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.
Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center recently welcomed a group from STARability Foundation’s Trailblazer Academy, a program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The group enjoyed a personalized tour with volunteer CJ Deal, a retired educator and a current bowling coach with Southwest Florida’s Special Olympics.
Volunteers are the heart and soul of Rookery Bay Research Reserve, contributing their time and talent to help connect people with the Reserve’s coastal environment. Every few months Volunteer Coordinator Donna Young hosts an informational orientation to welcome a new group interested in volunteering. At the last one, seasoned volunteer Beth Thompson took the lead at the Environmental Learning Center Estuary Encounter touch tank.
Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves recently had Matthew Treskovich complete his Eagle Scout Project on BC-48. Matthew and his troop installed two of the new table kits and two fire rings on one of the local spoil islands. They also cleared some trails and replaced the educational sign that was full of holes.
On June 6, the Coral Reef Conservation Program team and Friends of Our Florida Reefs cohosted the 15th Annual Southeast Florida Reef Cleanup. Joined by six dive operators and 100 enthusiastic divers, the teams removed human made debris from the reefs of the Kristin Jacobs Coral Aquatic Preserve. Divers removed 361 pounds of debris from 12 dive sites. The debris items co
On Saturday, May 2nd, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve welcomed nearly 900 community members to the 2026 Rookery Bay Community Day. This family-friendly event was dedicated to celebrating the connection between people and the coastal environment. It was a picture-perfect day filled with smiling kids, families and hands-on fun throughout the Environmental Learning Center grounds.
Four students from Yale University, Nico Theunissen, Isabella Chiaravalloti, Mingyu Zhang and Rocco D'Ascanio, recently visited Rookery Bay Research Reserve to study the Fruit Farm Creek mangrove restoration site. Guided by Research Coordinator Nerea Ubierna and Stewardship Coordinator Jared Franklin, the team explored both the land and surrounding waters to better understand how the restored mangroves are functioning.
The Tomoka Marsh Aquatic Preserve (TMAP) recently partnered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the University of Central Florida’s Coastal & Estuarine Ecology Lab (CEELAB), DEP's Tomoka State Park, the Marine Discovery Center (MDC) and the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Florida to install a living shoreline aimed at restoring and protecting critical coastal habitat within the preserve. The collab
For the past five years, Northwest Florida Aquatic Preserve has been working on a grant funded by Deepwater Horizon Program’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) to add additional plantings of native vegetation to the islands at Project GreenShores II, place informational signage, remove invasive species and debris, and conduct monitoring.
CHAP staff, along with the help from regional coordinating offices Estero Bay AP and Cedar Point Environmental Park, hosted the biannual volunteer training. Known as the Quality Assurance (QA) training, it serves as a refresher for samplers as well as offers time to condition instruments, sample for accuracy from the same waterbody and give program updates.