FAVOR News Page

Jim Bell's Retirement Party

He's hung up his refuge hat for the comforts of a race car helmet, a boat, and a fishing pole. He's now enjoying the life of a snowbird, traveling between his family home in Vermont and the Florida Keys -- testing the waters for a 'bite' along the way! Click for pix!

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FAVOR's new Newsletters!!!

January 2012

November 2011
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Crocodile Lake manager Steve Klett Retirement Party, December 3!

"After more than 14 years as manager of the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where he says he would often spend entire days without seeing another human being, Klett is hanging up his wading boots and retiring to a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea." by Steve Gibbs, keysnews.com (Read his complete article here!)

Click here for pix!

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Sept 15 Controlled Burn

As many of you have seen or heard by now, we had a prescribed burn Thursday that jumped over a control line and resulted in a preliminary estimate of 100 acres burned between the Blue Hole and the curve on Key Deer Boulevard and west to Watsons Hammock.

Click HERE for a message from Refuge Manager Anne Morkill, and more pictures.

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International Coastal Cleanup: Sept 17th

Six Team OCEAN volunteers joined coordinators Todd Hitchins and Robert Keeley to clean the beaches of the Marquesas Keys in the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. This isolated ring of mangrove islands includes valuable turtle nesting and wildlife habitat; therefore, reducing entanglement and ingestion hazards posed by marine debris is critical.

The team collected more than 725 pounds of materials, including bottles and various containers (75% plastic, 25% glass), cans and other random debris. They found a large amount of clothing, shoes, toiletries, canned food, bags, backpacks and even unused medical supplies (syringes, medicine vials, IV fluid and surgical sponges) next to a couple burned and abandoned boat hulls.

Also removed were 10 gallons of diesel fuel and smaller containers of fuel/oil – fortunately all sealed. Proper disposal prevented the contamination of shoreline and ocean.

FAVOR supplied the hard working volunteers with food for the after cleanup picnic. For more information contact Robert.Keeley@noaa.gov

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Check out our new GeoCaching page!
Click the button on the left!
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Celebration of Life of Harold Nugent, founder of FAVOR Florida Keys.

March 26, 2011

Click HERE for pix and more!

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Woodrat Nesting Workday 2-19-11

Thanks to those of you who came out to help build woodrat nests. You worked so hard that you were able to get all 20 nests done in less then 3 hours.

Thanks also to Kathie Donovan and her son Duff for taking these pictures and video.

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The Friends and Volunteers of the Refuges hosted a Community Outreach/Volunteer Recognition event on January 9, 2011.

Click for Info and Pix!

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Results of the December 2010 Guided Walk

Hello folks,

We had another great guided walk today, with 10 participants. Here's a list of what we saw today. Not much in birds, but it was a great day for butterflies! We walked the Long Beach trail, and the beach since it was low tide. We saw the butterflies in an area on the beach protected by the wind, feeding on porter weed, and around some blooming sea lavender bushes. A few were seen on the trail itself, under the heavy tree canopy.

Karen Hillier, Deputy Refuge Manager

Birds:
white ibis
brown pelican
spotted sandpiper
sandpiper species
grebes
double crested cormorant
snowy egret
little blue heron
osprey
turkey vulture

Butterflies:
gulf fritillary
hammock skipper
gray hairstreak
buckeye species
dusky skipper
great southern white
large orange sulphur
fiery skipper
little yellow

Just wanted to share a wonderful story with you, concerning the loggerhead turtle you see in these pictures. Ben and I were going out snorkeling with our friend Nancy in July...we were heading to a small island on the south side of Bahia Honda, and as we were approaching the Bahia Honda bridge, I spotted something huge floating in the water. It didn't look quite right, so we turned around and approached it, and it was this huge loggerhead turtle. He couldn't dive, and we could tell he was in distress. We got hold of FWC and Ryan of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, and after marking the spot where the turtle was floating, we met Ryan at the dock, picked him and an assistant up, and went back to the turtle. They were able to net him and get him into the boat, and his head, just above his left eye, started pouring blood. He had obviously been hit by a boat's propeller, and it had sliced right above the eye, barely missing it.

We got them back to the dock, and off they went, but not before allowing us to name him (rescuers get to do this). I named him for my father, and they spelled it Karl. Well, last Wed., October 21, they were able to release him at Sombrero Beach in Marathon. Neither Ben or I could attend (durn it), but our friend Nancy was there and took these pictures (she's in the last picture).

I love stories that end well, don't you?

Hugs...Carlene Edwards