Morning Session

8:30 a.m.	Registration
9:00 a.m.	Welcome and Overview

Lectures

9:15 -- 9:45 a.m.	Bringing Back The Bay Scallop Dr. Steve Geiger, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
9:45 -- 10:15 a.m.	Shorebirds Under Siege Dave Kandz, St. Petersburg Audubon Society
10:15 -- 10:45 a.m.	Tarpon: The Silver Kings of Tampa Bay Kathryn Guindon, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
10:45-11:00 a.m.	Door Prize Giveaways and Break

11:00 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m. WORKSHOP SESSION I

Why Wading Birds Fit Their Bill
Instructor: Dave Spencer, Naturalist, Weedon Island Preserve

This workshop will explore the biology and behavior of some wading birds common to Tampa Bay. By examining their physical structure, specialized bills and eccentric behavior; you will begin to truly understand and appreciate these long-legged residents. Finally, combining a varied and unusual assortment of materials, you will build a unique bill of your own to capture hidden and elusive foods.

Location: Classroom

Listening To Frogs
Instructor: Lance Arvidson, Frog Listening Network

Learn why frogs are excellent indicators of the health of ecosystems, and how you can help scientists track frog populations in the Tampa Bay watershed by learning to identify various species by their calls. During this training session, you will be able to view live frog specimens (both native and exotic) and hear sample calls. All participants will receive an audio CD, a CD-ROM, and a set of frog identification cards of common species found in the watershed.

Location: Auditorium

Small Animals, Big Jobs: Guided Canoe Trip
Instructor: Grant Craig, Educator, Weedon Island Preserve

When we think of wildlife in Tampa Bay, images of dolphins, pelicans and manatees often come to mind. But this canoe trip will focus on some of the smaller species of the Tampa Bay Estuary, which play a huge role in the bay’s food chain. In fact, the services provided by some of these smaller invertebrates are essential to the health of the bay as a whole.

***This trip is limited to 21 participants. Participants must wear closed-toe shoes – no flip flops or bare feet!

Location: Meet at the canoe launch at the fishing pier

12:30 -- 1 p.m. LUNCH (provided)

1 -- 2:30 p.m. WORKSHOP SESSION II

Diamondback Terrapins: Living on the Edge

Instructor: George Heinrich

Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) were once common in brackish ecosystems along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but have suffered from a long history of human exploitation. Significant current threats to this species include loss of nesting habitat, encounters with automobiles, predation, and incidental drowning in crab pots. This workshop will introduce the ecology and conservation needs of this little known, yet important coastal species. Participants will also meet a representative of this shy species, and learn how to sort terrapin bones and reassemble shells.

Location: Classroom

Bats in our Backyard

Instructors: Cynthia and George Marks and Jennifer Smith, Florida Bat Conservancy

Bats are probably the most misunderstood, feared, and persecuted of all the mammals. Yet bats are shy, gentle animals that fill a vital role in maintaining balanced ecosystems throughout the world. In Florida, bats are the most important natural controller of night flying insects. In other parts of the world, bats disperse seeds, pollinate plants, provide guano for fertilizer and even vampire bats have made important contributions to science and medicine. This workshop will include a slide presentation and guest appearances by several live bats so you will be able to see some of our native Florida species up close. Finally, you’ll learn how to build your own bat house once you return home so you can encourage these fascinating and beneficial creatures to share your living space.

Location: Auditorium

Immersion Excursion: Here Fishy, Fishy

Instructor: Justin Krebs, U.S. Geological Survey

Prepare to immerse yourself in the watery (and sometimes muddy) world of the estuary. During this workshop, participants will become fish biologists, learning how to use the tools-of-the-trade to collect and identify common estuarine fishes and how to assess fish habitat. By comparing your catch with that of other workshop participants, you will learn some of the fish and crustaceans common to the bay’s mangrove, seagrass and oyster communities.

*** NOTE: You will be wading knee-deep in the bay for this workshop. Closed-toe shoes such as old sneakers are a must. Bring clean shoes and a towel with you.

Location: Meet at the canoe launch at the fishing pier

About the Estuary Academy Teaching Team:

Lance Arvidson received a Master’s degree in Biology from the University of South Florida and Bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Biodiversity from the University of Kansas. Lance has four years’ experience teaching Biology and Ecology at the University level and four years professional experience in design and implementation of ecological field projects related to the surveying and monitoring of wetlands and various taxa of wildlife in central Florida . As a Peace Corps volunteer in Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean, Lance was responsible for educating indigenous peoples about sustainable management of their natural resources. Lance is currently managing the Frog Listening Network, a project designed to educate and enlist members of the community in monitoring frog populations to measure the health of the Hillsborough River watershed.   

Grant Craig has been developing and teaching coastal field education programs for ten years. He graduated from the University of Richmond in 1995 with a BS in Biology. Since then he has worked with informal education programs in Long Island, New York; the Florida Keys; Dauphin Island, Alabama; and St. Petersburg, Florida. He currently works for the Environmental Lands Division of Pinellas County and promotes public education and passive recreation at Weedon Island Preserve.

Steve Geiger is an Associate Research Scientist in the Marine Fisheries Research section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has worked for the group since 2001 and for the state of Florida since 1988. His current work focuses on shellfish monitoring and restoration, primarily scallops, hard clams, and oysters. Ongoing projects include an annual survey of bay scallop abundance, bay scallop restoration, surveys of the distribution of offshore calico scallops, an analysis of seasonal changes in hard clam reproductive activity and monitoring the invasive green mussel. Dr. Geiger received his Bachelor of Science in marine science in 1986 from Southampton College, and his MS and PhD from the University of South Florida. His master's research focused on the biology of juvenile tarpon and his doctoral research focused on responses of zooplankton to changes in food supply. Dr. Geiger has published nine peer-reviewed articles and co-authored a book chapter on such topics as scallops, stone crabs, plankton dynamics, and Antarctic deep sea fishes. He also has five years experience on crustacean fisheries research and four years of public outreach background.

Kathy Guindon is a tarpon biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI). Kathy has worked for FWRI since 1995, and currently is conducting a life history study of tarpon. She began working in fish community ecology as part of the Fisheries-Independent Monitoring program, studying the abundance and distribution of fishes in Tampa Bay and its tributaries.  In 2000, she moved to the Marine Fisheries Biology section, where she researched the life history of pompano before moving on to tarpon, one of Florida’s premier gamefish. Kathy received her B.S. degree in Biology from Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, and her M.S. in Zoology/Fish and Wildlife Science from North Carolina State University. She is currently working on a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Florida.

George L. Heinrich owns and operates Heinrich Ecological Services, a St. Petersburg-based company conducting wildlife surveys and research, natural history programming, and nature-based tours.  A graduate of Memphis State University, his interests include southeastern upland and brackish wetland ecosystems, conservation challenges facing Florida’s non-marine turtles, and the role of education in conserving herpetofauna.  He has worked for a number of years on the conservation of gopher tortoises and has studied the ecology and conservation needs of diamondback terrapins as part of a University of North Florida research team since 1995. George has served twice as co-chair of the Gopher Tortoise Council and is the founding president of the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust.

Dave Kandz is a native Floridian who graduated from Clearwater High School and subsequently attended Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He worked at GTE Data Services for 16 years in positions ranging from Programmer to Advisory Systems Engineer, and then traveled throughout the country working for various Telecommunications companies as a contracted software developer and computer Systems Administrator. While traveling, he spent as much time outdoors experiencing Nature and wildlife as possible, and grew his hobby of photography, especially of birds. In 2000, Dave attended the Suncoast Birding Festival, where he learned about the plight of Least Terns, who have taken to nesting on industrial gravel rooftops due to loss of their preferred beach habitat. He became active in the St. Petersburg Audubon Society’s efforts to protect least terns and other imperiled shorebirds. Dave now owns his own IT consulting company (Riviera Bay Digital, www.rbdigital.biz), which provides computer service and web sites for small business and residential clients. He continues to spend as much time as possible on nature photography, and some of his work can be seen at the Artist's Way cooperative at 1403 Cleveland Street in Clearwater.

Justin Krebs is a fish ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey and a biology doctoral student at the University of South Florida. Justin received his B.S. degree in marine biology from Millersville University in Pennsylvania and his Master’s from Florida Tech in Melbourne. He has more than 10 years of field experience in Florida’s coastal habitats. He is currently studying the effects of urbanization on the quality of tidal creeks and mosquito ditches as fish habitat.

Cynthia and George Marks have been working with bats since 1989. In 1994, they founded the Florida Bat Center (now the Florida Bat Conservancy), a nonprofit organization dedicated to bat conservation in Florida. They have co-authored the first book totally focused on bat species found in Florida. It is titled Bats of Florida and was released in August of 2006.

Jennifer Smith is the new Assistant Director of the Florida Bat Conservancy, joining the organization in August 2008. She has more than four years’ experience working in Florida ecology and has done extensive work conducting wildlife surveys and natural resources management. This past summer she did extensive field work for Bat Conservation and Management, Inc. conducting bat surveys in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York.

David Spencer is currently the interpretive naturalist at the Weedon Island Preserve Cultural and Natural History Center. David has worked as a naturalist in the Tampa Bay area for over thirty years, starting at Hillsborough Community College’s Environmental Studies Center at Cockroach Bay, then as an educator at various sites along the Hillsborough River with the Hillsborough County School District. His current position is as an environmental specialist with the Pinellas County Environmental Lands Division.

And, a very special THANK YOU to Pinellas County’s Environmental Lands Division and the talented and tireless staff of Weedon Island Preserve for their generous support of and contributions to Estuary Academy. We try not to make too much of a mess in your beautiful facility!