The International Year of the Ocean has provided an excellent theme to Reef Relief's continuing outreach activities. We have been keeping an active schedule with the help of our interns and volunteers. We participated in a number of special events in addition to our regular schedule of environmental outreach and education.
Earlier this year, we were invited to participate in The Great American Fish Count. This annual program is sponsored by our friends at Reef ( Reef Environmental Education Foundation) in Key Largo. Divers are trained to identify and quantify Fish populations at coral reefs. Thousands participate in Fish Counts around the world each year and the data is collected and analyzed by Reef. It was a refreshing switch to focus on relatively healthy fish rather than the coral diseases, pollution and other problems that I regularly encounter. You can learn more about this program by visiting www.reef.org.
Reef Relief staff members also volunteered to participate in "Coral Reef Classroom". This is a wonderful educational program of The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (fknms) is under the direction of educational specialist Ivy Kelly. It is aimed at eighth graders in Monroe County and involves school visits and snorkeling trips for the students. We wanted to make sure that our "Discover Reefs" program, which targets fourth grade students, did not replicate their program. Working together to ensure that the programs complement each other, we can provide students with a more complete educational experience.
As a member of the Monroe County Environmental Education Advisory Council (mceeac) , we helped select which Monroe County educators received grants for educational programs that focus on the environment. The fknms provides funding which supports this wonderful program. Eight teachers were selected, representing all areas of the Keys. Interested Monroe County educators can contact me for information on grant application guidelines for the upcoming year.
Volunteers enabled us to attend a number of special events
as part of our outreach efforts. These included Ocean Fest 98,
the Womanfest Street Fair, The Florida Association of Science
Teachers (fast) conference in Tampa and the WAVK Kids show in
Marathon. Thanks to the following volunteers: Kelly Menser,
Heather Marburg, Andrea Comstock, Ben Calcavecchia, Heidi &
Donnie Golightly, Bill Reese, Jody Weber, John Cornwell, Dan Kurker
& India Weber. Special thanks to Terri Walsh & Andy Pitts
for Hurricane support.
If you stopped into the Reef Relief offices during the summer of 1998, chances are you were greeted by one or more of our wonderful interns. We were fortunate to have three dedicated, friendly and hard-working college students participate in our intern program.
Sarah Davidson hails from Iowa City, Iowa (see related article). She is currently a Sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. During her internship, Sarah organized most of the events for Reef Awareness Week. She assumed a great deal of responsibility around the office while DeeVon and Craig were in Cuba and handled it all with a poise and reliability far beyond her years. She also managed to work part-time at Louie's Backyard. Unfortunately, Sarah had to leave Key West prior to Reef Awareness Week and did not get to see the results of her hard work, but the fantastic success of the weeks' activities speaks volumes about her skills.
We were already familiar with our second intern, Dorothy (Dolly) Housholder, since she has volunteered with us while visiting her grandparents in Key West. Dolly is from Kendallville, Indiana and is currently a sophomore at Hillsdale College in Michigan. As an added bonus, Dolly brought along a friend from Volda, Norway named Simon Dankel who quickly became part of the Reef Relief team. Dolly and Simon picked up the Reef Awareness Week assignment after Sarah left and made sure that each event ran smoothly. They also worked on our website.
Reef Relief interns make our summer programs possible and their contributions are invaluable to us. They also become a part of our family and dear friends. It gives us great satisfaction to follow their progress as they go out into the world. We are always looking for potential interns, so if you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact us.
The one question I heard most often during my internship at Reef Relief was, "What is a girl from Iowa doing in Key West?" Followed as a close second by, "What made you care about coral reefs?" Surprisingly enough, these questions often came from the many Midwesterners I happened to find in Key West. Although I often took the easy way out and gave an explanation that was probably remarkably similar to the reasons they had for making their way south ( the lure of perpetual blue skies or the laid-back atmosphere), I occasionally took the time to give a more thought-out answer.
The most basic aspect of that answer is that, a few years ago, I began to realize how connected we all are. Even the actions of one person in far away Iowa can affect the oceans and the coral reefs. As a kid, this realization had more to do with humans' interactions with each other. I saw how the actions of one person could hurt many other people. Eventually, this led to seeing the ways in which human actions hurt the local environment, as well as in distant places.
My grandparents live on a farm I've been visiting my entire life. My dad wrote a book about the Farm Crisis of the 1980's that brought me to spend the second, third and fourth grades living in Mechanicsville, a town with a population of just over 1000. I heard more than my share, I thought at the time, about the evils of hog lots and the loss of family farms. Now, though, I'm glad I grew up with the idea of how these changes in farming practices hurt people—emotionally and economically. As I got older I began to realize the extent of this hurt, including the environmental impact.
Large agricultural industries don't have emotional connections to the local areas they benefit from. The interest is largely, if not only, economic. This lack of ties or vested interest in the community leads not only to disregard for the people living there, but for the environment, local and distant. Such mass farming techniques lead to increased pesticide and herbicide use and less care for how these potentially dangerous chemicals are used. Chemical-use is essential for the large amount of profit hoped for. The consideration of long-term effects takes a back seat. This often leads to local groundwater contamination, which finds its way into the Mississippi River, which in turn funnels all of these contaminants directly into the Gulf of Mexico.
This is only one example of the obvious need to recognize how interrelated our local communities actually are, regardless of how far apart we seem geographically. And once that is recognized, it only makes sense to work towards positive change in any location—and if it happens to be one where the sun is shining and the people are friendly, all the better.
The Reef Relief Environmental Center & Store, as usual, has seen a lot of activity. The Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society & Museum and Sea Camp in Big Pine Key each sent over groups of children to learn about living coral reef ecosystems. We also had visits from Boy and Girl Scout troupes from Monroe, Flagler, Dade, and Collier Counties. Engineers from the Department of Environmental Protection in Augusta, Georgia, paid us visits, as well as students from Brevard Community College, The University of Miami, and Florida State University. All received our Teacher Kit, a tour of the Environmental Center & Store, a video presentation and a talk about coral reef ecosystems.
The Center & Store saw heightened activity during the weeks before, during, and just after Reef Awareness Week. As usual, the Center & Store was a center of communications for all the events. I produced a series of public service announcements to promote events held during Reef Awareness Week, and the wonderful job promoting and organizing the various events was reflected in increased visits to the Center & Store.
The "Discover Reefs School Program," begun last spring, has been expanded. We invite school students for a tour of the center, a video-demonstration and presentation and a visit to the reef aboard the Glassbottom boat, Discovery. Follow-talks about how to save the reef are given in the schools. The Discover Reefs Program was recognized as one of five finalists for the prestigious 1998 Environmental Public Service Awards, presented by Keep Florida Beautiful, Inc.
An expanded proposal for the program was written to meet the Sunshine State Standards for public school students and accepted by the Monroe County School Board. We are now in the process of setting up schedules for Monroe County public school fourth graders. Selected students will visit the Coral Nursery Project at Western Sambos and then given follow-up presentation-talks about saving coral reefs.
We just assembled 500 Teacher Kits which were distributed, free of charge, to teachers participating in the Florida Association of Science Teachers (fast) conference held in Tampa, Florida. Project Coordinator Michael Blades attended the conference. We are also busy compiling and sending out Reef Relief Teacher Kits to teachers all over the country as well. These are available for free for all who are interested.
Welcome to Mutzee Hiller, our new Store Manager. Mutzee is a long time volunteer and we are delighted to have her with us:
"I have always had a high regard for Reef Relief. It is wonderful to be part of an organization that knows so much, and does so much, to save living coral reefs. I love working in the Center & Store," says Mutzee.
Early on Mutzee had to cope with an unexpected event: Hurricane Georges. Before Hurricane Georges hit, all the displays and items for sale in the Center & Store had to be boxed and put in a safe place. After Georges, fresh paint and a whole revision of the Center & Store was Mutzee's daunting task. We are happy to announce that the store looks better than ever and it is now handicapped accessible. Thank you so much, Mutzee.
