Guest Blogger--Judy Hartshorn (part 2)

To keep you all updated on the Summer Intern Program, we have asked the interns to serve as guest bloggers from time to time. Here is a rundown of recent events from Judy Hartshorn:

(see here for part 1)

The next morning several board members and foundation supporters drove up to meet us for a pontoon boat tour of the Kissimmee River. Before the tour Loisa gave us a quick presentation about the history of the river, its channelization and the subsequent restoration currently taking place. Then we loaded onto the boat accompanied by Master Captain Ken Huser and naturalist guide Casey Trent. The boat took us through three different areas of the River starting off in a remnant oxbow that had been cut off from major flow. We continued on our way through the channelized portion of the river and then made it to a restored area before turning around. Our diversity index, taken on the birds and flora we observed from the pontoon, dictated that the restored section, not surprisingly, was the most diverse section of the river, followed by the remnant oxbow and lastly ( surprise, surprise…NOT) the channelized. The pontoon boat was greatly enjoyed by interns and foundation supporters alike. It was a great way to experience the Kissimmee River.
Later we headed to Larsen’s Dairy. We arrived at the diary in the middle of intense rains (the irony of this drought is the timing of the rains-always at irritating times) and therefore started off our tour in the office with barn manager Jose Verano.. We learned about some of the BMP’s the dairy has implemented, although not officially required to, such as surrounding water clarifying lagoons. When the rain let up Jose took us into the milking barn. We watched the whole procedure and learned about the methods the dairy utilizes to make their cows as comfortable and healthy as possible. Dairy cows hold long term value, both as milk producers and calf producers, as opposed to beef cows and therefore their long term heath is important. Vanessa and myself got to milk one of the cows, whom are each milked three times a day. At the hospital and pharmacy we received a lecture on the use of antibiotics and other medicines in the cows. Antibiotic regulations in milk are very stringent and the dairy can lose money and become under investigation if there are antibiotics present in the milk they send out. We learned about the detection methods for these antibiotics and also about how they administer them to cows. Just like people get sick so do cows, and therefore occasionally need antibiotics. Each antibiotic has a certain time length before it is naturally purified out of a system. During this time the cow is not allowed to be with the other cows, her milk is instead used to feed the calves. After the antibiotics run their course the cow’s milk is tested and if the test is passed she is readmitted to regular milk production. Next was the “down-time” barn, where the cows were kept when not being milked. Here we witnessed both a feeding and an insemination, done by hand-literally. Our last stop was a field where they kept the calves that we got to pet and have suck on our fingers. The dairy was extremely interesting and we learned a lot about the hardships faced by the industry and the issues surrounding Everglades’ restoration, such as pollution/water quality, from a different view point.

The next day our first stop was MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center at Buck Island Ranch. We talked with Betsey Boughton, their research director, about projects currently happening on the ranch and one of her favorite plants Juncus, which provides a sort of safe-haven from grazing for other species which grow within its protective leaves. We then piled into a swamp buggy along with two other Buck Island residents, PhD student Ryan and intern Lauren to see some of the sites we had learned about in the PowerPoint. Ryan told us a bit about FRESP, Florida Ranchlands Environmental Service Project a payment for environmental services program where cattle ranchers can use working agricultural land to provide valuable water related environmental services. The MacArthur ranch is a division of our final destination for the day Archbold Biological Station. Hilary Swain-their executive director--gave us Archbold’s history and then took us on an impromptu field trip to Lake Anne, where we feasted on hog plums and learned about the Lake’s unique properties. The lake is a hotspot for study by hydro-geologists; the 65 foot deep lake is formed by an ancient sinkhole the lake provides cores dating back thousands of years. Afterwards we went on a scrub habitat nature walk lead by Rick Lavoy, the education director. It was awesome to learn about the scrub and Rick’s knowledge and passion for the habitat made it even more enjoyable.

We awoke with the sunrise and John calling loudly throughout the house in Marine corps fashion, Reveille, Reveille! We quickly got ready and headed out to a Scrub Jay walk with Shane Pruett, an avian researcher at Archbold. The feisty blue scrub jays have long been a subject of research at Archbold and they have data on family trees going back decades. The jays are very interesting birds that have complex territory and mating associations. After the scrub jay we waved Archbold goodbye excitedly talking about possibly interning or doing research there in the future.

Our last stop was the Rivers Coalition meeting in Stuart Florida. Melissa Meeker attended the meeting and answered the many questions stakeholders around the St. Lucie had for her, overall the group in attendance seemed pleased with her performance, although she did have to mention “that it was only day thirty” more than once. After the meeting we reflected on our trip and discussed the significance on some of the things we had learned on our project (finding the total economic valuation and impact of the drought costs in the south Florida area). Ideally with finding this cost we will show, using benefit to cost analysis, how the cost of restoring the Everglades is less than the projected costs of droughts, which seem to be increasingly more frequent.

Judy Hartshorn. Go Canes-BOO Gators!