In this issue
A Message From the Staff
Thank You Volunteers!
The Staff and Friends of the Preserves wish to thank all of our volunteers and Friends who came and helped out with this year's Bay Day Festival. Bay Day and many of our other activities would not be possible without your support.
Volunteers gathered early to do food preparation for the Low Country Shrimp Boil, orchestrated as ever by Roy Ogles of Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR). Throughout the day, volunteers assisted with trip registration, ticket sales, membership, and serving large portions of the famous Shrimp Boil. Other volunteers helped with parking and driving the tram. At the end of the day, they helped clean up.
Friends Sandra Chafin and Ann Anderson greet Bay Day Festival attendees. NB
Memberships are an important part of the Friends' efforts to support the Preserves. NB
We apologize if we omitted any volunteers from this list:
- Bobbi Seward
- Suzie Goodrich
- Charla Boggs
- Christine Lutz
- John Oliver
- Karen and Travis MacClendon
- Diana Parrish
- Jean Moyle
- Sonny Chafin
- Jessica McKenzie
- Jon Copps
- Michael Callan
- Ann Anderson
- Nick Baldwin
- Bill Boothe
- Marcia Boothe
- Sandra Chafin
Caty Greene
Staffing News
The Preserves Center hired in June a new staff person to replace Jo Gann. Caty Greene is a relatively new resident of Gulf County, but has lived in Franklin County for four and one-half years after arriving in Florida from Boston. She has a BA in Biology and has worked for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, and more recently for a while with the Apalachicola Riverkeeper. She shares her passions between marine invertebrates and wildflowers, a good match to work with the Friends.
Staff Battles Invasive Popcorn Tree
Treatment of the highly invasive, non-native Popcorn Tree (Sapium sebiferum) also known as Chinese Tallow Tree has been carried out over the last several weeks on Buffer and some adjacent properties. Spraying at this time of year ensures greater kill ratios, as the plants send their nutrients down into the roots preparing for colder weather.
Jimmy Moses and Pat Millender, the staff you never see at the Lodge, were hard at work with Neil Jones who collected GPS data for tracking treatment effectiveness and revisiting treatment sites in the future.
Friends Board
- Ann Anderson
- Nick Baldwin
- Bill and Marcia Boothe
- Sandra Chafin
- Anne Marie Daly
Pass it on!
If you know someone who may be interested in receiving information about St. Joseph Bay Preserves, please forward this e-mail. For more information about The Preserves, please call (850)229-1787 or visit www.stjosephbaypreserves.org.
Membership Info
- Student: $10.00
- Senior: $10.00
- Individual: $15.00
- Family: $25.00
- Sponsor: $100.00 and $250.00
- Gold: $1000.00
- Corporate: $1000.00
Please make checks payable to: Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves, Inc., and mail to 3915 Hwy County Road 30-A, Port St. Joe, FL, 32456. Be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail
You may also use our membership form at our website.
Photo Credits
CAMA Office of Coastal and
Aquatic Managed Areas
FWC Fish and Wildlife Commission
MMB Marcia Boothe
NB Nick Baldwin
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Bay Day
October 4 was a beautiful day for Bay Day at the Preserves Center. By 7:00 a.m., Alan Knothe already had folks out looking for birds at Cape San Blas, and Kim Wren of the Aquatic Preserve was ferrying passengers out on the bay. Participants came for the day trip from as far away as Georgia, and as near as next door.
Participants on a birding field trip listen to expert birder Alan Knothe, ANERR staff. NB
Principal happenings included Birding, Boating, Butterfly, and Wildflowers excursions on land and sea, as well as sit-down lectures about Butterflies and Bears.
Musicians (left to right) Michael Callan, Jon Copps, and Neil Jones, entertain everyone at the Festival. NB
Live music from our own Neil Jones, his usual sidekick Jon Copps, and special guest Michael Callan, was heard throughout the property as they played on the Lodge deck. These musicians literally sing for their supper, since the only payment they get is a large plate of Boil. These folks provided the music at a wedding reception in Wewa later that evening.
Participants on a birding trip prepare to climb tower to get a birdseye view of the Bay. NB
As the day progressed the parking lot got full and folks were treated to a lecture on Bears from Stephanie Simek from FWC (see other article). Out at the Deal Tract fearless folks were climbing the tower in the hopes of seeing migratory hawks.
The only disappointment of the day was that the seas were decidedly rough as the wind picked up, and some boat trips had to be cancelled. We are discussing a variable boat ramp plan for next year.
Kim Wren, Manager of the Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves, prepares to take passengers on a tour of the Bay. NB
Buffer Preserve tours looked like something out of Disney thanks to the shiny new tram borrowed from the St. Vincent NWR. This expanded the capacity for Buffer tours and a record number of visitors got to explore with Jean Huffman, Preserve Manager, or Bill Boothe, the President of the local Hairstreak Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. If you didn’t get to go on his trip or hear his lecture, he was the one standing in front of the band, with knee pads on, grooving to the music – where was our "official photographer", Nick Baldwin, when we needed him?
If you still hadn’t had enough, Astronomy was on the schedule at 7:00 p.m. with out tireless educator, Alan Knothe, and true butterfly enthusiasts were invited to a special Sunday Buffer trip too.
Adults and children enjoy a walk through the Preserves as they look for butterflies. MMB
Anyway, if you didn’t get to Bay Day this year, you missed a fun day and the opportunity to learn about the wonderful properties owned by the state, but available to you for recreation, study and fun.
Come by the office any time and get the newly printed trail guides for each Buffer gate, or the Aquatic Preserve’s new chart of Seagrass areas around Black’s Island, and of course come see us next year or at our February Low Country Boil.
Bears at Bay Day
"If You Really Care, Don’t Feed The Bears"
Black Bear FWC
The Fish and Wildlife Commission sent a large and enthusiastic staff to Bay Day this year and they were really a hit. They provided educational materials including info on retrofitting trash receptacles. Stephanie Simek gave a fascinating talk in the Lodge and activities that included making plaster molds of bear prints.
Locals are all too familiar with bears as they have been venturing out onto the St. Joseph Peninsula and surrounding areas in search of the easy food provided by human garbage. The Bear Management Program emphasizes proper practices for those living in "Bear Country" (see www.MyFWC.com/bear). They say, "As Floridians, we all have a responsibility for keeping our wildlife wild."
While bears used to inhabit the whole of Florida, their primary ranges are now much smaller, but the "Apalachicola" area is still their largest. Bear populations are also increasing, as is the human population, so reported encounters have increased greatly every year.
We have all heard of "nuisance" bears that have to be removed from areas of human habitation, including the great story earlier this year of the FWC biologist rescuing the tranquilized bear that started to drown off Alligator Point. But the FWC Bear Management Program emphasizes that we, as humans, should act responsibly and not attract bears in the first place.
It’s worth going to the FWC Bear Management web site where there is tons of stuff for all ages. We look forward to having the "bear folks" back at the Preserves Center again.
St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve News
Management Plan Gets Approved
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas (CAMA) manages Florida’s 41 aquatic preserves, along with three national estuarine research reserves (NERRS), one national marine sanctuary, and the coral reef conservation program. St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve was established in 1969 and consists of 73,000 acres of sovereign submerged lands. The boundaries include all tidal lands, islands, sandbars, shallow banks, submerged bottom, and land waterward of the mean high water to which the state holds title.
Map of the Aquatic Preserve. Click on image to see full-size map. CAMA
After eleven years, the St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve Management Plan has been updated and approved. The preserve received vital input from both an advisory committee, developed for the purpose of updating the plan, and the public. A draft plan was produced and made available to the public for review and comment in early 2007. Throughout 2007 and 2008, improvements and updates were made. The plan was the first aquatic preserve management plan to be brought before the state Acquisitions and Restorations Council (ARC) for approval on August 15, 2008. After approval by ARC, the plan was then presented to and approved by the Governor and Cabinet on September 16, 2008. The mission of the aquatic preserves is to protect and maintain the natural conditions of these bodies of water for future generations. This plan discusses the preserves goals, objectives and strategies for the next ten years to protect and enhance the bays valuable natural resources through research and monitoring, resource management, education and outreach, and partnerships. A copy of the St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve Management Plan 2008-2018 is available at:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/downloads/management_plans/
aquatic/StJosephBay_2008.pdf
Kim M. Wren - Manager, Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves
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Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves