 At the July 2021 board meeting, the board reviewed the changes that had been made to the Partnership Agreement that the Fish and Wildlife Service now requires Friends groups to sign in order for their refuges to continue their relationship with Friends. A motion to sign the revised partnership agreement was approved. The agreement has now been signed by all parties. Through the combined efforts of the 200+ Friends groups around the nation, the revisions to the original agreement were adequate to address our primary reservations. In summary:
We are happy to report that there were no significant glitches in our operations during the brief dissolution of our formal relationship with our refuge.
We are equally happy to have been part of the solution to this knotty problem that several of us saw as government overreach into the operations of nonprofit Friends groups.
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 This beautiful video of the Milky Way was taken at Shell Mound by Kathleen Finnerty. Refuge Manager Andrew Gude was able to provide a Special Use Permit to allow access at night to do the filming. She granted permission for us to share the video with you. Click the photo to view it.
 June 2021 photo of the YCC crew at the sign that was stolen in August Someone stole a unique sign from Seahorse Key. The Refuge Manager and Law Enforcement Officer would greatly appreciate any information you can provide to help apprehend the thieves. As you see in the photo, the sign was affixed on three telephone poles and well embedded into the dune. It has survived tropical systems since 2015. Refuge Manager Andrew Gude noticed it was missing on 27 Aug 2021 at 10 am. The cost of ordering, sign production, shipping, and replacing will be upwards of $5000. It is a custom produced sign that identified Seahorse Key, Cedar Key NWR, and the partnership with UF and Sante Fe College.  Location of the sign before it was stolen. The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge has 200+ days of hunting, with ten different types of hunts between September and April.
 Map showing "Archery Only" hunting areas in green The National Park Service received the 2021 Silver Telly award in Public Service & Activism for a series of videos on climate change that it made in conjunction with the graphic illustrator who recorded our 2021 Friends Annual Meeting in February. You can access these videos by clicking the photos below, all drawn by Karina Branson, of ConverSketch .
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Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
P. O. Box 532 Cedar Key, FL 32625 friends@friendsofrefuges.org We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. |
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