YEAR OF THE EVERGLADES~Marshall Foundation on the Radio

Listen to Education Director, Eric Gehring on WXEL's South Florida Artsview:

http://artsradionetwork.com/?p=1420

Guest Blogger--Adrienne Smith

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 re-cap week two,of the SIP courtesy of Adrienne Smith:
We spent the first week of June at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. We went on an airboat trip around the Refuge with Nick Aumen and Rolf Olson. It was interesting to notice the change in the types of plants from the canal to the inner region of the marsh. We also saw a snail kite! The snail kite was certainly a highlight of the day.
We also met with Lisa Jameson and Grant Gifford from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lisa discussed the various invasive species that are problems in the Refuge and Grant talked about the use of fire as a land management tool. Dylan, in particular, was fascinated with the “fire-blowing” technique that can be used in fire application.
We toured the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment (LILA) with Dr. Tom Dreschel and Eric Cline of the South Florida Water Management. I loved the idea of having an “artificial wetland” that resembles the original Florida Everglades landscape for research experiments. What a great idea!

In addition to talking with different people within the Refuge, we went on the canoe trail and explored the Visitor Center. Luckily, none of us tipped the canoe! That was quite a relief. The exhibits were wonderful! Ed and I particularly enjoyed the exhibit with the boy and his father discussing the different sounds one would hear at the Refuge. It sounded as if we were actually in the middle of the Refuge!
We ended the week with a mentoring session from Dr. Brian LaPointe of FAU’s Harbor Branch located in Fort Pierce. Brian talked about the influence that nutrients from the Everglades have on algal blooms on coral reefs. The restoration of the Everglades will certainly help the reduction in algal blooms.

Summer Solstice event!

Guest Blogger--Jim Wally

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 re-cap of the first week courtesy of Jim Wally:

The summer interns just finished our first full week of work!
We’ve been getting “fire hosed” as John calls it, trying to wrap our minds around all of the scientific background we need to understand the Everglades. It’s been a little challenging absorbing it all, but it helps that it is what we all love to study anyway. Dr. Tom has been a great teacher, and he certainly has some interesting methods. John, Eric and all of the rest of the mentors have clearly a great deal of thought and energy into setting up this program.
We’ve already got a heavy dose of government meetings that will be a part of our summer. We’ve been studying up on acronyms like WCA, ASR, and CERP just so we can follow some of the dialog. I know I already feel way more informed about how local government works. On Tuesday, we got to meet Christopher McVoy, one of the leading experts on what the Everglades looked like before we started to change it. We were all impressed how much knowledge he’s managed to accumulate about this controversial topic.
Thursday, Dr. Tom and Eric took us to the Wakodahatchee wetlands. It was easily the most wildlife-packed place I’ve ever seen. A few species like Anhinga and Blue Heron were still nesting, and the pond apple tree islands were chock full of nests. This wetland was all built to further process treated wastewater from the nearby treatment plant. It’s probably the best example I’ve seen of turning something society needs into something that can benefit wildlife.
Friday we got to visit the meeting of the Science and Technology committee for the Foundation. It was great to meet them and get some wisdom they’ve accumulated from all of their collective years of working on everglades restoration.
This week has been really informative and a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to spending most of next week out at the Refuge.

Keep checking back for more updates as the interns get deeper and deeper into the Everglades ecosystem.

Summer Interns have arrived!

We welcome our newest group of Everglades champions...

Dr. Stuart Pimm, Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement Laureate

Congratulations to our friend and Science and Technology committee member Stuart Pimm, for winning the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievent.



To learn more about the Tyler Prize click http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/tylerprize/

restoring a wetland at Morikami Park Elementary School

On Saturday, May 1 the Marshall Foundation joined students, families and employees of Morikami Park Elementary School to plant nearly 800 native trees, shrubs and wildflowers in a School District owned natural area adjacent to their playground.

Special thanks to the Habitat Restoration Team organized and chaired by Cindy Papadoyianis, PTA Green Chairperson. The team included many friends to the Everglades including Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, the state Division of Forestry, PBC School District, South Florida Water Management District, Florida Native Plant Society, and Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation. Tree-planters got their hands dirty planting some of our favorites, like Cypress and Pond Apple trees.