The GTMNERR (GTM Research Reserve) celebrated National Estuaries Week with two events hosted by the Friends of GTM Research Reserve. On Friday, September 26, 2025, the reserve came alive with an evening of oysters, a low country boil, music and an estuary celebration.

Each year, Buffer staff welcomes Dr. Tom Miller and his FSU research students for a weekend of learning. Dr. Miller is a professor of biological sciences who has been conducting research and taking a vegetation census in our area since 1999.

We here at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve (SJBSBP) always enjoy it when researchers come to visit and share their expertise with us on a variety of incredibly interesting subjects. This past week we had the honor of hosting a USGS team that was researching alligator snapping turtles near SJBSBP property.

EBAP assisted a researcher and interns from Mote Marine Laboratory in their collection of seagrass samples from Estero Bay. These samples will be used to study the genetic distribution of seagrasses and to determine experimentally if any genotypes are more resilient to various stressors than others.

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.

We are currently in our final year of monitoring for the NRDA propeller scar restoration project in St. Joe Bay. We’ve had some great success in areas showing complete recovery of scars in ~3-4 years or less. We’re about 90% done with the monitoring for the NRDA restoration project in St. Joe Bay and hope to have the final report to our project manager before the end of next month.

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.

Charlotte Harbor AP staff started July rookery surveys in Lemon Bay AP last week. The peak nesting season is winding down in this Aquatic Preserve, but there are still parent-dependent chicks in the nest, resulting in some very adorable observations. Brown pelican chicks’ downy feathers are making way for adult feathers with a heart shape forming on their wings. CHAP staff also observed an American Oystercatcher chick on one of their islands.

Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserve (IRLAP) staff, under the direction of Emily Surmont, conducted biobox monitoring in the Indian River Lagoon as part of an on-going collaborative research project with the University of Florida, Florida Oceanographic Society and Smithsonian Marine Institute.

Lara Bracci, land-based sources of pollution coordinator for the Coral Reef Conservation Program, and Kylie Morgan, coral protection project coordinator for the Coral Protection and Restoration Program, assisted the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves team in swapping data sondes in the bay. They snorkeled to clean the equipment and exchanged the sondes.