Dr. Andy Gannon from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab presented “The Blue Crabs of Apalachicola Bay” during the Apalachicola Reserve’s September Sci-Café on September 24th, 2026. Dr. Gannon began the presentation by discussing the life cycle of blue crabs, and in particular how salinity influences their distribution in Apalachicola Bay.

Conservation Pathways Executive Director Rebecca Means and six of her students visited the Apalachicola Reserve on Saturday, September 19, to explore potential careers in the environmental sciences.

Training and Engagement Specialist Svetlana Vikhlyantseva with assistance from Reserve interns Faith Causey, Madi Meadows, and Julie-Anna Duffey created packets of seeds for the fall native pollinators program to supply Franklin County residents with native plant seeds through the seed library program.   

Sea turtle nests on both Little St. George Island (LSGI) and Carrabelle Beach were affected by storm surge from Tropical Storm Bertha. On Little St. George Island, 149 nests were present when impacts from TS Bertha occurred. Of these, 88 were washed over, one was partially washed out, and 51 were completely washed out.

Everyone measures success differently. When a teacher says, after being in a Teachers On The Estuary (TOTE) workshop, that she will slow the pace during activity transitions to give her pre-K students time to pause and observe ants crossing the sidewalk, that is success. American biologist and naturalist E. O. Wilson would have been pleased to hear that.

Last month, hundreds acres of mesic flatwoods were maintained during a prescribed burn at the Buffer Preserve in Port St. Joe. Teams from the Gulf Corps, Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, The Nature Conservancy & Bald Point State Park were there to help ensure burn went as efficiently as possible.

What happens when two groups of young women wanting to do a service project at Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve met the Oyster Corps? First, a lot of vertical oyster gardens (VOGs) were made. Second, the role of oysters in the ecosystem became much clearer, and beyond that, a positive, constructive role for humans in the watershed became inspiring.

Van Morrison’s song “Tupelo Honey” contains the line “You can’t stop us ‘cause our eyes can see.” In the case of tupelo honey, we might add “’ cause our tongues can taste.” Tupelo trees and honey were featured in Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve’s second summer spotlight. Several visitors took part in a blended honey vs. tupelo blind taste test. The results were clear.

The training and engagement team at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve have finished distributing educational items ahead of sea turtle nesting season, which began earlier this month. Staff member Svetlana Vikhlyantseva visited several vacation rental companies with properties on St. George Island to provide items that help visitors and rental occupants understand more about the local coastal ecosystem.

The Apalachicola Reserve collaborated with Florida DEP Waste Reduction and Recycling Education to bring together various environmental partners in an Earth Day celebration located at Riverfront Park in Apalachicola.