The WFSU Ecology Blog
  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • Observations From the Field
      • White Pelicans Visit Dr. Charles L. Evans Pond in Tallahassee
      • An April Walk at Ochlockonee River WMA
      • Nesting Raptors at Honeymoon Island State Park
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • In Their Words: Black Legacy Communities in North Florida
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Aucilla/ Wacissa Watershed
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
        • The Age of Nature Screening & Discussion | The Future of the Apalachicola
        • Apalachicola River and Bay
        • Apalachicola RiverTrek | Kayaking, Camping, & Hiking the River Basin
    • Longleaf Pine & Fire Ecology
  • Backyard Habitat
    • Backyard Blog
      • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Ecology Blog | 2021
      • Backyard Blog November/ December 2020
      • Backyard Blog September/ October 2020
      • July and August 2020 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Blog June 2020
      • Backyard Blog May 2020
      • Backyard Blog April 2020
      • Backyard Blog February and March 2020
      • Backyard Blog January 2020
      • Backyard Blog October through December 2019
      • Backyard Blog September 2019
      • Backyard Blog August 2019
      • Backyard Blog July 2019
      • Backyard Blog June 2019
      • Backyard Blog May 2019
      • Backyard Blog April 2019
      • Backyard Blog March 2019
      • Backyard Blog February 2019
      • Backyard Blog January 2019
      • The Backyard Bug Blog 2018
    • Backyard Flora and Fauna
      • Bees of North Florida and South Georgia
      • The Seasonality of Bees (and Bee Plants) in North Florida
      • Woody Vines of North Florida
      • Flies of North Florida are More Diverse than You’d Think
      • The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants
      • Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?
      • Florida Native Milkweed | Tips for Growing Your Monarch Friendly Garden
      • Mistletoe | A Parasite for the Holidays (But Maybe We Like it Anyway?)
    • Florida Friendly Seasonal Planting Guide
    • Pollinator and Gardening Posts
    • Gardening Web Resources
Kayak and Canoe Adventures
RiverTrek 2021: Five Days on the Apalachicola River
Lower Lake Lafayette: Kayak Tallahassee’s Hidden Swamp
Chipola River Paddling Trail | The Ovens and...
Kayaking Bald Point | Adventure on a Living...
Wacissa Springs Adventure | Kayaking a Wild Florida...
A Geologist’s View of the Apalachicola River |...
Upper Chipola River Kayak Adventure | Ghosts &...
Tate’s Hell & the Apalachicola River Delta |...
Kayak Scouting Mission on the Ochlockonee Water Trail
Merritt’s Mill Pond | Kayaking and Spring Caves

The WFSU Ecology Blog

  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • Observations From the Field
      • White Pelicans Visit Dr. Charles L. Evans Pond in Tallahassee
      • An April Walk at Ochlockonee River WMA
      • Nesting Raptors at Honeymoon Island State Park
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • In Their Words: Black Legacy Communities in North Florida
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Aucilla/ Wacissa Watershed
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
        • The Age of Nature Screening & Discussion | The Future of the Apalachicola
        • Apalachicola River and Bay
        • Apalachicola RiverTrek | Kayaking, Camping, & Hiking the River Basin
    • Longleaf Pine & Fire Ecology
  • Backyard Habitat
    • Backyard Blog
      • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Ecology Blog | 2021
      • Backyard Blog November/ December 2020
      • Backyard Blog September/ October 2020
      • July and August 2020 Backyard Blog
      • Backyard Blog June 2020
      • Backyard Blog May 2020
      • Backyard Blog April 2020
      • Backyard Blog February and March 2020
      • Backyard Blog January 2020
      • Backyard Blog October through December 2019
      • Backyard Blog September 2019
      • Backyard Blog August 2019
      • Backyard Blog July 2019
      • Backyard Blog June 2019
      • Backyard Blog May 2019
      • Backyard Blog April 2019
      • Backyard Blog March 2019
      • Backyard Blog February 2019
      • Backyard Blog January 2019
      • The Backyard Bug Blog 2018
    • Backyard Flora and Fauna
      • Bees of North Florida and South Georgia
      • The Seasonality of Bees (and Bee Plants) in North Florida
      • Woody Vines of North Florida
      • Flies of North Florida are More Diverse than You’d Think
      • The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants
      • Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?
      • Florida Native Milkweed | Tips for Growing Your Monarch Friendly Garden
      • Mistletoe | A Parasite for the Holidays (But Maybe We Like it Anyway?)
    • Florida Friendly Seasonal Planting Guide
    • Pollinator and Gardening Posts
    • Gardening Web Resources
EcoAdventuresKayak and Canoe Adventures

Expedition Florida 500 Paddles to Highlight History and Conservation

by Rob Diaz de Villegas February 14, 2013
by Rob Diaz de Villegas February 14, 2013 0 comment
Rob Diaz de Villegas WFSU-TV

This week, we take a short break from oysters and the ecology of fear for a new EcoAdventure.  We’ll be back in oysters next week, as we look at fear and coastal predators and find out about an ongoing experiment on Florida’s East Coast.  It’s an iteration of the tile experiment examined in this video (and which we will explore more fully in a couple of weeks).  This is a research method Randall, David & co. perfected during their NSF funded oyster study and which David will soon take to his Apalachicola Bay study.  Stay tuned!

In the video, Justin Riney says, “A lot of people don’t think conservation or history is that sexy.”  As a television producer who mainly works to create content on these and similar topics (namely ecology), I appreciate the creativity with which he has designed his mission.  Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) has become immensely popular over the last few years, and I have to admit that it made for a cool entrance as we waited for Justin to see him appear in the distance and see him paddle his way up to the beach.

A few interesting tidbits:

  • Justin’s travel plans call for him paddling a relatively short ten miles a day.  This allows him to stop in the towns he passes and get to know people along the way. The plan calls for paddling on six out of seven days a week.  The extra days come in handy when weather delays him.
  • Justin takes a picture of me taking a picture of the trash found during the Dickerson Bay Ocean Hour cleanup on February 2.

    Ocean Hour, the other main initiative of Justin’s Mother Ocean project, has active participation on four of the seven continents (anyone up for Ocean Hour Antarctica?).  Ocean Hour is from 9 to 10 AM every Saturday, anywhere that people want to go to a coast and clean up.

  • One of Expedition Florida 500’s partners is Viva Florida 500.  You can learn more about events celebrating the 500 years since Juan Ponce de León’s arrival in Florida here.
  • When Justin was going over what he packed for his yearlong trip, he mentioned books.  This intrigued me, as a year’s worth of reading seems like a lot of weight to carry on a SUP.  What he does is trade books along the way, usually reading about the places he’s visiting.  During his time in Wakulla, he read books by Gulf Specimen Marine Lab’s Jack Rudloe, at whose home he was staying.
  • The video above took place entirely on the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge, which has become one of my favorite places to shoot (and visit).  Dickerson Bay is part of the Panacea Unit, off of Bottoms Road.  As you drive down Bottoms, there is a nice sized salt marsh on either side of you in which there are usually plenty of birds (the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail sign on Highway 98 outside of Panacea is the signal to slow down before your turn).  I first went there with Jack Rudloe, who dragged a net in the water and gave us a quick lesson in marsh ecology from the animals he caught (and quickly released).  The WHO festival took place in the St. Marks Unit, the central unit of the Refuge.  There were plenty of birds in Lighthouse Pond, as there were when we visited last year when Migratory Shorebirds were making use of the extensive wetlands on the property.

Music in the piece was performed by Hot Tamale (playing live at the Festival) and we featured the track Future 03 by Necronomikon Quartett.

The kayak we used to tape the community paddle was provided by the Wilderness Way.

Facebook Comments
Dickerson Bayduck callingExpedition Florida 500Great Horned OwlOperation MigrationSt. Marks LighthouseSt. Marks National Wildlife RefugeStand Up PaddleboardSUPTallahassee MuseumWakullaWildlife Heritage and Outdoor Festival
0 comment
0
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Rob Diaz de Villegas

Rob Diaz de Villegas is a senior producer for WFSU-TV, covering outdoors and ecology. After years of producing the music program OutLoud, Rob found himself in a salt marsh with a camera, and found a new professional calling as well. That project, the National Science Foundation funded "In the Grass, On the Reef," spawned the award winning WFSU Ecology Blog. Now he spends time exploring north Florida's forests, coasts, waterways, and the endlessly fascinating ecosystem that is the backyard garden. Rob is married with two young sons, who make a pretty fantastic adventure squad.

previous post
Fear and the Choices Oysters Make
next post
Notes from the Field: Overwhelmed Oysters

Related Posts

Lost Creek: Hiking an Ancient Forest

April 7, 2016

Exploring North Florida Through Photos

April 11, 2012

10 Things to Think About as You Plan...

March 5, 2012

Paddling for Oysters

September 4, 2012

New Video: The Florida Trail at Aucilla Sinks

April 17, 2012

Split the Difference: Applied vs. Basic Science

November 14, 2012

RiverTrek Day 1: Paddling into the Fog

October 10, 2012

Father and Son Hiking and Camping at Torreya...

May 13, 2015

Behind the Scenes at the Saint Marks Whooping...

January 21, 2016

Wakulla Green- by Hot Tamale

December 22, 2011

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive more outdoor adventures, and an in depth look at our local forests and waterways by Email.

If you do not receive a verification e-mail, check your spam folder.

Category

WFSU-FM Environmental Stories

  • Tallahassee’s latest urban reforestation effort brings new trees to Governor’s Park
  • Hurricane Ian’s estimated damage to Florida agriculture tops $1B
  • America’s largest underground springs gets even bigger with the discovery of another cave connection
  • DeSantis outlines second-term environmental plans
  • Deep freeze breaks pipes, creates water crisis across South

Twitter

Tweets by wfsuIGOR

iNaturalist

iNaturalist became a part of the WFSU Ecology Blog during the EcoCitizen Project in 2019.  Since then, we’ve used it to help identify the many plants and animals we see on our shoots.  And on the Backyard Blog, we show how it can be used to identify weeds and garden insects, to help figure out what’s beneficial or a possible pest.  Below is the iNaturalist profile belonging to WFSU Ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas.

iNaturalist


View robdv’s observations »

Most Recent

  • The Wakulla Springs Wildlife Survey- a decades long look
  • Welcome Liesel Hamilton to the WFSU Ecology Blog!
  • My Year in Bugs: the 2022 Backyard Blog
  • Timberlane Ravine: learn to love dead trees (and trillium!)
  • The strange and dangerous love lives of zebra longwing butterflies

Archives

February 2013
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728  
« Jan   Mar »

WFSU Ecology YouTube

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • Youtube

@2017 - PenciDesign. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign