By Nanette Wiser
BEAR CONSERVATION: Eight Eckerd College students from Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Ray Ball’s wildlife rehab class, a course in the Animal Studies major, made the 90-minute drive to Homosassa on Nov. 9 to watch, learn and lend a hand–with bears. “They went with me on my rounds,” Ball says of the trip to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, about 85 miles north of St. Petersburg along the Gulf Coast. On this visit, a researcher from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was working on a method to attach a radio transmitter to the three sleeping cubs while Ball was monitoring them. “My role was to maintain a safe level of anesthesia, perform a health evaluation and collect blood samples for health analysis,” he says.
FLIP MY FLORIDA YARD: Eckerd College volunteers were part of the TV production crew on, Emmy® award–winning director Chad Crawford’s home improvement show designed to demonstrate how homeowners can create a landscape that is more in tune with Florida’s natural environment by using drought-tolerant plants and water-saving techniques. Regional landscapers were tasked with removing existing flora and replanting an entirely new front and side yard for a corner-lot home in just eight hours. Eight students and Farm Manager Jon Prieto from the Eckerd College Community Farm lent a helping hand.
TAMPA BAY WATCH: Scientists with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) recently released the results of their 2020 seagrass mapping study showing that between 2018 and 2020, Tampa Bay has lost approximately 16% of our seagrass habitat for a total that is a 10-year low of 34,297 acres. It is believed that this could be the result of a wetter rainfall pattern that we have seen over the last couple of years that is resulting in the greater availability of nutrients in the bay which has caused some die-offs. Another cause is a greater abundance of attached algae which can be out-competing seagrass.
What can you do to help?
• Consider native plants instead of grass and don’t use fertilizer in summer.
• Volunteer and/or support Tampa Bay Watch. • Contact your elected officials at the local and state level.