Monica Dorken
Wildlife & Nature Writer
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Monica Dorken, CHEC Educator / Program Coordinator Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center at Alligator Creek Preserve 10941 Burnt Store Road, Punta Gorda, FL 33955 (941) 575-5435    Fax: (941) 575-5497 e-mail: chec@sunline.net website: www.checflorida.org

About CHEC:            

The Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center (CHEC) is entering its 18th year of providing environmental education, access to nature, recreation, research, preservation management and leadership. Back in 1987, the Peace River Audubon Society, inspired by Charley Caniff, was determined to open a nature center to enable the general public to experience southwest Florida's amazing habitats. They negotiated with the state to utilize 846 acres of Florida state buffer preserve land (now expanded to over 3000 acres), purchased through the tax funded Conservation and Recreational Land program. CHEC was established as a not-for-profit corporation, with Charley Caniff as president and Francis "Mac" McGovern as chairman of the board of trustees, "to develop, operate, and maintain an environmental center for educational, scientific, and recreational activities in Charlotte County, Florida."            

CHEC began with four corporate sponsors and they remain today. They are Charlotte County, the City of Punta Gorda, the Charlotte County School Board and the Peace River Audubon Society. Eight appointed-at-large members of the community join the state and corporate representatives on the board of trustees. CEO Alton Cheatham started in 1987 as Charlotte County Schools' curriculum and instruction specialist for environmental programs. He was charged with the task of the center's development and management. As a fledgling, CHEC had no paid personnel! Volunteers were and continue to be the true lifeblood of this organization.

About Me:

We found CHEC in October of 1993 through an announcement in the Peace River Audubon Society’s White Bird newsletter, which my husband Richard and I picked up at the Chamber of Commerce office on Marion Street. We both attended CHEC’s first Monday of the month volunteer meeting in November of 1993. We signed up to help trail blaze, which meant to cut invasive, exotic Brazilian pepper from the Pine Flatwoods Trail and clear debris from the site of the Bird Blind/Wildlife Observation Building. I also worked as a trail and boat guide for student groups. In July of 1995, I began as educator/program coordinator here at CHEC. Previously, I was a special education and classroom teacher for 20 years in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, as well as Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Still, one of my favorite roles is being a grandmother.