The Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center auditorium played host to staff, volunteers and partners for a special screening of Guardians of Yellowstone: The Yellowstone Cougar Project. The documentary highlights more than 35 years of groundbreaking wildlife research in Yellowstone National Park.
Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve staff visited Anclote Key for a site visit for the RESTORE grant for the SCAR MAPS project. The project will evaluate the effects of marking an existing pole and troll zone on private submerged lands to hopefully see a reduction in prop scar in the area.
Volusia County, FL -WRAP participated in this year’s working group addressing the Blue Spring Moratorium and manatee protection along the St. Johns River. WRAP’s involvement provided an opportunity to contribute to discussions regarding manatee protection, aquatic resource management, and coordination among the agencies and organizations responsible for protecting the St. Johns River and associated waterways.
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.
On August 12, the Coral Protection and Restoration Program, along with The Reef Institute, hosted the Florida’s Coral Reef Restoration & Recovery (FCR3) Initiative Implementation Meeting. Established in 2023, the FCR3 Initiative aims to support the long-term recovery of at least 25% of Florida’s Coral Reef by 2050 through the development of infrastructure, technology, workforce capacity and logistics.
The Friends of Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserves citizen support organization hosted their first quarterly social event at Beech Kombucha, a craft kombucha brewery, tasting room and botanical garden. The TBAP manager gave an update on preserve activities, followed by a knot tying workshop. As most attendees are outdoor people, there was much enthusiasm for learning some very useful knots.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve (WRAP) staff recently assisted researchers with Stetson University’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resiliency, with selecting locations for an enclosure study along the lower Wekiva River.
At the beginning of August, Research staff completed routine fieldwork for their nutrient and water quality monitoring programs. These programs are part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve’s System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) and occur monthly.
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) staff were happy to get three new students some muddy estuary time this week. From University of Central Florida, two new graduate students joined Dr. Lisa Chambers to collect water level loggers in marshes which were part of a study to assess whether oyster shell rakes changed water flow and vegetation.
On August 6, Coral Reef Conservation Program’s (CRCP) Awareness and Appreciation Coordinator, Maya Bhalla-Ladd, hosted an outreach event with local partner, Young At Art Children's Museum, to educate the new wave of ocean stewards with two back-to-back lessons on local coral ecology before diving into the six primary stony coral morphologies found on Florida’s Coral Reef. Participants then built a collaborative reef with molding clay!