Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (Eastpoint, FL)
Below are some interview questions that didn't make it into a podcast episode but still highlight some of the great work of the NERRS! The link to the reserve website is listed at the bottom of this page for further reading.
(interviewing Anita Grove, Coastal Training Program Coordinator)
What recreational opportunities are offered within the reserve?
Anita: We have a lot of recreational opportunities and as you know, part of what we do is not just protect nature, we try to make it accessible to the people who live here and the people who visit here. There is of course boating, kayaking, canoeing, fishing... fishing is a big thing here, from the shoreline or from boats, there's camping and hiking, though you really want to do that in the cooler months of the year because it's it can get quite hot here. Of course, birdwatching, any kind of beach activities, swimming and just relaxing on the beach. Or hunting for shells, the wildlife viewing is- there's a lot of wildlife to view here and there's not as many people. This whole county has 545 square miles and there's 11,900 people in it, so there's not a lot of people scare away the wildlife. So, you will see wildlife down here.
The reserve's publication, "The Oystercatcher", announced a new way for the public to be involved with reserve monitoring projects through chronolog photomonitoring on St. George Island. What sorts of things can these photos reveal to reserve scientists?
Anita: The chronolog was started by our stewardship section. Essentially, it's an area marked off where people can go and take a picture with their cell phone and it'll be the exact same picture that everybody takes because of the way it's set up. And it's put into a database, and you can see over time how the environment is changing. It started when we had a fire on St. George Island; somebody was burning some vegetation and it got out of hand, a homeowner. So our stewardship section at the time said "you know, we're going to start this chronolog so people can actually see how fast nature is recovering after that burn." And you know, sure enough, after a few rains you start to see certain species come in. So we have a whole log of photos that people can go online and see how that recovered and we have spots in several different locations so you can see how it's changed over time. Changes to the season, changes through the years. So it's really quite interesting.
What issues are currently of the greatest concern to the Apalachicola reserve?
Anita: One of our greatest issues is upstream water diversion. We're part of a larger watershed spread over three states: Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and we're at the lower end of that basin. Over the past 35 years, the water that naturally flowed has been reduced greatly. We're seeing the impacts on the environment in the collapse of the oyster industry and also the loss of other species like Tupelo trees, and those are two main things. Tupelo honey is incredible honey, we have one of the few Tupelo forests in the country. And we've seen a great reduction of those trees. So we're studying other things also in the bay. But those two standout.
The Apalachicola reserve encompasses almost 250,000 acres of public lands and water. What organizations does the reserve partner with to manage such a large area and what roles do they play in conserving reserve sites?
Anita: Yes, it's a partnership. Like many successful things. We work with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. We also work with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, of course NOAA, which oversees the reserve system, the Florida State Park System, Florida State University, and many visiting scientists. So, as far as land management, we work mostly with other sections of Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, but we have other universities around us that utilize the bay and help us gather science. We also have scientists from all over the country who come to study the bay and the lands around it, so we benefit a lot from that, and that's part of the Reserve System, we have scientists who utilize it. It's a living laboratory. That's what makes the reserve different from say, a park.
What is your favorite thing about the Apalachicola reserve or a favorite memory that you've had?
Anita: Working with the local people the most. I have a colleague that calls our section... instead of coastal training, she calls it the collaboration department essentially. And that's what we do. We bring in people who are local people, who have a connection, and we try to work with them. For example we have a large committee that's trying to study the bay and bring back the oysters and figure out why it collapsed. And, you know, we work with local oyster harvesters. We work with seafood dealers who work with fishermen, because they're on the water all the time and they've been there for generations and people who are in their 70s can tell you so many stories about the bay and things they've seen, whether it be "I saw the bay turn this color", or "before this happened, we had many more fish or many more of this species". So, that's a lot of important data that is in their memory. So it gives the reserve a lot of value to have everybody working together.
What advice do you have for aspiring scientists and anyone interested in getting involved in conservation?
Anita: I would say if you have a reserve near you, see if they have a way you can volunteer. A lot of times they need help maintaining like... we have people who do all sorts of projects: they volunteer in our nature center, we have people who collect data for us, we have people who... we have a microplastics project and people go out and collect water samples and they use a certain protocol to filter the water for microplastics and that's put into a larger database. And you know if you have a science museum near you they would sure like volunteers or some sort of marine center where you can get involved with a citizen science project. There's so many across the country. There's also the iNaturalist app on your phone where you can record things and also the chronolog where you can actually participate in science by using your phone to take pictures. So there's there's many ways and as you get older, you can be an intern, there's many internships in the reserve system.
Tell us about your Friends group!
Anita: Yeah, so we actually have a Friends group who helps support us. They help us with our social media site, they fund school field trips for the local students to come here and then spend days and see kids in just about every other grade, they come and they actually plant our living shoreline, they come to the nature center, they kind of take classes, all sorts of things. So they fund substitutes and transportation for the kids to be able to come here. And they fund receptions and exhibits that we have and just about anything we need. I'm teaching a class to some realtors in November and they're even funding a lunch, so they're very helpful.
(interviewing Anita Grove, Coastal Training Program Coordinator)
What recreational opportunities are offered within the reserve?
Anita: We have a lot of recreational opportunities and as you know, part of what we do is not just protect nature, we try to make it accessible to the people who live here and the people who visit here. There is of course boating, kayaking, canoeing, fishing... fishing is a big thing here, from the shoreline or from boats, there's camping and hiking, though you really want to do that in the cooler months of the year because it's it can get quite hot here. Of course, birdwatching, any kind of beach activities, swimming and just relaxing on the beach. Or hunting for shells, the wildlife viewing is- there's a lot of wildlife to view here and there's not as many people. This whole county has 545 square miles and there's 11,900 people in it, so there's not a lot of people scare away the wildlife. So, you will see wildlife down here.
The reserve's publication, "The Oystercatcher", announced a new way for the public to be involved with reserve monitoring projects through chronolog photomonitoring on St. George Island. What sorts of things can these photos reveal to reserve scientists?
Anita: The chronolog was started by our stewardship section. Essentially, it's an area marked off where people can go and take a picture with their cell phone and it'll be the exact same picture that everybody takes because of the way it's set up. And it's put into a database, and you can see over time how the environment is changing. It started when we had a fire on St. George Island; somebody was burning some vegetation and it got out of hand, a homeowner. So our stewardship section at the time said "you know, we're going to start this chronolog so people can actually see how fast nature is recovering after that burn." And you know, sure enough, after a few rains you start to see certain species come in. So we have a whole log of photos that people can go online and see how that recovered and we have spots in several different locations so you can see how it's changed over time. Changes to the season, changes through the years. So it's really quite interesting.
What issues are currently of the greatest concern to the Apalachicola reserve?
Anita: One of our greatest issues is upstream water diversion. We're part of a larger watershed spread over three states: Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and we're at the lower end of that basin. Over the past 35 years, the water that naturally flowed has been reduced greatly. We're seeing the impacts on the environment in the collapse of the oyster industry and also the loss of other species like Tupelo trees, and those are two main things. Tupelo honey is incredible honey, we have one of the few Tupelo forests in the country. And we've seen a great reduction of those trees. So we're studying other things also in the bay. But those two standout.
The Apalachicola reserve encompasses almost 250,000 acres of public lands and water. What organizations does the reserve partner with to manage such a large area and what roles do they play in conserving reserve sites?
Anita: Yes, it's a partnership. Like many successful things. We work with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. We also work with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, of course NOAA, which oversees the reserve system, the Florida State Park System, Florida State University, and many visiting scientists. So, as far as land management, we work mostly with other sections of Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, but we have other universities around us that utilize the bay and help us gather science. We also have scientists from all over the country who come to study the bay and the lands around it, so we benefit a lot from that, and that's part of the Reserve System, we have scientists who utilize it. It's a living laboratory. That's what makes the reserve different from say, a park.
What is your favorite thing about the Apalachicola reserve or a favorite memory that you've had?
Anita: Working with the local people the most. I have a colleague that calls our section... instead of coastal training, she calls it the collaboration department essentially. And that's what we do. We bring in people who are local people, who have a connection, and we try to work with them. For example we have a large committee that's trying to study the bay and bring back the oysters and figure out why it collapsed. And, you know, we work with local oyster harvesters. We work with seafood dealers who work with fishermen, because they're on the water all the time and they've been there for generations and people who are in their 70s can tell you so many stories about the bay and things they've seen, whether it be "I saw the bay turn this color", or "before this happened, we had many more fish or many more of this species". So, that's a lot of important data that is in their memory. So it gives the reserve a lot of value to have everybody working together.
What advice do you have for aspiring scientists and anyone interested in getting involved in conservation?
Anita: I would say if you have a reserve near you, see if they have a way you can volunteer. A lot of times they need help maintaining like... we have people who do all sorts of projects: they volunteer in our nature center, we have people who collect data for us, we have people who... we have a microplastics project and people go out and collect water samples and they use a certain protocol to filter the water for microplastics and that's put into a larger database. And you know if you have a science museum near you they would sure like volunteers or some sort of marine center where you can get involved with a citizen science project. There's so many across the country. There's also the iNaturalist app on your phone where you can record things and also the chronolog where you can actually participate in science by using your phone to take pictures. So there's there's many ways and as you get older, you can be an intern, there's many internships in the reserve system.
Tell us about your Friends group!
Anita: Yeah, so we actually have a Friends group who helps support us. They help us with our social media site, they fund school field trips for the local students to come here and then spend days and see kids in just about every other grade, they come and they actually plant our living shoreline, they come to the nature center, they kind of take classes, all sorts of things. So they fund substitutes and transportation for the kids to be able to come here. And they fund receptions and exhibits that we have and just about anything we need. I'm teaching a class to some realtors in November and they're even funding a lunch, so they're very helpful.
Apalachicola NERR Website www.apalachicolareserve.com/