Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges is requesting proposals from duly licensed and qualified consultants or consulting teams to perform an assessment of several historic structures on the Vista site within the Lower Suwannee Refuge near Fowler’s Bluff, Florida. We are interested in using the Vista site for visitor contact and interpretation.
We have received a planning grant from the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources to conduct for the project. This project will provide documentation and information about the buildings at Vista, and hopefully, will be a planning tool for the maintenance, stabilization, preservation, and future rehabilitation of the structures. The full RFP is available here.
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New information indicates that Snake Key, in addition to all the other birds now roosting there, is a significant pre-migratory mass roosting site for Purple Martins. Folks in Cedar Key started seeing and reporting massive numbers of purple martins a couple years ago in the mid to late summer. The Refuge staff members worked with Dr. Jason Fletcher, a Disney Animal Kingdom researcher who tagged some of the birds. One was tracked to Snake Key after last breeding season. Further investigation by Dr. Fisher and Refuge biologist Vic Doig show that as many as 5,000 Purple Martins were roosting overnight at Snake Key in July.
The Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys NWRs is helping support the satellite tracking of a Swallow-tailed Kite as it migrates from the Refuge to Brazil.
Read more at Swallow-tailed Kite Migration: a ten thousand mile odyssey
George talked us through his expansive, inspiring vision of the Big Bend Conservation effort, with detailed data on its history and current status, on key land areas for needed conservation, on key players, and on the role that the Lower Suwannee and other Refuges could play in the effort to keep the Big Bend as a driver for the regional economy and quality of life.
George was a man who made a difference in all our lives, even those of us who never were lucky enough to meet him personally. Clay Henderson, a lawyer and professor at Stetson University, was quoted in Politico as saying that only Teddy Roosevelt conserved more land in Florida than George did. He was involved in about half a million acres of land deals. George's obituary can be found here. |
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