Deputy Refuge Manager Larry Woodward and Refuge Fire Expert and Biologist Vic Doig have been out talking to the public. The message -- a bad day at the Refuge is still better than a good day in almost any other job they can think of.
We in the Friends of Refuges believe our Refuges need and deserve more staff and more support to accomplish their mission. We are frustrated by staff and resource reductions. You might think the staff would be disheartened and discouraged, and maybe they are sometimes. But they clearly cherish the work that we-the-people entrust to them. They are ready and eager to talk about it. Larry Woodward gave a presentation at the Gainesville Senior Recreation Center about what it is like to be a Refuge leader, and how the work makes a difference in our world. Vic Doig talked to students at the University of Florida Career Fair about the value of Refuge work and the sense of professional accomplishment that comes with the job.
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Friends is experimenting with having a presence on Meetup.com where guided walks can be announced to a wider group than just our members and News Brief subscribers.
Recent guided walks have included Shell Mound, the River Trail, and Secondary Road Hikes on the road to the Gopher River and on Cabin Road. Another Secondary Road Hike will be offered on Tuesday, April 23. Watch for details here on the website, on Friends Facebook page, and in Meetup. When you join Meetup.com, which is free, you select the type and location of activities that interest you. You can also join the Lower Suwannee Refuge group and specify that you want to be notified only of Friends activities. Meetup is a chance to let nature-interested folks who are unfamiliar with the Refuge learn about Friends activities and participate if they choose. You can join Meetup here. During the busy winter season, on both the Levy County and the Dixie County side of the Lower Suwannee NWR, a critical set of volunteers contribute many hours each week to help the Refuge staff with maintenance and logistics work. In addition to Ron Black, the local resident and Friends member who is a regular volunteer presence at Shell Mound, camper volunteers Charlie Adkins and Carolyn Nobbs and Dusty and Cathy Dusterwinkle stay in their personal RVs on refuge property and working on projects to free staff for other tasks that might be less urgent but more mission-critical.
Over the winter they put in more than 2000 hours, picked up almost 375 large trash bags of garbage, 25 tires, and 5500 aluminum cans, and worked on countless refuge projects directly benefiting wildlife habitat as well as improving visitor access. Their efforts were critical during the lapse in government funding while the refuge was closed. According to staff members, they are kind and grounded people with a passion for improving the natural resources of the refuges. Now it is time for the camper volunteers to return home. Last week, in appreciation for all their help, the staff members feted them at a luncheon cooked by heavy equipment expert Jason Coates and refuge forester Daniel Barrand. How many times have you been at Shell Mound and been asked where the Mound is? It is not obvious to visitors. Even with the new interpretive panels, visitors do not see the Mound because of the vegetation and the fact that it just does not look like they expect an Indian mound to look.
Friends is designing a new interpretive panel to help. Here is a draft version. Many thanks to the almost 150 visitors who stopped by the Friends Booth to say hello and learn about the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys Refuges. We made a lot of new friends and renewed many old contacts over the course of two days of interaction with an enthusiastic festival crowd. In terms of numbers, we received $400 from sales of Friends merchandise and from donations. New members joined too. Special thanks to the volunteers who made the event possible by being there to set up and break down the booth, and to talk to all the visitors.
The Friends have been resuming emphasis on their iNaturalist project that was begun a few years ago. Members are continuing to provide observations of wildlife and plants of the refuges. The goal is to provide a database that may help refuge managers and Friends members as we work to protect our refuges and their living resources. The database includes not only lists of species, but also where and when they were observed, providing information on habitat use, abundance, and seasonal cycles of activity.
The screenshot shows the status of the project as of early April. Note that 28 observers have contributed 781 observations of 356 species. Many more observations are needed. All are invited to contribute observations. You can just sign on to www.inaturalist.org and find instructions there. Once logged on you can look up the ‘Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys” project under the Community drop-down menu. Better yet download the iNaturalist app on your smartphone. Species recorded photographically on a smartphone should automatically include information on date, time, and geographic coordinates. You don’t need to be an expert in identifying species; a new feature of the program suggests identifications of species for which reasonably good photos are uploaded. The Refuge has a new tool to help with long-term restoration of the legacy forest . . . a Tigercat.
One of the goals of the Lower Suwannee Refuge is to restore the forest in our part of Florida to a sustainable forestry model. Following on decades of commercial forestry, our region's forests had been altered greatly from their natural growth patterns. Under the guidance and leadership of Refuge Forester Daniel Barrand, our Refuge and others along Florida's Big Bend are being slowly, deliberately brought back toward their natural state. Prescribed burning, under the leadership of Refuge Fire Expert Vic Doig, is a major tool applied to this goal. Replanting of native tree species is another. Now the Refuge has acquired a large piece of heavy equipment that can assist with the program to improve and restore the forest habitat. The new Tigercat will be shared with several other refuges in our region. It can be used to create firelines, maintain trails, cut large trees and overhanging limbs, trim roadsides and cut lanes through dense mid-story forests to enable the staff to selectively apply herbicide to undesireable plants using a large herbicide sprayer. In combination, the application of herbicide and fire has proven to be the optimal technique to kill rootstock of the pervasive dense vegetation tangles that took over from the native forest growth after commercial timbering ended and the refuge was formed. Our new Cat is most welcome at the Refuge! The Refuge will welcome visitors on Seahorse Key on Wednesday March 27. This follows on an Open House on March 13 when more than 150 visitors came to learn about Seahorse Key and the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge.
After having abandoned the Seahorse Key rookery a few years ago, many of the birds have begun nesting on Snake Key but they have not returned to Seahorse Key rookery this year. Snake Key is therefore closed to visitation and Seahorse is open a few times during the season. Visitors can arrive at the Open House on their personal boats or on a shuttle from the vendors at the Cedar Key marina. A nature walk will be led by Bob Lewis at 1:30 on Wednesday, March 20 on the River Trail at Refuge Headquarters.
Nature walks were led on the Tram Ridge Trail on March 7 by Donna Thalacker and on the mowed, secondary road from the Nature Drive to the Gopher River on March 4 by Debbie Meeks. Miriam May Wiley participated in the walk and posted several beautiful photos from it on the Friends Facebook page. For the next few months, Friends will be experimenting with membership on Meetup.com. All activities and events will be listed on Meetup. If you join the "group" called Friends of Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge on the Meetup website, you will receive emailed notification of Friends events. To join the Friends of Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge group, first set up a password on Meetup.com. Then type the group's name in the search box that says All Meetups. When you arrive on the Friends group page, click the Join box. The Friends are now on Meetup.com Sign up for a free account and join the Friends of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge in the Cedar Key area to receive updates. We will have guided walks, invasive species eradication sessions (Pepper Busters!) and lots more on our calendar.
The 2019 Friends Annual Meeting attracted a near standing-room-only crowd of about 140 folks to Refuge headquarters today. The weather was kind this year, especially compared to the rainy, cool days we had each of the past two Annual Meetings. New Friends shirts, hats, earrings, and mugs sold briskly, perhaps because while shopping members were able to hold board-member Margie VanLandingham's 9-week old puppy. Outgoing president Bill Dummitt provided an overview of the highlights of the past year, including the Welcome Desk program, expansion and enhancement of the Shell Mound interpretive program, trail guide development, and nature walks. President John McPherson previewed the next year. Friends now has a presence on Meetup.com, progress continues on planning for future Vista property use and on enhancements to Shell Mound trails. Friends archives and Bylaws updates also are planned. The new board was elected and outgoing members acknowledged. The term of office is from Annual Meeting to Annual Meeting. Officers:
New and re-elected Board members, serving until 2021:
Continuing Board members, serving until 2020:
Outgoing Board members:
Russ Hall highlighted the work Friends are doing to document species on the Refuges through iNaturalist.org. Refuge Manager Andrew Gude overviewed the year's activities on the Refuge. His positive and encouraging presentation highlighted the many achievements of the Refuge despite the fact that the number of staff members has decreased from 15 to 5 in the past three years and that the government was shut down for a month. He credited the staff, community, and Friends with keeping Refuge momentum moving forward and supporting the Refuge's vision and goals. Shari Blisset-Clark, president of the Florida Bat Conservancy was the featured speaker. Walks were available in the afternoon to the River Trail, Shell Mound, and Dennis Creek guided by Bob Lewis, Jay Bushnell, and Bill Dummitt respectively.
Friends Board member Roger McDaniels has been leading the Friends efforts to help Refuge staff slow the expansion of Brazilian Pepper plants on the Refuges. On Monday January 28, he gave a presentation about the project at the Cedar Keys Audubon Meet and Greet.
Hurray! The Refuge staff members are back on the job. We are going to post a piece about what had to be left undone while the shutdown rolled on for 35 days.
But first wanted to report that the Flatwoods Fire and Nature Festival on Saturday January 26 was a huge success. As we have mentioned in Friends News Briefs in the fall, Refuge staff fire expert, Vic Doig was on the planning committee. Thanks to Vic and all the committee for pulling together a marvelous community event. Vic was able to be there officially on Saturday, since the shutdown endedFriday afternoon. He was unable to arrange to have Refuge fire equipment there, as planned, but other agencies brought equipment and visitors had lots to see and learn. Photos of the event by the Gainesville Sun are available, as is an excellent article by journalist Cindy Swirko. |
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![]() Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
P. O. Box 532 Cedar Key, FL 32625 [email protected] We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. |
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