entries are now being accepted for the Friends of Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve 2025 Photo Contest honoring Carolyn Babb. The deadline is January 31, 2025.
The contest is limited to amateur photographers and only digital entries can be submitted. Photos must be of native species and must have been taken at the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, which includes Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve North.
This past spring, the Friends of Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve Board named the photo contest in honor of the late Carolyn Babb, a longtime volunteer and Friends member who founded the contest in 2009. Registration and entry submissions should be made on the Friends website, www.sloughpreserve.org.
First, second and third place winners will be awarded in three categories: Plants and Landscapes, Birds, and Animals. A Grand Prize winner will be awarded to the photo the judges deem best overall.
In addition to the regular adult contest, there will be separate contests for youths and staff members. Youth entries are eligible for the Grand Prize.
Hoping to foster a greater love and appreciation of nature and conservation among young people, the Friends group is allowing youths ages 17 and under to participate for free. The entry cost for adults is $15 for Friends members and $25 for non-members.
The 2024 Grand Prize photo was taken by Grace Waller, who said she had taken up photography as a hobby just months earlier. Her photo showed a mother raccoon clutching her youngster in a tree.
Winning photos from past years can be viewed on the Friends website, www.sloughpreserve.org, and in the Interpretive Center at the Slough. The Center is open from 10am to 4pm every day except Mondays. Admission to the Center and the Boardwalk is free with paid parking, which is $1 an hour or $5 for an entire day.
Last year, a total of 244 photos were entered by 103 different photographers.
The photo contest honors Carolyn Babb, who died in December 2023. She served seven years as president of the Friends Board, the longest tenure of any president.
“She wore many hats at the Slough through the years,” said Theresa Roake, Friends Board secretary, “and had a hand in pretty much everything the Friends organization has accomplished over the past 20-plus years.
“As the Board looked for a way to honor her lasting legacy at the Slough, we looked to one of her other passions. The Slough truly inspired her love of nature photography. She was seldom seen without her camera and shared this love with other photographers at the Slough.” And that, Roake said, inspired her to create the photo contest in 2009, with the first winners announced in January 2010.
The Friends organization is a nonprofit citizens group that provides support for the Slough’s staff and volunteers. Membership levels in the Friends organization start at $10 for students and $25 for individuals. More information about the photo contest and membership is available on the Slough Friends website at www.sloughpreserve.org
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve is over 3,500 acres of wetland ecosystem with a boardwalk trail and Interpretive Center. Animals like otters, alligators, turtles, wading birds, and more live at the Slough year-round. Others, like migrating birds and butterflies, use the Slough as a feeding area or a winter home. The Slough is managed by the Lee County Department of Parks and Recreation and is open daily from sunrise to sunset.
