8 minute read
KICKING IT OLD SCHOOL
BY MARLOWE MOORE FAIRBANKS
The idea is simple. Get kids outdoors & teach them the old-fashioned way—let the older generation lead by example.
Kathy Guindon, PhD, one of the foremost tarpon experts in Florida, grew up in Pennsylvania where the fishing bug bit and bit hard. She moved to North Carolina to study fisheries, eventually following through with a master’s degree in fish ecology from NC State, and then applying her knowledge at a new job concentrating on fish community ecology of Tampa Bay. In Florida’s vast marine environments, Kathy eventually met up with the mighty tarpon, a catch-and-release sport fish, and her scientific and conservation curiosity piqued when a handful of Florida fishermen approached the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) with their concerns that fishing techniques might actually be detrimental to the tarpon.
“What fascinated me about this was that the stakeholders themselves—we’re talking about a $300 million fishing industry in Florida, and that number doesn’t even include other areas of heavily fished tarpon populations—brought up this idea of working with FWC to find out whether or not the way some anglers catch and release tarpon hurts the population. We hadn’t thought of this before.” So, she was able to apply citizen science in a variety of new tarpon studies, getting Florida charter fishing captains and recreational anglers to help gather data for a formal study on how stressed tarpon get from fishing and to see how often they catch the same fish.
This experience opened Kathy’s eyes to the very real actions Florida outdoors people would take on behalf of the natural world and activities they loved. That lesson proved vital when she was approached to take on a new role with the agency’s youth conservation education program and asked to direct the new Suncoast Youth Conservation Center. This center would be FWC’s first marine-focused site, teaching hands-on marine science while participating in recreational activities.
Outside the Box
The new catch phrase goes something like this—kids are not going to protect an environment they don’t spend any time in. With children aged 8-18 choosing a whopping 58 hours a week for entertainment media, according to The Nature Conservancy, the overwhelming need to address this generational nature crisis became a top priority for the FWC.
Like most state conservation agencies, FWC first attempted to beef up its conservation education programs, but as with most state conservation agencies, strains on staff and budget limited FWC’s ability to reach anywhere near the number of kids they knew needed—and wanted—their programs.
“Nationally, kids are not getting outdoors, they’re not understanding conservation or even having the experience of outdoor recreation.”
Rae Waddell directs Florida Youth Conservation Centers Network (FYCCN), the bold new initiative that evolved from FWC’s frustrations with their limitations.
“We have been combating this problem for years in Florida, and 2010 was when we had to start rethinking our whole approach. We couldn’t do it by ourselves. We had to involve Floridians. So, we created the Florida Youth Conservation Centers Network as a public-private partnership to get our message as far and wide as possible.”
The startup of the project, which involved organizing a statewide partner network of parks, nature centers, youth organizations, educators, private landowners and community groups took time. FYCCN partner sites now dot the state from Pensacola to the Everglades, providing programs in four main areas: fishing, boating, wildlife discovery and shooting sports. Today, FYCCN consists of 300 partners, and the Suncoast Youth Conservation Center, a marine education
Opposite: FWC’s Guy Harvey Saltwater Camp, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, July 2014. Photo: Tim Donovan/FWC. Above: kids get hands on with investigating inshore marine life. Photos: FWC.
campus based in Apollo Beach, should be up and running by early 2016.
FYCCN specifically recruited Kathy to head the Suncoast Center due to her first-hand experience with how willing Floridians could be to partner with a state agency.
“I knew Floridians would work with us. These are exciting times,” Kathy says.
“Everything changes when a state agency is there to facilitate success,” Rae says. “This program is a very wise, wide use of state dollars. We’re allocating funds to support the success of conservation education with partners all over Florida. For example, if a facility wants to host a summer fish camp, we supply the weeklong curriculum package, train their staff, provide the necessary equipment, and hand them a proven program that teaches youth the sport of fishing and gives them the knowledge required for ethical angling.
“For us, it’s successful on so many levels. We’re able to reach kids with experiences that help them understand why you pick up trash, why Amendment One is important, why appreciation of our fish and wildlife resources is critical, why we conserve. We’re distributing resources to partners and letting the people who have facilities in all corners of the state and who have vast levels of expertise pass it on. We have to create the next generation of kids that care or we’re going to lose it all.”
Kathy, who spent her free time during her career with marine fisheries teaching youth groups, made an easy transition to the world of conservation education.
“There’s so much to be excited about when you’re taking kids on outdoor explorations, a lot of them for the first time. It’s way cooler to go kayaking in the bay to study high school genetics by looking at tarpon and different gill structures of flounders and sheepshead than studying squares in a textbook. It’s amazing how excited they get to learn something when they’re outdoors. If they get that passion in them now, they realize this is something they can have for the rest of their lives. And then they pass it on.”
“So far,” says Rae, “the program is going great, and we need more partners. We need more volunteers. We encourage anyone who loves the outdoors and who has any expertise to get involved with our program. In time, we think our Suncoast Center at Apollo Beach will be a shining example that will draw people from all over the world. We chose Kathy to lead the development of this site because we know she can make it a world-class facility.”
Kathy sees the formula for success as being pretty simple.
“When it comes down to it, I’m giving every kid the same thing my grandpa gave me—and my Nanny, who took us to spot deer and indigo bunting before dusk. And my parents who took us camping. They all live on in me, and my grandpa’s instruction is what I know, so I pass that on, plus a little extra enthusiasm.”
So far, the FYCCN is proving that it is possible to shape a sound future for tomorrow’s conservationists. The old ways that used to work in families now work in new ways across the state, in a network of outdoor enthusiasts who care enough about wild places to also care for the next generation.
Above: These plankton and harmful algal bloom (HAB) species are known to occur in Florida waters. To determine when and where HAB species bloom, scientists use microscopy to magnify phytoplankton (microscopic algae) and count HAB species. Opposite: Very small lobsters (called pueruli) are clear, making them almost invisible and perfectly camouflaged while swimming in the ocean. The pueruli is one stage in the spiny lobster’s complex life history. Photo: Justin Lewis/Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. Editor’s Note: Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute is the research arm of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). That’s a simple statement, but it’s loaded with implications. The Institute employs more than 600 people and has more than 20 field labs. Each location embraces a series of missions, from stock assessment and restoration to outreach activities that inform the public. In plain language, it means these are the folks who do the science that drives management decisions. In large part, their efforts keep Florida an outdoor enthusiast’s dream state. To find out what, exactly, the fish scale and saltwater-stained lab coats are up to, we tasked long-time Florida outdoor writer Steve Kantner with tracking a few of them down. He began by calling FWRI headquarters in St. Petersburg.
