The oyster fishery, once the economic and cultural backbone of the Apalachicola Bay community, collapsed in 2013. A new generation of young residents, however, are learning about oyster aquaculture in the bay.
While summer here at the NERRA “office” was great, we’re more than a little jealous of the Rookery Bay Research Reserve’s education team, who logged a six day road trip to three other Reserves along the Gulf of Mexico.
Talk NERRdy to Me is a monthly column about leaders and luminaries from across our Reserves. This month, NERRA’s correspondent-on-the-loose Nik Charov Zoomed to the Florida Panhandle to chat with Anita Grove, the coastal training coordinator at the Apalachicola Reserve. They talked about sense of place, bears surviving heat waves, and curious things lurking in the Gulf of Mexico (we’re looking at you, Rookery Bay).
National Estuarine Research Reserves are a positive influence on local economies, according to a new study which calculated the direct and indirect economic contribution of Reserves in Florida, Oregon, and New Hampshire.
Congratulations to Kim Wren of Florida’s Apalachicola Reserve, recipient of a 2020 Champion of the Year award from the 21st Century Conservation Corps for her work founding two conservation corps for Florida youth and veterans.
When two loggerhead nests were unexpectedly discovered on a Florida beach, the Apalachicola Reserve was there to support the local citizens who got involved with protecting the valuable nests.