In this issue
A Message From
the Staff
Best Burning Season Ever
One of the ongoing activities at the Buffer is prescribed burning. Fire is an important and necessary part of maintaining the Buffer's ecosystems. Without fire, we would not be blessed with our beautiful Chapman's Rhododendrons and many of our other wildflowers. Also, prescribed burns help the community by lessening the likelihood of a catastrophic fire . This year, we conducted the largest burn ever done at the Preserve, about 425 acres. Previous burns in the area made this possible.
2009 has been our best burning season ever!
Jean Huffman, Manager
Chapman's Rhododendron MMB
From Our New President
As the new president of Friends of the St. Joseph Bay Preserves for 2009, I’m really enjoying working with our Board of Directors and volunteers this year.
John E. Oliver, Board President
As you can see in this newsletter, we’ve accomplished a lot and are pursuing a challenging agenda. Following our annual meeting of the membership in January (wasn’t that chili great?), we were fortunate to attract the largest crowd ever for our February Shrimp Boil, hosted and fed Alternative Spring Breakers while they planted pines during March, worked on a grant proposal in April, and organized our Turtle Patrol which will be working with sea turtles from May 1 to October 31. We also have plans in place to offer a wildlife photography workshop, develop short video presentations that can be viewed by visitors, have our Bay Day celebration in October, and plan for some new board members late in the year. If you’re interested, let us know.
I retired here in 2004 from Valdosta, Georgia, where I was Department Head and Professor of Management at the Valdosta State University College of Business Administration. My PhD is in Organizational Behavior from Georgia State University.
Writing articles, teaching management, and serving the university in administration didn’t hold a candle to being a father and grandfather since I believe that my greatest achievements are my three daughters and son who have blessed me with nine grandchildren.
My first involvement in the Friends, like many people, was the Birding and Wildflower Festival, the precursor to Bay Day. After that, I recognized what an asset the Preserves were to our area. I volunteered for a workday to help remove what seemed like miles of fence and hog wire from the Buffer Preserve and started participating in Turtle Patrol on the Aquatic Preserve. Then came Shrimp Boils and Bay Days. Who could resist working with Roy, Jean, Kim, Jimmy, Pat, Neil, and the volunteers who make these things happen. Out of the blue, Ann Anderson (Past President) called and asked me to serve on the board. I was flattered and jumped at the opportunity. It has been fun and rewarding. If you’re bored, I encourage you to come be a part of the Friends.
Dr. John E. Oliver
Annual Meeting
The Friends ushered in the new year with its annual meeting In January.
Election of New Board
At the meeting, members approved a slate of nominations to the Board. Our current Board includes several new faces. John Oliver is our new President. Michael McKenzie replaces Ann Marie Daley as our new Treasurer. Penny Weining is a new Board member and Acting Secretary. Outoing President Ann Anderson remains on the Board. Bill Boothe, Marcia Boothe, Sandra Chafin, and Nick Baldwin also continue on the Board.
A Social Occasion Too
While the primary purpose of this annual meeting is to elect the Board of Directors and discuss ongoing issues with the membership, it is also a social occasion where Friends can have a good time.
This year, the Board and staff served up several types of chili and fixings to our members. Ann Anderson, outgoing Board President, made a short presentation highlighting some of the Friends' accomplishments and future goals. Board member Bill Boothe showed some photos of the plants that bloom in the Preserves.
Staffing Cut
This past June, The Preserves Center hired Caty Greene to oversee office activities that are essential to the smooth operation of the Preserves. Unfortunattely, Caty lost her position at the end of December due to budget cuts that have affected all state agencies. Happily, Caty has found another job.
We are currently looking for volunteers to assume some of these responsibilities.
To volunteer at the Friends Office (or in some other capacity), see the Friends Office in the Volunteers article at right.
Special thanks to Joy Peterson, on site host, and Board member Penny Weining for organizing the office in the meantime.
Shrimp Boil Fundraiser
A Success
Over 440 people attended.our annual Shrimp Boil that was held in February . We netted $3500.00 from the sales of shrimp dinners, field trip registrations, and memberships.
As usual, this event would not have been possible without the help of our many volunteers. Thank you volunteers!
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.
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.
Mail to:
Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves
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
BBB Bill Boothe
MMB Marcia Boothe
NB Nick Baldwin
JE Jared Eakins
|
Volunteers Needed (Always!)
Many of our members request information on how they can support the Preserves and get involved in interesting and useful ways. Volunteering is the answer! Participating as a volunteer for Preserve and/or Friends projects is a fun, rewarding, and useful contribution of your time and energy.
During the last three months our volunteers have enjoyed a variety of activities including helping with the Friends annual meeting and shrimp boil, planting pine trees, talking to visitors, delivering promotional materials, gathering data on tree growth and water levels, working on grant proposals, photographing prescribed burn activities, attending board of directors meetings, completing government reports, handling administrative duties in the Friends office, and even helping to unload building materials from a large truck. Others have placed signs at Preserves access points, monitored eagle nests, repaired buildings, supervised fellow volunteers, and participated in many other ways. There is no end to the variety of available projects, but matching people and schedules to jobs is a challenge.
Volunteers on sea turtle patrol help ensure that nests of sea turtles are protected. These Loggerhead turtle hatchlings are making the dangerous trek from their nest to the Gulf. BBB
At the last meeting of the Friends Board of Directors, a Volunteer Coordinator was named and several committees formed to allow members to select projects in which they are interested in participating. If any of the projects listed below appeal to you, please get in touch with the designated Committee Chair or contact Volunteer Coordinator, John Oliver, at 850-227-7047 or john9669@msn.com to express your interest, abilities, or valuable contacts. We know there is a lot of talent out there that isn’t being tapped, and we need you. You will likely find it an interesting, challenging, and rewarding experience. You’ll meet new friends, likely learn something new, and you’re sure to have fun!
John Oliver, Board President
Penny Weining, Board Member
Volunteer Projects
Video Production
Develop several short videos that visitors to the Preserve Center can pop into the VCR / DVD player to learn about the unique birds, plants, and animals of the Aquatic and Buffer Preserves; the importance of coastal wetland conservation; recreational activities and events available to the public and other video topics developed by the committee. Needs include writing scripts and grant requests, video production, photography, professional contacts, access to videography students or professors, etc.
Bay Day
Chair position open.
Contact Volunteer Coordinator John Oliver
850-227-7047
john9669@msn.com
Plan, promote, and carry out the annual Bay Day celebration that will be on October 3 this year. This event consists of a catered shrimp boil; walking, wading, and boat tours of both the Aquatic and Buffer Preserves; live music; etc. Volunteers are always needed to prepare food, set up tents and tables, serve, clean-up, deliver invitations, etc. This event attracts many local area residents, as well as out-of-town visitors.
Shrimp Boil
Chair position open.
Contact Volunteer Coordinator John Oliver
850-227-7047
John9669@msn.com
This popular annual event is similar to Bay Day, but is held in February and attracts our beloved snowbird friends along with the usual local suspects. Next year’s Shrimp Boil will be held on February 6, 2010.
Volunteers help serve shrimp dinners. NB
Friends Office
Office and communication skills are always needed to keep the membership list, financial records, correspondence, newsletter, website, etc. up to date; and to greet and offer assistance (brochures, maps, etc.) to visitors at the Preserve Center. This person also works closely with the Volunteer Coordinator.
Photography Workshop and Exhibit
Plan, promote, and carry out a photography workshop at the Preserve Center offering the chance to photograph rare and endangered species of plants and animals and to show participants’ work at an exhibit in the Preserve Center.
St. Joseph Peninsula Sea Turtle Patrol
If you like to get up early, this is the job for you! Turtle Patrol drives or walks down the six mile stretch of beach from the St. Joseph State Park to Stump Hole at dawn looking for sea turtle tracks. Team members record measurements and other information to aid in the survival of these endangered species. They mark nests with four stakes and yellow tape so the nests will not be run over or disturbed by predators. If a nest is too close to the water they may move it so the eggs won’t be drowned by the incoming tide. When the eggs hatch in about sixty days, they count the number that hatched and try to determine why those that didn’t hatch were unsuccessful. Sometimes they rescue baby turtles that are left in the nests or become disoriented.
Other Needs
Chair changes as needs arise
This could be you!
Contact Volunteer Coordinator John Oliver
850-227-7047
john9669@msn.com
Many activities do not occur on a regular basis or require specialized skills, and are therefore staffed as the need arises. If you are interested in one-time, short duration projects, or chores that demand special abilities (like loading trucks, cooking, building things, speaking, tearing things apart, computer skills, repairing things, scientific knowledge, meeting people, technical skills, sales ability, political contacts, big wallet, etc.) please send a note or email to the Volunteer Coordinator and get on the call list. Please tell us what your skills are and/or the type of things you want to do. Some projects might entail slogging through mud and water or palmetto. Others might require one or two days a month on a continuing basis. Some can be performed on a home computer. Some may be outside. You might get dirty, tired, hot and thirsty; but you’ll have a good time doing it and share rewarding experiences with new friends who like to work hard, but only occasionally.
Please DON'T just appear at the Preserve Center and ask what you can do! While your enthusiasm is always appreciated, the limited staff of three at the Preserve Center is already doing all they can do and really cannot spare time to find something on the spur of the moment for you to do. So showing up unannounced is not helpful. Your best chance at finding something fun, interesting, and useful to do is to contact the Volunteer Coordinator, John Oliver, at 850-227-7047 or john9669@msn.com, or one of the other Committee Chairs. We look forward to working with you!
John Oliver, President
Penny Weining, Acting Secretary
Alternative Spring Break Students Help with Restoration Program at St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve
This year's University of Georgia Alternate Spring Break group was made up of 17 hearty, principled individuals who choose to give up the so-called "usual" activities of students on spring break and instead came and helped us out with some hard, sweaty, muddy work at the Buffer Preserve. In exchange, we gave them direction, encouragement, a fantastic place to stay and a substantial supper each night after work -- a supper of which they consumed every morsel.
Alternate spring breakers from University of Georgia JE
The ongoing restoration program at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve consists of prescribed fire, hydrological restoration (ditch filling), native habitat restoration (planting of native trees and grasses and filling of old plowlines), treating of exotic pest plants (including Chinese tallow, cogon grass and Japanese climbing fern) and cleanup (coastal cleanup and fence removal). For one week out of the year, beginning in 2006, The University of Georgia Alternative Spring Break group has assisted with the restoration effort at the Preserve by clearing fences, doing coastal cleanup and planting wiregrass and longleaf pine seedlings.
In 2006 and 2007, they helped us remove miles of barbed-wire fence and a much heavier type of enclosure known as “hog panel” which is made up of a grid of thick, steel rods welded together to form 20 foot by 3 foot sections – very heavy, and there were a lot of them. Staples and nails had to be pulled and barbed wire and hog panel had to be dug out and lugged through mud and, at times knee deep water, to collection sites and stacked on flatbed trailers. With two seasons of their help this project has now been completed.
In 2008, they helped us with coastal trash cleanup, and more fence removal at the Deal Tract of the Buffer Preserve. They also helped with wiregrass planting. Wiregrass “plugs” were gathered from donor sites on the Buffer Preserve (using post-hole diggers) and were then transplanted to a site that had been cleared and plowed by the previous owners to create a field for dove hunting. Planting wiregrass in areas where the ground cover is missing serves to re-establish fine fuels to the area so that fires will be carried across the entire zone.
This year, they planted 6000 longleaf pine seedlings in areas of the Buffer Preserve that were burned in preparation just before the students arrived. The original longleaf pines of this area were cut in the early 1900s. Since then the second-growth pines have been cut and young slash pines have moved in instead of longleaf. Over the past 6 years, carefully planned prescribed burning has readied these sites for the planting of longleaf seedlings. With these plantings, over time, these areas will begin to resemble the original stands of longleaf pine flatwoods that occurred here. In addition to longleaf planting the students also did more coastal cleanup on St. Joe Bay and on Little St. George Island.
The Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves sponsors and prepares evening meals for the students and Buffer Preserve staff and volunteers work with the group through the week. Even though there is usually a completely different group of students each year, we feel like we have gotten to know each group pretty well by the end of the work week. We have had a great bunch of students each year and we look forward to having them come back for years to come.
Neil J. Jones , Apalachicola National Estuarine
Research Reserve Staff
|
Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves