The Re f uge celebrated National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 26, with  free admission to Wildlife Drive, photos with the Blue Goose, and opportunities for fourth-graders to sign up for their free  Every Kid in a Park pass .

If you know a fourth grader in the United States, please encourage them to sign up and receive a free annual pass to any Federal land (which includes "Ding" Darling NWR and all 562 Refuges around the country.

 

The Refuge's Resident Volunteers program has steadily grown through the past decade. This year we welcome 16 seasonal volunteers who will work at the Refuge in exchange for an RV spot.

Joe and Murlene Anderson  will be here until December, when they go to work at the Florida Panther NWR near Naples. They arrived September 13 from three months of volunteering for the U.S. Forest Service in Superior, Montana. Other volunteer stints they favor include Cape Blanco Lighthouse in Oregon and the Yuma Complex in Arizona.

At "Ding," Joe, who previously owned his own company that manufactured high-speed  automation equipment, helps out the maintenance corps. Murlene, who once managed high-end jewelry companies, works the front desk of the Administration Building.  

Joe, from Jamestown, New York, is enjoying photographing birds at the Refuge in his spare time, while Murlene, originally from Columbus, Mississippi, loves "working with such fine people." The couple lived in the Orlando area for 27 years before moving to Sweden for seven years. They've been back in the States for four years and are happy to be in Florida again.

Back from her five weeks at Alaska Peninsula & Becharof National Wildlife Refuges , Ranger Becky Larkins reports exciting sightings including lots of close-up brown bears, Beluga whales, harbor seals, moose, red foxes, arctic and snowshoe hares, black-billed magpies, black turnstones, and other life birds.  "My main duty was to conduct their Science & Culture Camp," Becky said. "We held the camp at Becharof Lake - the second largest lake in Alaska, the largest lake in the USFWS, where there was no electricity, running water, or heat - remote of the remote."

Your donations to the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society are crucial. Any amount helps ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the unspoiled lands, waters and wildlife of the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Making a charitable contribution is easy and tax deductible. Click here to make a gift today.