The Vista site was presented as a candidate for one of this year's UF Landscape Architecture undergraduate student's Capstone projects. Students work on real-world problems over the entire senior year to complete their Capstone. We are excited about the learning opportunity the Vista site presents and look forward to advancing some of our visions for it in the process.
Links to past year's Capstone projects are available on the UF Landscape Architecture website.
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After wishing for one for a couple of years and competing for grants to fund one, with help from the Refuges, Friends of Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys NWRs is getting a Mobile Outreach Trailer! We hope to have it in time for the Seafood Festival in Cedar Key on October 21 and 22. We are currently playing with graphic designs for the exterior. There is so much beauty on our Refuges that it is really hard to choose our graphics. Maybe one of these --- The Mobile Outreach Trailer presents a new opportunity for Friends members to help. Drivers are needed to move the trailer between the Refuge storage area and places where Friends will welcome visitors. If your personal vehicle can't tow it but you have trailering skills and are willing to help, consider signing up for the online Defensive Driver Safety Course. After passing, and being accepted as an official Refuge volunteer, you will be allowed to borrow a Refuge truck.
Friends' board member and butterfly expert Barbara Woodmansee has been conducting surveys of butterflies on the Lower Suwannee NWR for years. During the first week of September, in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, she did 2 surveys covering both sides of the Suwannee River. She reported that the south end of the Nature Drive looked like there was storm surge up fairly high, apparently as high as 4 feet. There was no way to know how long the highest water levels remained in place, but all the flowering plants were essentially fried. North of Pond 4 Rd as she and her survey colleagues moved away from the coast, there was some nectar, and by the time they got into the pine forest area near the north end of the Nature Drive there were tons of butterflies. They were delighted to see them since this is normally a peak time of year for Refuge butterflies. Sadly though, the road was being groomed while they were there, and it will be regraded which will eliminate even more nectar. Although that important road work is necessary to provide safe access to the Refuge for visitors, it is always sad to know it will temporarily lessen the nectar for the butterflies. Her survey on the Dixie Mainline and Willie Lock Mainline during the same week was even more dismal for the butterflies and those of us who love to watch them. The storm surge had risen to at least 4 feet and basically every single flowering plant was destroyed. She and her fellow survey participants saw a drowned pig, snakes, and a dead deer on one of the gate trails where she regularly walks for the surveys. Almost the only butterflies they saw were just a few of the big fast-flyers that can cover a lot of territory in their search for nectar. It was a really discouraging survey day. September/October is the peak time for one of the very rare skippers they monitor and all of their host sedges appeared to be dead. Barbara fears the butterflies will be much less in evidence in their peak October time because there really isn't time for the plants to regrow this year. We know nature is resilient, but it is sad to see the damage nevertheless.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2023 AT 8 AM – 12 PM 2023 Coastal Cleanup - Cedar Key The International Coastal Cleanup is an annual event organized by the Ocean Conservancy - the Cedar Key community has been participating for over 10 years! Please come out and join us for the cleanup from 8 AM - 12 PM (check-in as early as 7:30 am) - volunteers receive a free lunch and t-shirt (while supplies last).
To participate, simply show up and check in at the Cedar Key City Marina as early as 7:30 AM to pick up trash bags and get assigned to an area. Volunteers will be counting items collected as they go using the data sheets provided or using the Clean Swell app. The data sheets must be dropped off along with the trash to earn a t-shirt. Please bring your own gloves. Complete your early registration and pick up your cleanup supplies (data sheet, trash bags) the morning of. When you drop off your bag(s) of trash and data card, your lunch and free t-shirt(s) will be ready and waiting. Suwannee 22, the second Swallow-tailed Kite sponsored by Friends, has been staying around the Refuge since it was spotted back in March and is still there foraging towards Chiefland and north. There were early hopes that it would be nesting. However, recent reports from the Avian Research and Conservation Institute indicate that they believe the nest has failed. The map shows she's been a busy bird, zigging and zagging all around the area. Keep your eyes peeled, she'll be around for awhile before she heads south.
There is also other news.
The Refuge is working on removing condemned Vista buildings: the caretakers' double wide, the grill shed, and the barn. The intent is for the Friends to work with private parties to salvage and sell what can be sold and then take the rest and scrap it. Any proceeds will go back into the Vista project.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services will be conducting a feral swine removal project on the Refuge (and all over Florida). They apparently received significant Congressional appropriations to do so with the intent to both remove this invasive species and collect blood samples to check for diseases such as African Swine Fever. This will be an ongoing project using traps, guns, and aerial shooting. Specifics have not been finalized. Friends' board member and butterfly expert, Barbara Woodmansee, had a truly awesome discovery this month at the Refuge. She'd been actively searching for the Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar to be able to show a group of Junior Ranger Program candidates on a recent field trip to the Refuge. Unfortunately, she had no luck on that day in late June. Back she went to continue her quest. Below, in her words, is her unbridled and contagious enthusiastic account of her walk in the woods. "I tried so hard to find one (Hickory Horned Devil) because now is their time, but they hid from me - until today! On my butterfly survey today (July 19, 2023), I found two of these, plus a luna caterpillar on young sweetgum trees on Barnett Creek Road. This is just about THE coolest bug there is in my opinion. It's a Hickory Horned Devil - the mature Regal moth caterpillar - between 5-6" long. Any minute now, he or she will crawl down the tree and wander a long way away and then burrow down in the leaf litter and pupate underground until next spring when it will crawl up a stick and become a beautiful adult moth. They use their magnificent antlers to whack wasps and flies that try to parasitize them - 80% of them are parasitized before they mature. They're super fun and easy to raise."
"The adults are VERY hard to find - I look for them all the time and have only seen 2 or 3 of them and they came to our porch light. They're huge - just like the caterpillars. The adults do not have mouth parts and do not eat at all. They only live about 1 week after they come out of their cocoons. They just mate - usually on the day they emerge, lay 100 eggs over the next few days, and then die. Adult males can find a female from as far away as 7 miles - the female "calls" the male when she is ready to mate by sending out a pheromone that the male can detect with his huge antennae. Is that cool or what?!?"
These five Friends groups support 12 of the National Wildlife Refuges in Florida: Lower Suwannee, Cedar Keys, Crocodile Lake, National Key Deer, Great White Heron, Key West, J. N. Ding Darling, Florida Panther, Ten Thousand Islands, Egmont Key, Passage Key, and The Pinellas. The Florida Friends groups focused particularly on the fact that refuge law enforcement is drastically under resourced.
About half of the national wildlife refuges, including Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys, have no law enforcement officer assigned directly to them. Officers must come from other refuges when needed. Each officer, on average, covers an area about the size of Rhode Island. Any cut to refuge budgets would likely exacerbate this dangerous situation for wildlife and for visitors to the refuges.
Also in May, Refuge Manager Andrew Gude nominated our Friends group for the Molly Krival Friends Group of the Year Award for 2023. Maybe next year will be our year to win. Congratulations to the Friends of Ottawa NWR in Ohio, who received the award this year.
Refuge roads are also firebreaks for controlled burns.
Starting this summer, 70 miles of Lower Suwannee NWR roadsides are being cleared of hazard fuels and woody material up to 20 feet from the centerline of the road and to a height of 15 feet vertical distance from the roadway. Vegetation removal will be followed up with targeted herbicide application to control regrowth of palm trees, hardwoods, dense woody fuels, and palmettos. The herbicide and increased sunlight encourage grasses and flowering plants for pollinators, a habitat that is lacking on the Refuge. Work is expected to complete by early 2024. Over 30 Cedar Key summer school kids enjoyed two days of Junior Ranger activities with Refuge Manager Andrew Gude and Deputy Manager John Stark who gave them an idea of what it takes to be a wildlife ranger.
Jeremy Geiger, a turtle expert studying with Friends former board member Dr. Travis Thomas, entertained the kids with turtle stories, facts, and show-and-tell artifacts. John described carnivorous plants and the variety of them that we have on the Refuge while Friends Past-President Debbie Meeks and Friends member Carol Lang showed the kids how to build a Venus flytrap using paper plates. Board member John McPherson lent a hand keeping everyone on track. Refuge Forester Daniel Barrand showed the kids how scientists measure plant diversity using the grid technique. Board member and butterfly expert Barbara Woodmansee led a mini-butterfly walk where the kids practiced using their binoculars. The older kids were even more interested in a puddle that was full of tadpoles. Despite how it looks in the dramatic photo above, taken a few minutes before the talks began, the weather was kind this year for Friends' Summer Solstice celebration. More than 50 participants visited the Friends' information tent, heard the Seaside Talks by Dr. Ken Sassaman and Refuge Manager Andrew Gude, and walked the archaeology tours led Friends' President Dr. Ginessa Mahar and by Dr. Sassaman. During the talks and walks, the Gulf breezes were strong enough to keep many of the biting insects at bay. By the time the guided walks had finished, the breezes had died down and the potential for storms had disappeared. The archaeo-kayak tour co-sponsored by Friends, the Florida Paddling Trail Association and the Florida Public Archaeology Network began, led by Friends' President Ginessa, FPAN's Nigel Rudolph, and FPTA's Dorsey DeMaster. The kayakers visited prominent archaeology sites near Shell Mound, including Komar, to learn more about the indigenous fishing and shellfishing practices in the region over 1500 years ago. If you missed this amazing day at Shell Mound, watch for announcements for the celebration of Winter Solstice and come join Friends at Shell Mound in December. On Saturday, June 24, 2023, Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges, in partnership with the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) and the Florida Paddling Trails Association (FPTA), will celebrate Summer Solstice at Shell Mound. Activities include guided archaeology walks, a guided and space-limited archaeo-kayak tour, and a seaside talk on the pier. The event is free to the public. Registration is required for the kayak tour. Register using this Eventbrite link. All spaces are filled. Land-based events, held rain or shine: 1:00 Gather at the Shell Mound parking lot, Some may need to park at the Dennis Creek trailhead parking lot. Friends, FPAN, and FPTA will have information tables set up. Welcome by Refuge Manager Andrew Gude on the Shell Mound fishing pier. Seaside Talk by Dr. Ken Sassaman on the Shell Mound fishing pier. 2:00 Shell Mound walking tour -- The first group departs, guided by Dr. Ginessa Mahar. 2:15 Shell Mound walking tour -- The second group departs, guided by Dr. Ken Sassaman. 3:00 Information tables -- The Friends, FPAN, and FPTA will have volunteers at their tables to talk with participants after the seaside talk and the guided walks. Kayak Tour -- a space-limited event Participants in the kayak tour must register using this Eventbrite link. They will need to provide their own kayaks and equipment. They must wear a PFD at all times while on the water. 3:00 Kayakers registered for the guided kayak tour gather at the Shell Mound boat ramp with their kayaks and PFDs, which all paddlers are required to wear at all times on the water during the tour. 3:15 Registered kayakers depart for the tour, guided by FPAN archaeo-kayakers and Friends president and archaeo-kayaker, Ginessa Mahar. 6:00 Kayakers return to Shell Mound boat ramp. If this tour must be cancelled for weather-related safety reasons, kayakers will be notified via Eventbrite. To see photos and read about earlier Solstice events, visit the blog posts about the 2022 Winter Solstice celebration and the 2021 Summer Solstice celebration.
The USFWS assistant forester from the regional office made a recent visit to the Refuge and commented that restoration efforts over the last 5-7 years have been critical to reforestation efforts and the improvement of pollinator habitat. He suggested the Refuge contract with someone to do vegetation diversity surveys as well as pollinator surveys to highlight the Refuge's restoration strategies. While forest health has been the primary goal of restoration efforts, the successes of rejuvenating pollinator habitat has been important to the overall ecological health of the Refuge and a joy to butterfly, bird, insect and wildlife enthusiasts, as well as hunters and anglers. Insects, especially pollinators, are key indicators of ecosystem health.
Well done, Refuge staff! Butterfly expert and board member Barbara Woodmansee has been working with Refuge staff and a few volunteers to survey the butterflies of the Lower Suwannee NWR. Her photos and expertise enabled Friends to produce our guidebook, Butterflies of the Lower Suwannee, with information on all the species that have been definitively documented to be on the Refuge . . . Until Now!! On Monday, June 12, 2023, she and her team spotted the Seminole Texan Crescent. According to Barbara: "This little beauty can be found in dark, swampy areas north, south and east of the Lower Suwannee NWR, but for more than 10 years, I have never been able to find one in the Refuge. Yesterday, we found 9 of them on the Nature Drive, and I hope they're here to stay"! Here is what to look for: Also seen and photographed by Barbara on this same survey day were:
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