On Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, GTM Research Reserve attended the Cub Scout Pack 277 “Back to Pack” event, held at Christ Church in Ponte Vedra Beach. The purpose of the event was to get Cub Scouts excited about scouting in the upcoming year. Outreach Specialist Kristine Seager introduced the group to Princess Diana, a diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) turtle, one of the reserve’s animal ambassadors.

The GTM Research Reserve (GTMNERR) has launched a new volunteer program. GTM’s Margaret A. Davidson Fellow Meredith Pratt is training volunteers for a new long-term fisheries monitoring program and leading them through their first sampling protocol. The first training session began with a brief presentation about the importance of fisheries monitoring and information on how to sample monthly.

The annual vegetation and elevation monitoring of the GTMNERR (GTM Research Reserve) Wetlands and Water Levels (WLWL) sites has been successfully completed. WLWL is a national program with standardized protocols for each NERR to examine the interplay of water levels, elevation and plant communities in coastal wetlands at scales relevant to local, regional and national decision makers.

Bartram Trail High School student Ava Hunt is interning with GTMNERR’s aquarist this summer. Eventually, she wants to become a researcher in marine biology.

Dr. Serina Wittyngham from the University of North Florida and members of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve staff selected sites to monitor the upland edge and transition zones of the marshes on the Guana Peninsula. This will be part of a long-term monitoring project that focuses on marsh migration into the uplands. Dr. Wittyngham also installed one of her plots.

Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve hosted a seining event with the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) in St. Augustine. Education Coordinator Josephine Spearman led a group of visiting summer campers from FSDB to pull a seine net through Guana Lake collecting species of fish, crabs and other organisms. The visiting campers finished the day with a tour of the reserve’s Visitor Center.

Guana Tolomato Mantanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) Collaboration Specialist Shannon Brew hosted a three-day program, “Lifelong Learners: Adult Coastal Camp,” in partnership with Sea Grant Agent Carolyn Kovacs. During this blend of interactive classroom and field activities, participants learned about the GTMNERR estuary and explored the southern portion of it.

At the Guana Tolomato Mantanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR), the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Intern Nicole D’Arienzo has started conducting her experiment.

Along with the Guana Buffer Preserve, the Guana River Marsh Aquatic Preserve serves as the hub and headquarters of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM Research Reserve). The estuary and uplands of the Guana River has been a valued resource for centuries of human populations with many changes taking place over time.