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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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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
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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 |
Loggerhead turtle! rescued!
 
 
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
2009 Croc Lake Annual Picnic
Click HERE for
the Monroe County Mayor's Proclamation for the Year of the Key Largo Wood Rat!!!
2009 FAVOR General Annual Meeting and
Volunteer BBQ
Click here for pix!
Last modified:
January 25, 2012
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