Friday, December 30, 2011

End of the Year Donation

Click to make a tax-deductible donation to the Marshall Foundation
Have you made your year-end, tax-deductible donation? You can double the value of your donation through a matching grant from the Batchelor Foundation to help support our Everglades education programs in 2012!

The additional funds will allow us to increase the reach of our school in-class programs to 40,000 students, plant 5,000 native trees in the Everglades, implement the new Water Ambassadors program in 10 schools, provide five paid college summer internships, and offer Everglades field trips.

This is a great opportunity to have your financial support go twice as far as we work together to protect our environment and develop its future stewards.
3rd graders get a close look at a sunning anhinga!
 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 River of Grass Gala a success!


 FROM A RECENT PRESS RELEASE...
Nancy Marshall, president of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, which champions the restoration and preservation of the greater Everglades ecosystem, today announced that the nonprofit organization raised more than $100,000 at the recent sixth annual River of Grass Gala.

More than 200 people attended the gala, which was co-chaired by Bob & Michelle Diffendorfer and Harvey Oyer III & Monique McCall, with Joyce McLendon of Palm Beach serving as Honorary Chair.

With a “Back to Nature” theme, the fundraising event included the presentation of the Marshall Foundation’s fourth annual Champion of the Everglades Awards to individuals and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution toward Everglades restoration over many years. The 2011 recipients were Palm Beach County Commissioner Karen Marcus (elected official), Charlie Pelizza of the US. Fish and Wildlife Service (individual) and the National Wildlife Refuge Association (organization).

Additional highlights of the gala included one-of-a-kind centerpiece-sculptures (“Let the Dance Begin”) by renowned artist Norman Gitzen and high tech, pro-green, virtually paperless silent auction.
centerpiece sculptures by Norman Gitzen
 “As always, I am humbled by the number of people who tirelessly volunteer, sponsor and support our annual River of Grass Gala that funds 100 percent of our grassroots environmental projects throughout the year,” said Nancy Marshall. “In fact, 100 percent of all funds raised at the Gala goes directly toward educating the next generation about the critical importance of the Everglades, our national treasure, on the entire state of Florida.”

Click to see a photo gallery from the 2011 River of Grass Gala

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Everglades Legislative Caucus--public comments

Your may have read about the formation of an Everglades Legislative Caucus last week.  The group met for some fact finding at the Refuge, followed by a press conference nearby...
They were kind enough to allow the Marshall Foundation to say a few words.  Along with our public comments, I also delivered the following written statement...
 
Public Comment to Everglades Legislative Caucus, November 28, 2011
Bedner’s near the Entrance to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

On behalf of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, thanks for the time to say a few words in support of Everglades Restoration at the upstart of the Everglades Legislative Caucus.   We very much appreciate Representative Steve Perman for spearheading the genesis of the Caucus.

We see a significant increase in potential of achieving my Late Uncle’s Everglades repair objectives, as outlined in the Marshall Plan, issued as a Friends of the Everglades Newsletter, published by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, in 1981. To repair the Everglades, Uncle Art saw as Job 1, the Restoration of the Kissimmee Basin, i.e., the Everglades Headwaters.

Our organization is very glad to add our support to the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge.  As this project goes forward, it will make a huge difference by preserving vast acres of wetlands to provide water storage and treatment with positive economic impacts.

In executing another key part of the Marshall Plan, the full restoration of sheet flow, we are glad to share that our organization is also highly pleased that a Central Everglades Project and a streamlined federal-state implementation is being added to the  Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP(+) to do what Uncle Art Outlined in 1981;  kudo’s for an equally robust approach to involve all stakeholders, including small grass-roots organizations like ours.

These two projects are essential elements of the greater Everglades Ecosystem restoration.  There is some back-channel conversation that there may not be enough money to do both of them, suggesting we should pick one or the other.  This would be an incredible mistake.  We cannot do without either of them to fully restore the greater Everglades ecosystem.  We ask the Everglades Legislative Caucus to support both to ensure a fully successful Everglades restoration outcome.

In previous comment, the ArtMarshall.org has provided Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) analysis based on peer-reviewed literature, to show that a restored River of Grass, the apparent objective of the Central Everglades Project, would provide a 10 to 1 return on investment (ROI). 

We view our ESV demonstration as a challenge to the Federal agencies to act on recommendations in the White House Report:  Sustaining Natural Capital – Protecting Society and the Economy, for use in ROI Decision-Support in projects like the proposed EH NWR.

Of these two initiatives discussed, nothing could have pleased Uncle Art more.  As Senator Bob Graham noted on these grounds in 2006, Art Marshall was the quintessential example that one man could make a difference. 

We look forward to working with the Everglades Legislative Caucus, CERP implementers, the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and other NGO’s, to see to fruition, the legacy of an extraordinary plan and the man who wrote it. Also that a small grass roots organization can make a big difference.   Thanks for the opportunity to make these comments.
For the Art Marshall approach, Semper Fi,


John Arthur Marshall, Chairman of the board.

Monday, December 5, 2011

International Volunteer Day


This fall, the Marshall Foundation has had several enthusiastic young people at the office on a regular basis, benefitting both the Foundation and the students.

Carissa Iverson, a senior at Palm Beach Atlantic University, is the Foundation’s 2011-2012 PBAU Science Club Scholarship Recipient. She will continue working once a week with the education department at the Foundation until she graduates in May.

The Foundation and Dr. Wendy Hinshaw, Assistant Professor of English at Florida Atlantic University, partnered on a service learning project to provide “real world” experience for three students through writing and research tasks. The FAU team includes Adrienne DeCramer of Boynton Beach, Kirsta Lamm of Boca Raton and Sean Chesal from Deerfield Beach.

The Foundation was also selected as a mentoring site for high school students during the 2011-2012 school year by the Gale Academy of Environmental Science and Technology at Forest Hill High School. Katherine Brown, the student assigned to the Marshall Foundation, will continue her work with us until the spring.

Chelsea Jones, a Juris Doctor candidate at St. Thomas University School of Law (class of 2013), takes a twice-weekly break from her studies to be an invaluable volunteer at the Foundation office.
 
A big THANK YOU to the many volunteers who are such a vital part of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation “team” throughout the year!