Conservation Pathways

Another great experience in habitat restoration for our interns! Big shout out to Nicole Dahrouge and Matthew Goetz from Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy for sharing their time and expertise with the next generation of conservation leaders!

It's Plastic Free July One of our favorite sayings is that 'Reduce' Comes Before 'Reuse' and 'Recycle'. What are some ways you reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in your life?

Today's post comes from our intern Kaniah Davis (aka one of the Bumble Bee Catchers), about our recent trip to Birdsong Nature Center collecting data for the Bumble Bee Atlas program.

Today's field find comes from our intern Rachel Alexander:

During our time with Quail Forever in Florida, we came across an abundance of Florida's native flowers occurring on the private properties we visited. The ecosystems where these flowers were observed consisted of wet pine flatwoods and sandhills. These native flower species are all perennial plants, which means they have a life span that extends over several years or more than two growing seasons. Most, if not all, of these flowers are fire-dependent, meaning they rely on low-intensity forest fires in order to thrive. If the surrounding trees and other vegetation outcompetes the flowers, they won't have enough sunlight to grow, therefore, prescribed burning or natural lightning is essential for their growth.

FYI

Details of our outing to Douglas Slough today with Apalachicola Riverkeeper are coming soon but this pic pretty much sums it up 🦟🦟🦟🤣🤣🤣

This week, our interns partnered with Quail Forever to deploy Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) and learn how bird monitoring, habitat management, and private land stewardship work together to support wildlife conservation.

From intern Rachel Alexander:
"On Monday morning, Vynnie, Adam and I met up with Nick from Quail Forever to deploy ARUs (Autonomous Recording Units)! We set out to place these ARUs on several properties of landowners collaborating with Quail Forever.

If the ARUs pick up the species we're targeting, specifically the Northern Bobwhite quail, it will help determine what conservation efforts need to be carried out. The most effective conservation approach involves burning overgrown vegetation, as quails and other wildlife thrive in open, brushy environments. Quail Forever will collaborate with landowners to develop a management plan that benefits both the wildlife and the landowners."

A huge thank you to Nick and Quail Forever for sharing your knowledge and giving our interns another opportunity to gain hands-on conservation experience in the field!

Today is the last day to apply for our academic year internship program. Application link: https://forms.gle/gE6DwFFFWVEMpoRy9