Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves

NEWS

December 2009

In this issue

• Annual Membership Meeting
• Bay Day 2010
• Featured Plant
• A Message from the Staff
• Mark Your Calendar
• Friends Board
• Pass It On!
• Membership Info

A Message From
the Staff

Burn Season Again

It is that time of year again. The staff at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve is preparing to begin our prescribed burn season for 2010!

Fire is essential for the plants and animals of the Preserve. In its natural state, most of the Buffer Preserve would have burned every one to three years, creating an open savanna landscape. This year we plan to include some additional areas in our prescribed fire program as well as some previously burned areas. These new areas did burn in the past—for thousands of years—but fire has been excluded for the past one to two decades. That means these areas have lots of “fuel”—dead and living flammable vegetation—more than they would if the areas had been burning frequently as they should.

Within days after a fire, sprouts of wiregrass appear. Prescribed burns maintain the natural groundcover of grasses found under longleaf pines. MB

Once we burn an area and reduce the hazardous fuels that have accumulated over the years, subsequent burns are easier, less intense, and produce much less smoke. This fuel reduction helps protect the entire area, especially neighboring houses, from wildfires.

It also makes the area suitable again for the many species that need the more open habitat created by frequent burning. This includes birds such as bobwhite quail, bluebirds, Bachman’s sparrows and brown nuthatches, as well as every one of the twenty-one species of rare plants that live in the Preserve.

Prescribed burning is the most important thing we do to manage the Preserve and help these species survive.

This year we are so grateful to again have the support of extra burn crew and equipment from The Nature Conservancy. This year's burn season will begin in January and run through June or July, always dependent on weather conditions. We appreciate the support of our Friends and neighbors as we continue this important work! If you have any questions or concerns about fire and the Preserve call 229-1787.

- Jean Huffman, Manager

Wildflowers such as these Pineland False Sunflowers (Phoebanthus teniufolius) abound in areas that have been recently burned. MB

Mark Your Calendar

January 9, 2010
Annual General Membership Meeting

Friends of the Preserves are encouraged to attend the annual General Membership Meeting on Saturday January 9 to elect the Board of Directors. Members may bring guests. Read complete details at right.

February 6, 2010
Winter Bay Day

The Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves invite you to attend Winter Bay Day on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer and Aquatic Preserves Center. Bay Day is one of the area’s highlights of the winter season, featuring a Low Country Shrimp Boil, live music, and local nature photography exhibits, as well as guided trip. Please read Bay Day 2010 article for details.

Friends Board

• John Oliver, President
• Michael McKenzie, Treasurer
• Penny Weining,
  Acting Secretary
• Ann Anderson,
  Outgoing President
• Nick Baldwin
• Bill Boothe
• Marcia Boothe
• Sandra Chafin

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.

Annual General Membership Meeting and Board Election

Saturday January 9

Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves members are invited to attend the Annual General Membership Meeting to elect the 2010 Board of Directors for the Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves. This meeting will be held on Saturday, January 9, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. EST at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer and Aquatic Preserves Center.

Members are encouraged to bring one or two guests who may be interested in becoming a Friend of the Preserves.

Board Election

The agenda for this meeting includes brief presentations on our various 2009 accomplishments, a treasurer’s report, presentation of the nominating committee’s slate of candidates for the 2010 Board of Directors, and a vote by all attending current members for the new year’s Board positions.

Currently serving on the Board are:

• John Oliver, President
• Michael McKenzie, Treasurer
• Ann Anderson
• Bill Boothe
• Marcia Boothe
• Nick Baldwin
• Sandra Chafin

The proposed slate of candidates who are up for election is:

• Bill Boothe
• Marcia Boothe
• Nick Baldwin
• Sandra Chafin
• John Ehrman

There are some open positions available on the Board. Members interested in serving on the Board are encouraged to attend board meetings and beome involved. While it is important to retain stability in the board, it is equally important to have new blood with new ideas and new energy. If interested, please contact John Oliver at (850)27-7047 or john9669@msn.com.

Chili Potluck

After the meeting, please join us for a potluck chili luncheon, prepared by your fellow Friends Members and free to all attendees.

We are fortunate to have such dedicated Friends Members and Volunteers who work hard to support the mission of the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer and Aquatic Preserves. We thank all of you for your vital support of this organization, as we continue this tradition.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Preserves Center at (850)229-1787.

Wiregrass is the predominant groundcover under longleaf pines in fire-managed areas. MB

Bay Day 2010

Saturday February 6

The Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves invite you to attend Winter Bay Day on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer and Aquatic Preserves Center. Bay Day is one of the area’s highlights of the winter season, featuring a Low Country Shrimp Boil, live music, and local nature photography exhibits, as well as guided trips through the Buffer Preserve.

From 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. EST lunch is served: a Low Country Shrimp Boil featuring local wild-caught shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes and kielbasa sausage, along with garlic bread and beverages, all for just a suggested $10.00 donation for each meal ticket.

You’ll dine with a view on the expansive Preserves Center deck overlooking St. Joseph Bay. For your listening pleasure, lunchtime will kick off live musical entertainment in the lodge with Neil Jones and Jon Copps.

On backcountry tours, you’ll join experienced guides as they showcase the Buffer Preserve’s beautiful winter landscape and illustrate its ecology and importance to St. Joseph Bay. Saturday’s guided trips will begin at 11:00 a.m. EST and the last tour will depart at 2:00 p.m. EST. All activities are free of charge. All guided trips are weather permitting.

This event provides an exceptional opportunity for everyone to discover and enjoy the natural splendor of the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve, as well as partake in sensational food, music and fellowship. We hope to see you there!

All proceeds benefit the Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves, a non-profit citizen support organization established to protect, preserve, and support the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve and the St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve.

The Preserves Center is located 4.5 miles south of Port St. Joe on St. Joseph Bay at 3915 State Road 30A.

Call for Volunteers

If you are interested in helping with our Bay Day event, we gladly welcome volunteers! Plan, promote, and carry out the annual Bay Day celebration. Volunteers are always needed to prepare food, set up tents and tables, serve, clean up, etc. This event attracts many local area residents as well as out-of-town visitors.

For more information, please contact Jessica McKenzie at (850)229-1787.

Jessica McKenzie, Staff
Buffer Preserves

Featured Plant

Wiregrass Gentian (Gentiana pennelliana)

Wiregrass Gentian KM

The wiregrass gentian is an unusual plant both because it is rare and because it blooms in the dead of winter when very few other plants flower. It is a treat to see this beautiful white flower when almost all the other plants are finished flowering for the year. Come to the Buffer Preserve in December and January and look in grassy wet-savanna transition areas that occur above the cypress-pine wetlands and just below the palmetto-pine flatwoods. The key to finding it is to search in areas that were burned during the previous year – it is stimulated to bloom by burning and can be found in many areas throughout the Buffer Preserve.