All posts by Tim Nelson

Activities, Events

Join us for our Fall Fest in the Preserve – Saturday, November 16th, 2024

Fall Fest in the Preserve
Join Us Saturday, November 16th, 2024, for our Fall Festival in the heart of the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve.
3pm – 6pm EST
Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves present an afternoon of outdoor fun and activities including hay rides through the preserve, interpretive hiking, scavenger hunt, face painting, hot apple cider,  campfire with marshmallow roast, walking tacos and more … no admission fee!
Live Music Throughout the Afternoon: The “mixed acoustic” sounds of Marilyn and Tyler Freeman, …. “a little old country, blue grass, and rock n’ roll”.
The Fall Festival events are located within the Buffer Preserve on Treasure Road. Turn in at Treasure Rd off 30A, “across the street” from the Buffer Preserve Visitor Center (3915 State Road 30-A, Port St. Joe, Florida 32456). Follow the signs and volunteer parking guides.
The Fall Festival is sponsored by The Friends of the St. Joseph Bay Preserves in Partnership with Buffer and Aquatic Preserves staff.
For more information: Call 850-229-1787 or Send Us an Email

 

Events, News

Friends Newsletter, May 2024

Some Upcoming and Ongoing Activities:

A major ongoing project for The Friends, working with the assistance of the Buffer staff, is the creation of interpretive signs to help visitors identify plants and environmental information along our newly developed interpretive trail.  This short loop trail runs along the Bay just north of the observation tower at the Buffer headquarters buildings. The Bay views from the trail are stunning. When fully developed the trail will be an important educational addition congruent with the Buffer Visitor Center and the Bay Observation Tower.  Currently we are looking for interested people to assist us with this project in regard to sign design, fund raising support and continuing trail design.

We just concluded our Winter “On the Buffer Deck” stargazing program which will resume in the Fall on October 10th at 7:30PM, November 7th at 6:30PM and December 5th at 6:30 PM.  Our favorite astronomer, Skip Marlin, a NASA Solar System Volunteer and a member of Dark Sky, will have his large Newtonian telescope along with others set up on the deck of the Buffer and will provide a tour of our astronomical environment.

The Buffer Preserve will be hosting a tour exploring the Preserve environments in cooperation with the Florida Wildflower Foundation on Saturday June 8th beginning at 10AM. The natural coastal landscape of the Preserve has one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in the southeastern United States, including globally imperiled species. Participants will board the tram and travel into the preserve, with a focus on areas of recent spring burns. The tram will stop at different sites so participants can explore them up close. Trip cost: Free for members of the Florida Wildflower Foundation and $10 for non-members. Proceeds from the field trip will go to Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves. To sign up for this unique experience visit:  https://www.flawildflowers.org/event/240608-field-trip-buffer-preserve/

Friends Board members and volunteers are getting ready to participate once again in the Annual Forgotten Coast Turtle Festival on Sunday June 30 in Port St. Joe from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. ET located at George Core Park. This event will include music, food, beverages, Sea Creature Parade and will allow the Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves the opportunity to educate the public about the importance of the Preserves and the role they play in helping to maintain a healthy ecosystem.  Our booth will distribute educational literature, sell Preserves related merchandise, and provide us the chance to visit directly with the public.

Another developing program that the Friends are looking forward to sponsoring is Birding Seminars presented by Nelson Mongiovi beginning at 7PM at the Buffer on September 12th, 2024, December 12th, 2024, March 13, 2025, and June 12, 2025. Possible topics include: An Overview of birding along Florida’s Forgotten Coast; The latest free birding apps and technology; Shorebirds along the Gulf Coast; Birds of Prey in our area; The Owls of Florida; and Wading birds found around our area.  These seminars would be offered free to the general public and we are also looking to forward expanding the number and timing of these presentations.

We are beginning a new project at the request of visitors who like to hike in the Buffer Preserve.  The Friends, working in conjunction with the Buffer staff, are designing and planning to build and install walk-overs for low water crossings.  These crossings will assist visitors walking the Buffer main road when water runoff can be too high for foot traffic.

As you know, The Friends of the St. Joseph Bay Preserves holds two Bay Day events each year on the first Saturday in February and October.  These Bay Day celebrations serve as our major fundraisers. We are currently beginning our planning for our upcoming October Bay Day. If you have any questions/comments or would be interested in volunteering to assist us with our upcoming October Bay Day or any of the projects described above, please let us know at stjosephbaypreserve.org.

Richard Trahan, President
Friends of Saint Joseph Bay Preserves

The Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves, Inc., is a non-profit Citizen Support Organization established in 2003 to protect and preserve one of the most ecologically significant areas in the Southeastern United States, and to support the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve and St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve.

Activities, Events, News

Friends Newsletter, November 2023

BAY DAY

Warm sunny weather helped to bring out visitors On Saturday October 7th for our annual Fall Bay Day fund raiser.  Our famous Low Country Shrimp Boil served 160 hungry visitors who also enjoyed live music, a silent auction, guided tours through the backwoods trails of the Buffer Preserve, and an Audubon bird walk.  Additional informative environmental presentations were held in the Visitor Center. Among the many exhibitors present were the Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserve, Saint Joseph State Park, Saint Andrews & Saint Joseph Bays Estuary Program, BaySavers, Aquatech/Aquaticus, Indian Pass Turtle Patrol, Fish and Wildlife Commission/FWRI Scallops, Florida Native Plant Society, SJP Turtle Patrol, Friends of St. Vincent Wildlife Reserve, International Dark Sky Association, and various area governmental and nonprofit environmental organizations.

We surveyed a number of our visitors asking them how they would rate their Bay Day experience based on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being very poor and 5 being very good.  They responded with a 4.83 average.   In general, their comments were overwhelmingly positive with statements like: “Great, Fun, Love all the information and people, Nice people, Good tour, Enjoyed the band, Would like to come back, Enjoyable Day, Well organized and interesting, Will be back, Best yet, Best so far, Very organized, Excellent,” and so forth.

As you know, The Friends of the St. Joseph Bay Preserves hold two Bay Day events each year on the first Saturday in October and February.  If you missed it, please join us for the fun in February and if it works for you consider volunteering to assist us with this major fund-raising project.

INTERPRETATIVE TRAIL PROJECT
The Friends, with the assistance of the Buffer staff, have begun an interpretative trail project that has completed its first phase of construction.  The base material for the trail meeting ADA standards has been laid down as a short loop trail that runs along the Bay just north of the observation tower. The Bay views from the trail are stunning. When finished the trail will be an important educational addition congruent with the Buffer Visitor Center and the Bay Observation Tower.  The next major focus of this project will be creating visitor usage locations and interpretive signage. We are also looking for interested people who would like to assist us with this project in regard to fund raising support and continuing trail design.

CHANGES IN BOARD MEMBERSHIP AND HELP NEEDED
This year the Friends Board of Directors have added three new members.  Brenda Burnett, Patrick Foy and Kelly Houk.  Each of them brings important skills and perspectives to the Board.  The Board currently consists of thirteen elected members and two exofficio non-voting members who are the Site Managers of the Aquatic and Buffer State Preserves.

Unfortunately, our current Treasurer is leaving the Board. We want to recognize the dedication and hard work that March Ard has done in that position. The Treasurer serves as a Board officer who works closely with the Board President and Secretary to help the Board fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities.  This is a critical role within the Friends. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for this important position, please contact me at the number below.

Hope all is well in your life,

Richard Trahan, President
Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves
(970) 744-9801. rtrahan@comcast.net

Activities, Events

Join the Sea Urchin Roundup – Saturday, September 9, 2023

 HELP DEP AND FWC REHOME SEA URCHINS – SEPT. 9, 2023

St. Joseph Bay, located in Gulf County in the Panhandle, once contained extensive beds of seagrass and supported an abundant scallop fishery. Residents and visitors enjoyed extensive, pristine seagrass beds and clear bay waters. Summertime recreational scallop harvesting contributed greatly to the local economy. Seagrass beds in the bay are dominated by turtle grass which also provide food for abundant green sea turtles. The scallop fishery has become depleted in recent years, algal blooms are more frequent, and the acreage of seagrass beds has decreased. An overabundance of sea urchins (Lytechinus spp.) continues to destroy turtle grass beds through overgrazing. This project will jump start natural recovery of seagrass by installing exclosures over grazed areas to allow seagrasses to grow back without sea urchin grazing pressure. In addition, sea urchin roundups, public outreach events, will involve citizens to remove sea urchins from active grazing fronts. The animals will be released in deeper areas of the bay at a distance from grazed areas.

Activities, Events

Join the Sea Urchin Roundup – May 22nd

Participate in the Sea Urchin Roundup on May 22, 2021

The FDEP/Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves and FWC/FWRI are hosting the St. Joseph Bay Urchin Roundup on May 22nd. We are looking to recruit volunteers to help collect urchins to relocate out to deeper water to help reduce grazing pressure on seagrasses in St. Joseph Bay. See the information flyer.

Check-in is at the Frank Pate Public Boat Ramp in Port St. Joe.  We will also have a registration tent and outreach tent at Frank Pate Boat Ramp all day for the event.

Bring your own boat, gloves and snorkeling gear and join us in removing sea urchins from seagrass beds! We will provide maps and gps locations showing where to collect urchins and buckets to put them in. Return buckets filled with urchins to our check-in station and get some swag. We will relocate the urchins to deeper water away from seagrass.

Check-in begins at 8:00 AM, and all urchins must be turned in by 5:00 PM. Please check in with an FWC or DEP employee to get your bucket and sign a volunteer waiver. Urchins should be returned in this bucket with seawater to be safely relocated by FWC or DEP employees.

Rain date is June 5, 2021.

St. Joseph Bay, located in Gulf County in the Panhandle, once contained extensive beds of seagrass and supported an abundant scallop fishery. Residents and visitors enjoyed extensive, pristine seagrass beds and clear bay waters. Summertime recreational scallop harvesting contributed greatly to the local economy. Seagrass beds in the bay are dominated by turtle grass which also provide food for abundant green sea turtles. The scallop fishery has become depleted in recent years, algal blooms are more frequent, and the acreage of seagrass beds has decreased. An overabundance of sea urchins (Lytechinus spp.) continues to destroy turtle grass beds through overgrazing. This project will jump start natural recovery of seagrass by installing exclosures over grazed areas to allow seagrasses to grow back without sea urchin grazing pressure. In addition, sea urchin roundups, public outreach events, will involve citizens to remove sea urchins from active grazing fronts. The animals will be released in deeper areas of the bay at a distance from grazed areas.

This project is a partnership between FWRI and the Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Staff from both agencies are maintaining the exclosures, monitoring the abundance of sea urchins quarterly, assessing sea grass abundance by in-water and mapping surveys, and measuring water quality monthly.

 

Events, Meetings, News

Friends Held Annual Meeting

The Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves held their annual meeting January 18th at the Buffer Preserve. Attendees were updated on the state of the Preserves post Michael. Dylan Shoemaker, Buffer Preserve Manager, reported on the efforts to clean up and repair damage to the land and buildings. Jonathan Brucker, Aquatic Preserve Manager, outlined ongoing testing of water quality in the bay and other locations as well as shoreline restoration and cleanup.
Lynda White, President of the Friends Board of
Directors, thanked the Friends for their support and encouraged everyone to get the word out that Bay Day is back, better than ever, on February 8th.   Lynda White

Activities

Tram Tours running again!


Beginning Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
And continuing on each THIRD Thursday of the month.

We’re so excited to have our tram tours running again! Space is limited so please email our Environmental Specialist Sophia Fonseca to reserve your spot. Be sure to include how many individuals are attending.  Send Email

The tour is open wagon with no roof. Please bring hats and sunglasses to protect from the sun. The tour will begin on Treasure Road across the street from the Preserve Center. Looking forward to seeing you!  Learn More