Friends President's Message

Text and Photo Courtesy Katasha Cornwell

Spring is a time for renewal and rejuvenation. And a month into this season, I’m still enjoying seeing the vibrant shades of new green leaves pop against the brilliant blue sky. We all know it’s a time for the migrant songbirds to make their way back through the Refuge along with the return of hummingbirds and the soaring swallow-tailed kites. But it is also a time for fire flies to start sparkling in the evening twilight along with the swift flying bats enjoying the warmer evenings. More people are out enjoying time on the water. It is a wonderful time of year. If you are looking to experience the Refuge in a way you might not have before, be sure to check out this edition’s articles about hiking in the Panacea unit and in Cathedral of the Palms.

And, it is the perfect time for us to renew our appreciation of our members and dedicated volunteers. Save the date for Saturday, May 18^th at 2:00pm for our Celebrating Refuge Friends and Volunteers Annual Gathering. More details will be forthcoming in just a few days, but we look forward to seeing you at the Education Building next to the Visitor Center. We’ll be updating members on what’s been going on over the last year along with a chance to personally thank the various groups of folks that keep things purring behind the scenes.

In case you missed it, please be sure to check out our new Refuge Supporter Portal where you can control your account on-line. While we don’t currently have an annual cycle for all members to renew their memberships at the same time, this is a great way to stay up to date with your own account details.

We are always in need of new volunteers to help out at the Nature Store, with Lighthouse tours, and other special skills to keep the Board running as efficiently as possible. If you are interested in renewing your support to the Refuge in a new and exciting way, please reach out and let us know how you might like to help.

Lastly when it comes to rejuvenation and fresh starts, we are excited to welcome Ms. Leslie Peters as the new Visitor Services staff member at the Refuge, as this position has been vacant for some time. She has some exciting new ideas to offer visitors, and jumped right into her new role with the recent Family Fishing Day (photo gallery below). We also welcome Robin Will to the Board of Directors in a new role. You’ll find her extensive bio below. And we are sad to say goodbye to some wonderful volunteers that have helped provided one of the most sought-after experiences in the Refuge over the last several years. Please help us give Matt and Cyndi Johnstone a warm send off as they plan to stay in northern climes for the foreseeable future.

Getting out in the Refuge is the perfect way to stay rejuvenated. Be sure to invite a friend. We’d love for your friends to become our Friends. 

New Board Member - Robin Will

Growing up in California and Virginia, I camped with my family at national and local parks during our vacations and we took advantage of the “ranger programs” offered – I especially remember the “tide pool zoo” song we learned at the campfire program at Maine’s Acadia National Park! My parents thought being a ranger would be the perfect career for me. I had no idea how that could be accomplished and instead thought that becoming a wildlife field biologist was the profession for me.

My interest in the outdoors led to a degree in Wildlife Biology from Florida State University, with a minor in Psychology and Chemistry. I was selected as a Student Trainee in Fisheries and Wildlife for the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service while in college and inventoried striped bass on the wild Apalachicola River, and helped with prescribed burning and longleaf pine restoration on beautiful St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. As part of a red-winged blackbird research project, I raised young fledglings Ozzie and Harriet, in my college apartment.  Wildlife intrigued me, but sharing what I learned with others really excited me.

Upon graduation in 1979, an amazing opportunity awaited me as I took the Park Ranger position at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge! The program was in its infancy, so I was given free rein (no money of course) to create the visitor services program. The amazing natural resources of the 70,000 acre refuge – marshes, sweeping estuary, fragrant pine forests, crystal clear springs and creeks, and abundant wildlife, attracted visitors in many ways. People were enthusiastic to volunteer in 1985 to help and the program really took off! The Friends of the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge followed in 1987. I was invited to travel across the country to work with other refuges, helping review Friends’ and visitor services programs. I enjoyed sharing my passion for nature through the international environmental education program, Project Learning Tree. For over 30 years, I have taught both formal and informal educators how we are all interwoven with trees, water, air, wildlife, and soil.

Retired since 2020, I am most concerned about the “nature deficit disorder” coined by Richard Louv, regarding several generations of American children who are not connected to nature. It is not merely a lack of concern for environmental stewardship, it is now a matter of mental and physical health.  I remain strongly committed to engaging all ages in a need for nature. I love hiking, wildlife watching, wild plants, spending time with my family and friends and volunteering for the refuge, 4-H, Reading Pals and Project Learning Tree!

A Walk In The Woods

Text Courtesy Craig Musgrove with Photos Courtesy Craig Musgrove and Sherry Glass

St. Marks Wildlife Refuge has so many wonderful well marked trails that can take you off the beaten path. Where you can enjoy new sights and new sounds and bring back the days of our youth with brand new adventures! I would like to zero in on one trail and offer my memories and my own sense of beauty and awe as my partner and I traveled the Florida Trail to the Cathedral of Palms and Shepherd Springs destination. Be sure to take a map, a backpack of water and snacks. And don’t forget a full container of bug spray. Remember, this is Florida, and bugs and snakes are a part of our environment. So, prepare for the bugs and have your camera ready for the possibility of some awesome snake photos! And don’t forget your walking staff!

I was in the process of recovery from both total knee replacements, so this easy breezy six mile hike was a perfect “walk in the woods” for this 70 year old young un!! The good news is this is the Florida Trail and is well marked with orange paint stripes along the tree line so getting lost was not something we were concerned about.

Wakulla Beach Road at the entrance to the St Marks Wildlife Refuge was where we parked our truck to begin the journey. As we began walking the old forest road there was a sense of excitement around us. A doe deer crossed the road! With our handy dandy binoculars we ID’ed a flock of turkeys ahead of us. What excitement! And then the orange tree markers guided us off the main road onto a well-maintained trail. We journeyed through a beautiful hardwood hammock and were blessed to see a fawn and doe bound away through the palmettos.

And then something happened. I really can’t explain it in words. I slowed down as the view from the hiking trail changed. I am going to have to say a spiritual awakening happened in me. The sun dappled through the beautiful live oaks with light and shadows, and I could see ahead the view was changing. As I rounded the corner my walking came to a complete halt. Sabal palms that reached for the sun were all around me. I could almost hear the hum of a church choir and I realized I had entered Cathedral Palms! No words can explain the beauty I saw! No photograph can record what the human eye was seeing! It was like no other and I became so grateful I made the hike to see the beauty within our precious refuge! Then we journeyed on to Shepherd Springs and rested at the crystal-clear spring we were seeing. With birds and gators and the real Florida all around us! And I could go on and on sharing the beauty of Cathedral Palms and Shepherd Springs, but the only way to visualize it is to take the hike to Cathedral Palms and let nature speak to your heart. The processing in my mind of all I had seen was so exhilarating! I was so grateful I had taken smartphone photos to share with others.

Now I had tried to talk myself out of taking the Cathedral Palms hike by thinking the trail was too wet and the bugs were too bad, and I may get lost and on and on were the reasons I had concocted in my mind. I am so grateful I let the mature 12 year old within me overpower the chronological 70 year age to take a “walk in the woods” to our beautiful Cathedral Palms! 

A Fond Farewell to Some Amazing Friends

Text Courtesy Don Morrow and Rita LeBlanc

Come to St. Marks NWR during the winter months and you will see cars with licenses from across the northern states; Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, as well as a smattering of Canadian plates from provinces like Ontario and Quebec. These visitors follow the birds south and just like our winter ducks, come Spring, they head back north.

But not Matt and Cyndi Johnstone.

They originally came to the refuge seeking warm winter weather and good birding. Unlike our other snowbirds, the Johnstones stayed. For almost nine years now, they have been among St. Marks’ most active volunteers.

It is hard to imagine the Nature Store without Cyndi. She is the first one to greet visitors and help them have a great Refuge experience, no matter what their interest might be. She is the person you ask about bird sightings, about hiking, about kayaking, about your sore back. Cyndi is always three steps ahead of everyone else, coming up with new ideas for the store and fun group activities for the volunteers. As the “official” social director of the group, she has organized trips to the movies, kayaking outings, group lunches, and a memorable Wakulla Springs jungle cruise. In an effort to expand our outreach to visitors, Cyndi restarted the binocular loan program when the Visitors Center reopened after the pandemic closure. She is the force that got the Lighthouse Road Drive Guides translated into eight languages. Besides being a celebrity for her wildlife tours with Matt, visitors recognize her as the super knowledgeable and fun woman who works almost every Saturday. Cyndi is some major glue that has kept the Nature Store together. It is darn hard to imagine her not being there anymore.

Matt started off driving for the Winter Wildlife Tours, spotting birds from the cab of the pickup hauling the refuge wagon full of visitors. At stops, he would lend his considerable birding expertise, setting up his Kowa scope and patiently identifying ducks, herons, plants and herps. Soon, along with his wife Cyndi (an excellent birder in her own right), he started leading a second monthly tour that gave refuge visitors an extra outlet for their birding needs. The Johnstone tours developed their own coterie of dedicated followers.

Matt has been a stalwart volunteer whenever he was needed for the WHO festival, the Monarch festival, or any other refuge event. On what was ostensibly his own time, while enjoying some recreational birding on the refuge, he could often be seen helping other birders. He pointed out refuge birds, assisted with their identification and posted his sightings for local birders.

Unfortunately, you can take the Johnstones out of Michigan, but you can’t take Michigan out of the Johnstones. The pull of homeland has called and Cyndi and Matt are headed back north. During their extended sojourn at the refuge, they have been wonderful volunteers, friends, guides, and mentors to the St. Marks community.

They will be missed.

The Sound of Silence: Hiking the Piney Ridge Loop Trail

Text and Photos Courtesy Beth Schwartz

Imagine you’ve set out for a hike on a wide, sandy trail cushioned with pine needles and shaded by stands of saw palmettos, long leaf pines, and gnarly live oaks. At first, you’re struck by the seemingly radical silence. But gradually, your ear picks up the call and response of birds both familiar and new. As the wind susurrates through the leaves, you hear the gentle thrum of crickets, comforting in its constancy. Above you, hawks glide lazily, slicing the empty sky, while, on one side or the other, lakes dot the panorama, the sun glinting off their rippled surfaces. Remarkably, at some point, you realize that you’ve seen no, or very few, other humans, even if you’ve lingered for hours. You also realize that, along the way, your breath has slowed, your pulse has subsided, and your tension has melted. Clearly, you have found a special place, a retreat that has the power to confer serenity and restoration. Welcome to the Piney Ridge Loop Trail, in the Panacea Unit, the westernmost unit of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Many refuge visitors are acquainted with the hiking trails off Lighthouse Road in the St. Marks Unit. But the refuge is home to hundreds more miles of paved and unpaved, blazed and unblazed, trails, levees, and woodland roads, offering hikers a bounty of opportunities to discover its more obscure expanses. For those who want to experience a placid, soft-spoken, “road-less-traveled” kind of path, the Piney Ridge Loop Trail beckons.

The Panacea Unit is the driest unit in the refuge, so its trails are reliably un-muddy, regardless of the season. After the frequent, intense rains that assailed North Florida this past winter and early spring, we knew the trails in the Wakulla Unit would be a messy, muddy slog. So when we were looking for a new trail to hike in February, a Panacea Unit hike was the logical choice. A friend suggested we explore the Piney Ridge Loop Trail (about 5 miles if you include the short spurs to Fox and Otter Lakes) or the Otter Lake Trail (about 7.7 miles)—two loops that share the same trailhead. An added bonus: both trails are blazed!

To get to these trails, turn down Otter Lake Road off US 98. If you’re not quite ready to start your hike, drive down to the bottom of the road, where you find the Otter Lake Recreation Area, replete with restrooms, a water fountain, and picnic tables, sheltered and unsheltered, all overlooking the lake. This is a picturesque spot for a pre-hike snack (or a post-hike lunch). 

But if you are eager to start hiking right away, about a mile down Otter Lake Road, you see a kiosk on your left, with a small off-road parking area. Before embarking, it’s not a bad idea to stop at the kiosk to take a photo of the trail map. Our first time out on the Piney Ridge Loop, we opted to take the trail clockwise and ended up having to consult the map several times to ensure we were staying on the trail. The next time we hiked this trail, we went counterclockwise and were surprised to learn that, while the trail is not well-marked for going clockwise, it is extremely well-blazed for going counterclockwise. Incidentally, we also thought the counterclockwise route was more satisfying generally.

For the first half mile or so, the Piney Ridge Loop (yellow blazed) and the Otter Lake Loop (blue blazed) are joined. A sign alerts you to the split in the trail. To hike the Piney Ridge Loop clockwise, stay on the left side of the split. To take the Piney Ridge Loop counterclockwise (or to take the Otter Lake Loop), stay on the right side of the split.

If you opt to stay to your right, you soon come to a spur trail leading to Fox Lake, on your left; it’s a pretty lake and worth the brief digression. Soon after you’re back on the main trail, you see the spur trail to Otter Lake, on your right. This is a large, sparkling lake whose banks are densely adorned with twisted old moss-draped oaks—a beautiful photo op.

Back on the main trail again, you eventually encounter a sign signaling the split between the Piney Ridge and the Otter Lake Loops: the Piney Ridge Loop veers to the left and is 3.1 miles to completion; the Otter Lake Loop veers right and is another 6.4 miles to completion.

As you continue on the Piney Ridge Loop, you pass three lakes on your right (North, Middle, and Renfro Lakes). We found this to be a good stretch for birding. Look toward the treetops across the lakes if you want to see some enormous nests. Their residents were not around when we’ve passed through, but you may have better luck. Meanwhile, on your left is a large, mowed field with, curiously, a helispot and weather station. At the end of this stretch, you come upon a Quonset hut (on your left), where you bear left to return to the parking area. On that last stretch of the hike, you see many little lakes on your left; on clear days, their banks are thronged with sunning turtles.

If you are looking for a dramatic, electrifying kind of hike, the Piney Ridge Loop is not your best option. But if it’s a gentle, leisurely, near-silent hike you’re seeking, a world you’ll share almost exclusively with flora and fauna, this loop may be just the spot for you.

Keep in Mind:

• October through February are the driest, coolest, least buggy months for hiking in North Florida.

• Regardless of the time of year, spray yourself, your shoes, and your clothes against Insects (ticks and mosquitos are especially problematic from April through early fall)

• Before embarking, check the weather forecast: lightening can create a threatening event.

Al said that walking through the Lighthouse brought back many memories of his time as a five-year-old with his father. I asked if I could record some of those memories and he said yes. So, we proceeded to record stories in each room and on the porch. One of his stories was about his father telling him to climb to the top of the tower with a whisk broom and sweep each step on the way back down.

He and I spent about forty-five minutes filming short video clips of him telling stories in each room of the Lighthouse. We hope to post the videos on our website soon for those who might be interested in hearing more about being a Lighthouse Kid.

Family Fishing Day Photo Gallery

Photos Courtesy Sherry Glass

Friends of St Mark's Wildlife Refuge Supporter Portal

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We Encourage our Friends to SHARE!

As almost all of you know, the Friends give 100% of their support to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. An important way for you increase that support is to share our message. Therefore, when you get this newsletter, we encourage you to send it on to a friend. You can share it via email or through various other social media. Here's the link to the Friends Newsletter page. Scroll to the "current" entry and copy the link.

Text and Photo Courtesy Phillip Pollock

Bird Reports Assist Visitors

Don Morrow and Matt Johnstone, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge volunteers and expert birders, create concise bird-sighting reports on a week-to-week basis. Read their current and past reports here.

Photo Courtesy Katasha Cornwell

Have you considered including the Refuge in your will? The Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge can provide information and guide you through the process. Just call the Refuge at 850-925-6121, and ask to be contacted by the Friends' Development Committee, or email us.

Reflections newsletter is a benefit of membership for Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.

It also serves as an important supplement to

the Friends' website.

Both the newsletter and the web site provide members and the public information about volunteer activities and events at the Refuge.

Reflections editor: Katasha Cornwell

Reflections Editor, Phillip M. Pollock