The Green Trail: Turning Shell Point into a Campus-Wide Classroom
Set between the Caloosahatchee River and the Gulf Coast’s mangrove shorelines, seasonal wetlands, and littoral zones, Shell Point’s 700-acre campus offers a natural setting for an interpretive trail.
Through the combination of resident initiative, a partnership with Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF), and the support of a generous resident donor, a new Green Trail connects education and conservation with daily life at Shell Point and invites residents to explore their natural surroundings in a fresh new way.
A Tribute Becomes a Trail
The Green Trail originated with a much simpler intention. Jean Chandler reached out to Shell Point’s Legacy Foundation with a wish to create a seashell-themed plaque along the eastern edge of The Island in memory of fellow Green Team member Carol Strange, whose family owned a shell shop on nearby Sanibel Island for many years. The tribute would also offer a meaningful connection to Shell Point’s earliest residences on The Island, each named after a different shell.
Jean also thought a second nearby plaque overlooking the Caloosahatchee River would be a fitting place to connect the campus to the regional history of the Calusa people who once dominated Southwest Florida’s estuaries and built their summer shelters in open-sided, thatched chickee structures much like the ones on Shell Point’s beach.
The project began to take shape when the Legacy Foundation connected with a community-minded resident donor who cared deeply about the environment and agreed to sponsor the signs. With input from Shell Point leadership, the idea was expanded into a broader campus educational initiative.
The nature hut on Shell Point Boulevard was identified as the perfect place to highlight the role of mangroves in our region, and a sign about manatees was planned near the lagoon, where they often congregate to residents’ delight. Ultimately, what began as a pair of plaques honoring Carol’s Green Team contributions and celebrating Shell Point’s coastal roots grew into 13 educational signs, each carefully created to enhance residents’ understanding of the plants, wildlife, ecosystems, and history that shape the place we call home.
“The Green Trail is a perfect example of what can happen when residents have a vision, and we all work together to make it a reality,” said Jason Smith, Vice President of Amenities. “That kind of collaboration is what sets Shell Point apart and makes it such a special place to live.”
Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to protecting and caring for Southwest Florida’s coastal ecosystems, played a key role in helping make the Shell Point Green Trail a reality. SCCF protects wildlife, preserves land, restores waters, educates the community, and advocates for a future where wildlife and natural habitats can flourish in harmony with people.
Conservation on Campus
In 2023, Jenny Evans, SCCF’s Adult Education Director, served as a guest speaker at a Green Team meeting. Soon after, she began bringing SCCF educators to campus for popular environmental lectures through Shell Point’s Academy of Lifelong Learning. Since then, Shell Point’s partnership with SCCF has continued to flourish.
After Jean outlined a plan for additional sign locations around campus and drafted content, Teresa Hiatt helped edit it. The plans were shared with Jenny to review and expand the information with her SCCF colleagues. On the plant- and water-focused signs, for example, they ensured that the ecology of littoral zones, seasonal wetlands, and swales with rain gardens was conveyed with both accuracy and accessibility.
“The goal was not simply to name plants,” said Jenny, “but to help people understand how water, plants, animals, and landscape are all deeply connected.”
SCCF’s Adopt-A-Mangrove program also became woven into the trail. Through this local initiative, Shell Point residents are invited to take home tiny mangrove seedlings, nurture them for roughly six months, then return the grown plants to SCCF for transplanting at coastal restoration sites.
The trail’s Mangroves sign highlights the variety of species found in our region, explains their role in storm surge mitigation, and celebrates residents’ role in conservation.
“As seasons shift, birds move through, plants bloom, and wildlife appears in different ways. The trail gives residents a reason to return and experience campus from a new perspective each time.”
Jenny emphasized that touring the Green Trail is not a one-time visit. “Because the Green Trail is shaped by the natural world, no two visits will be exactly the same,” she said. “As seasons shift, birds move through, plants bloom, and wildlife appears in different ways. The trail gives residents a reason to return and experience campus from a new perspective each time.”
Community Collaboration
As the project expanded, so did the list of collaborators. The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium on Sanibel contributed photographs and expert review for the Shells sign. Archaeologist Theresa Schober and the Randell Research Center, an interdisciplinary program of the Florida Museum of Natural History, lent their expertise to the Chickees and Caloosahatchee sign that features an illustration from the University of Florida of the Calusa people.
Shell Point resident photographers Dotty Morrison, Pat Fishburne, and Heather Corbin shared their stunning images of campus wildlife to enhance several of the signs.
Shell Point residents, their families, and guests will be able to discover and enjoy the trail for years to come thanks to the contributions of these collaborators.
Education Comes Naturally
The Green Trail reflects the kind of resident-driven initiative that can grow when people share their experience and interests with others at Shell Point.
A former college professor who taught liberal arts for more than 20 years at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Jean has a deep appreciation for lifelong learning and a keen curiosity about the environment.
Before moving to Shell Point in 2016, she was already quite familiar with the community: Her parents were among Oakmont’s first residents when The Woodlands was introduced in 2000. Over the years, she visited her parents frequently, eventually adapting her teaching schedule to become a snowbird before fully retiring.
Shortly after settling in, Jean noticed that while Shell Point offered a wide range of clubs and activities, there was not yet a group focused specifically on environmental topics. That idea became the Green Team, a group dedicated to educating residents on important issues of sustainability like reusing and recycling, plant-based eating, regenerative gardening, reducing food waste, and air and water pollution.
“We only protect what we love. We only love what we understand. And we only understand what we are taught.”
Reflecting on the trail, Jean shared a favorite quotation from Senegalese forestry engineer and environmentalist Baba Dioum: “We only protect what we love. We only love what we understand. And we only understand what we are taught.”
“My hope is that the Green Trail will teach people to look more closely, ask more questions, and better understand and care for the environment that surrounds us,” said Jean.
Guided by Nature
After more than two years in the making, the Green Trail was installed in early 2026. When the call went out for volunteers willing to lead guided tours, 19 residents stepped forward.
An in-depth training session with Jenny reflected how seriously both Shell Point and SCCF take the educational mission behind the trail. The new resident guides studied the campus ecology, history, and wildlife and are eager to share what they have learned with others.
Docent-led tours are tailored to varying interests, time commitments, and mobility levels, with both walking and golf cart options available. Island tours also highlight community gardens, the butterfly habitat and orchid house, and the birds and mammals seen in and around the Caloosahatchee and adjacent canals.
Additional tours through The Woodlands, Coastal Links, and Waterside neighborhoods introduce residents to mangroves, wetlands, reptiles, mammals, and the wading birds often seen around Tranquility Lake at dusk.
Tour group sizes are intentionally kept small, so every participant gets a chance to ask questions and contribute their own expertise. Residents are encouraged to bring binoculars and download the Merlin or iNaturalist apps for real-time bird and species identification along the way.
Whether you follow a docent or set out on your own, the Green Trail offers a chance to see the place you call home through new eyes and discover that the best classroom at Shell Point has been right outside your door, all along.
Tour the Trail
Self-guided tour maps are available at Shell Point’s Concierge Desks, or you can contact our Sales team at (239) 466-1131 to arrange for a docent-led tour by appointment.
