It is with great pleasure that we introduce the following newest Friends Board of Directors' Members. Follow the link behind each listing (below) and read their entire bio on the Friends' website. A hearty welcome is extended to each new Board volunteer.

Active "Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge" may participate in approval of our Board members. An active Friend is anyone who has made a financial contribution to the Friends over the past year or is an Eagle Club member. Please let us know if you have comments or concerns about any Board member by clicking this link to send us an email. Our email contact is info@stmarksrefuge.org. If you approve of the members, you don’t need to do anything. Pending majority approval the Board members will be confirmed by June 1, 2022.

Tom has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, the board of the Panhandle Archaeological Society at Tallahassee (PAST) and participated in several archaeological digs and surveys with the National Park Service and the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research. During Tom's Friends Board service, he also wrote and managed the extensive grant funding that was significant in the recent lighthouse restoration. In addition he has enjoyed exploring Florida and Georgia rivers by kayak and canoe, volunteering with the beach turtle patrol (loggerhead nesting) and playing with a local ukulele orchestra. He is the author of A Year on the Bay – St. Joseph Bay, Cape San Blas and the Beaches. . . . READ MORE

Katasha holds a degree in Zoology from the University of Florida, completed additional undergraduate work at the University of South Florida, completed the Certified Public Manager program through Florida State University, and has participated in adult learning through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Her career has been focused on environmental permitting, compliance, and policy development for transportation projects . . . . READ MORE

Allison's love of the outdoors started when her dad took her out on a sailboat at age two. After graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 with a BS in pharmacy she moved to Tallahassee in 1995. She loved birding, kayaking and fishing at St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge. Allison became a volunteer in the visitor center on weekends while still working and continued being more active in volunteering after retiring in 2013. . . . READ MORE

Early in his career, Jason served in the military before attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After retiring from the military, he settled in Tallahassee to attend law school at FSU. After law school, he began working for state government, ultimately spending 17 years with the State, most of which was with the Department of Transportation. He spent his last four years with FDOT as the Director of the Office of Environmental Management where he coordinated statewide policy on environmental issues and approvals for projects around the state. He currently works for an engineering, design, and development firm. . . . READ MORE

Though the St. Marks area has never been known as the "Treasure Coast", for camper volunteers Katie and Eric Hanson (from East Lansing, Michigan) they did find a valuable treasure and memory that had been washed away several years ago by Hurricane Michael.

In early March, Katie and Eric spotted a submerged bench in Lighthouse Pool. Together with camper volunteers Bonnie and Mark Gaboury, the bench was pulled from the depths of the pool. Turns out that this was the missing bench dedicated to the memory of Refuge Ranger John McKenzie. The bench had been encrusted with barnacles over its time in the water (see photo above), however Katie and Eric later cleaned the bench at the Refuge Work Center.

Ranger McKenzie's bench was in front of the Lighthouse facing the Gulf prior to Hurricane Michael, and it will be returned to that original location.

Phillip Pollock has dedicated many years to work at the Refuge, and over 6 1/2 years as an active member of the Friends’ Board of Directors. His beautiful art and photography is everywhere and speaks to his love of the Refuge. He has helped maintain the Friends Website and was active in the Lighthouse restoration planning. He has also been a long-time editor of the Friends’ Reflections newsletter, and for the past one-and-a-half-years he has been a very progressive President of the Board. Phillip’s collegial style has served to strengthen and formalize the Board and its operations. Phillip will be leaving the Board at the end of May and his shoes will be hard to fill. He is leaving a Board that is larger and stronger than when he began his term .

After three years of service on the Friends’ Board of Directors, Treasurer Bill Everitt is leaving the Board in May. Bill’s contribution to the Friends has been nothing short of outstanding. During his time of service, Bill completely revamped the Friends’ website, making it very dynamic and interactive. The site is also tailor-made for supporting a new NEON, donor software system that allows the Friends to track and interact effectively with over 1,200 followers, donors and Friends. Bill has also been responsible for creating dozens of videos of our interns, Refuge staff and various Friends and Refuge-related activities. Bill’s talent and enthusiasm for “getting things done” will be greatly missed.

Over the past several years, the Friends have often reported on the progress of all of our wildlife initiatives. In particular, we have often noted activity where the Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders are concerned.

But, have you ever wondered just how our interns actually track down the salamanders over the expansive Refuge property? Recently, I had a chance to watch one of our interns perform, essentially, a 'tagging' operation that assists in this very thing.

Here Emma Jones is using what is called a PIT (passive integrated transponder) technology. This process involves using a fine needle to inject a dye (see photo top left) just below the inert newt’s skin surface. The newt is 'put to sleep' for this and is not harmed. As a result, the dye is visible when UV light is cast on the animal in the field (see above right photo), which allows herpetologists to track both newts and our Frosted Flatwood Salamanders. (The newts are often used for salamander research because both occupy nearly identical habitat.)

The interns provide such a great service to both the Friends and the Refuge. The Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders are just one of three wildlife initiatives the Friends fund in addition to Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers and Longleaf Pine tree growth. Through the continued generosity of Friends Dr. Ed and Hilda Carney, Jeff VanderMeer and VanderMeer Creative, and Val and Dave LaHart, funding for the interns has been made available each year for the intern project. This important tie between these wonderful sponsors and our energetic and knowledgeable interns is so important to all of our wildlife and environmental Refuge initiatives.