Last week, Carrabelle Beach saw its first sea turtle activity of the season. Two Loggerhead crawls were reported to Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve's stewardship team, and we went out to assess them right away. We determined one was a false crawl, and one was a nest. Sea turtle nesting activity on Carrabelle Beach is rare.

Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserve staff worked with University of South Florida hydrologists to set up water quality monitoring instruments on a piling in Bishop Harbor (Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve). This datasonde station will provide ongoing water quality for one of the least-developed areas of Tampa Bay.  Such data can be valuable when compared with similar data from other, more urbanized, locations in the same watershed.

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.

Staff at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve had the opportunity to welcome a summer camp this past Wednesday! The art camp, hosted by the nonprofit Joe Center for the Arts, visited the Buffer Preserve to work on creating masterpieces that combined nature with printmaking and sketching. Students arrived early in the morning and began a drawing assignment to get them thinking about what they might discover at the Buffer Preserve.

On the mornings of June 18 and 19, we had the privilege of joining the Department’s Division of Recreation and Park’s (DRP) beach mice expert, Alice Bard, on her Anastasia Island Beach Mice surveys.  

This week Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve wrapped up surveys in St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve, officially completing three of the five systems we monitor annually. Additionally, Tim and Sandra accompanied Nigel and Mandy from the Florida Public Archaeology Network to survey one of their sites within the preserve. They were eager to locate the site and document post Hurricane Helene, which they did so successfully.  

On Sunday, June 22, a lightning strike during a storm sparked fire at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve (SJBSBP). Fortunately, the fire ignited within one of the pre-designated burn zones, allowing for a rapid and strategic response.

This past week, Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (ANERR) research team was able to complete the routine exchange of their long-term continuous water quality monitoring at seven sites across ANERR. These exchanges are key to maintain accurate data. Freshly calibrated equipment is put out while the instruments in the field are retrieved, leading to little or no gaps in the data.

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.