Blog Archives

Slate of Officers

2/28/2018

The Nominations Committee has set a Slate of Officers and Directors. It will be presented to the members for a vote at the Annual Meeting on Saturday March 10. Terms of office extend from annual meeting to annual meeting. The dates in parenthesis indicate the year when a term will expire at the annual meeting. Short profiles of each current and proposed Board member are on the Board page of the website.

President:
Bill Dummitt (2019)
President Elect:
John McPherson (2019)
Past President:
Russ Hall (2019)
Treasurer:
Mackenzie Russell (2020)
Secretary:
Ed DeHaan (2019)

Directors
Presented for Re-election
Libby Cagle (2020)
Debbie Meeks (2020)
Margy Van Landingham (2020)
Presented as New Board Members
Bob Lewis (2020)
Miriam Wiley (2020)

Directors Whose Terms Continue for Another year
Jim Hoy (2019)
Debbie Jordan (2019)
Dan Kline (2019)
Kit Lane (2019)
Doug Maple (2019)
Roger McDaniels (2019)
John Thalacker (2019)
Linda Tyson (2019)
Directors Leaving the Board
Peg Hall
Maria Sgambati

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Clyde Butcher and the Refuges

2/27/2018

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Famed nature photographer, Clyde Butcher has been visiting and photographing our Refuges. As announced a few weeks ago, he visited Cedar Key March 3 and promised he will be doing more work here in the future.

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Shell Mound Trail

2/22/2018

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Several of us were clearing the new section of the Shell Mound trail today, preparing for the Friends Annual Meeting. To our surprise, a group of Road Scholars showed up. Maybe we are not as far off the main trail as we think we are!

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Shell Mound Trail Work Day - February 22

2/17/2018

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On Thursday, February 22 a group of us will be meeting at 9 am at the Shell Mound trailhead to spend a couple of hours working on the new archaeological trail.

Much of the new trail follows the older, developed trails. But a couple of hundred yards is newly laid out, and covers an undeveloped section that skirts the hollow interior of the crescent-shaped mound.

The photo above shows the area where a trail needs to be created.Work will include clearing low vegetation from the trail and removing snags and fallen branches that obscure important archaeological features.

Please join us. Sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, work gloves, hats, insect repellent, and drinking water are all recommended. Also, if you have ready access to pruning saws, loppers, rakes, or other simple tools, bring them along. If you don’t have tools, don’t worry, there will be plenty of work for you.

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What's Been Happening at the Refuges Lately?

2/13/2018

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Refuge Manager Andrew Gude, Assistant Manager Larry Woodward, Forester Daniel Barrand, and Fire Specialist Vic Doig gave a presentation at the Cedar Key Public Library about the Refuge.

The Friends Visitor Welcome Program has been growing in two ways. First, there are Friends volunteers at the front desk at headquarters from about 9 to 4 each day that the Refuge headquarters building is open. Almost 40 Friends members are now volunteers in this program.

At first, we mostly worked on making the space more attractive and welcoming. But as the word had gotten out, more and more visitors are stopping by. About 25 stopped in one day last week! If you want to participate as a welcomer for a half day on a monthly basis, or more often, email [email protected]. We would welcome more volunteers.

The Refuge held an Operation Outdoor Freedom event recently. Veterans attended a special, guided, 2-day feral hog hunt event that served as an introduction to the National Wildlife Refuge System's support of outdoor recreation. The Refuge will continue to work with its partners on future Operation Outdoor Freedom fishing and hunting events.

Refuge staff assisted the State archaeologist in the removal of human remains recently discovered on Seahorse Key.

Work to control Exotic Invasive Species such as Brazilian Peppers continues. Recently 11 volunteers, led by Roger McDaniels from Friends and Vic Doig from the Refuge, spent a day working at Atsena Otie. Other areas in and around the Refuges have also been the site of workdays .

The Refuge staff continue the planning and research to determine the best way to restore hydrology across the Lower Suwannee Refuge into the Gulf. The natural flow was altered decades ago by timbering. Restoration would likely be a significant enhancement to habitat for the local wildlife, fish, and shellfish populations.

Longtime refuge hunter and part-time refuge mural painter, Clint Wynn, has been adding beauty along the Dixie Mainline. Thanks from all of us, Clint.

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Nature Walk in the Refuge

2/12/2018

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Now that the weather has warmed up and we’ve had rain, we should start to see flowers blooming in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge! On our walk last month, the only flowers we saw blooming were tiny violets. Even so, there was plenty of bird activity and we even saw butterflies, including one monarch trying to nectar on a tiny violet!

Please join me for a walk in the refuge on Friday, Feb 16. So far it looks like we will have good weather for the walk. We will meet at the Cedar Key Town Park parking lot at 9:30 am and will carpool to the refuge from there. The walk will be about 2 hours in duration and we will look for wildlife and hope to see some wildflowers. Last month’s walk a bobcat was sighted crossing the road and there were hundreds and hundreds of robins. A Ruby-crowned kinglet perched in the sun so most of us got a good look. Each walk at the refuge is different!

If you have any questions or would like to meet us in the refuge rather than Cedar Key Town Park, please email me at [email protected] or call me at 352-543-6738.

I hope to see you Friday!

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