Ridge Rangers wildlife surveys are done as two
person teams, and involve moving along a firebreak through a conservation area
and checking nest boxes or using bird calls to detect a specific species. The
data from these surveys helps to determine the species status as well as the
health of the habitat. The surveys are done in the morning and within a
specified set of days, but are otherwise self-scheduled.
The Kestrel Nest Box Surveys are wrapping up now, but we’ll need help in the fall and winter to replace old boxes and to clear vegetation around poles.
Bat House Surveys are starting soon, and boxes will need to be checked at SunRay (Frostproof), Carter Creek (Sebring), Royce Ranch (Lake Placid) and Lake Placid Scrub (Lake Placid).
Bachman Sparrow Surveys are under way now, and FWC is looking for interested persons with a good ear for bird calls to train during this year’s surveys for the 2017 effort. The surveys will be done at Royce Ranch and Lake Placid Scrub, near Lake Placid.
Jay Watch is starting in mid-June! Audubon is hosting training at FWC Royce Ranch this Saturday (see below) and is looking for help on the surveys. Jay Watch is done at multiple sites across Central Florida.
If you’d like to learn more or to participate, please contact
the Ridge Rangers Coordinator at bill.parken@myfwc.com
Jay Watch is a citizen-science project surveying the Florida Scrub-Jay in Central Florida and led by Audubon (and supported by FWC), and runs from mid-June thru mid-July. The surveys take place from 7 AM to 10 AM, and each site/route gets three surveys (you can do one or more days).
We’ll be moving through the scrub oak habitat restoration area and surveying/recording the survival results of last summer’s scrub oak plantings. Understanding the 10 month survival rate will help plan this summer's upcoming plantings
The work is easy and you’ll be seeing the progress of the restoration effort.
Ridge Rangers have been working with many new conservation
professionals in the last year, including Candice Knothe with the Florida
Forest Service at the Frostproof office. Here’s more -
Candice Knothe is a biologist with the Florida Forest
Service at Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. She is a part of the Florida Forest
Service’s Plant Conservation Program where she monitors and helps manage the
threatened and endangered plant species that occur on Lake Wales Ridge State
Forest. She graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2008 and is
finishing up an M.S. degree in biology at Georgia Southern University.She has previously worked in the plant
ecology lab at the Robert W. Jones Research Center at Ichauway in SW Georgia
and as a research technician in Dr. Siemann’s population and community ecology
lab at Rice University in Texas.
Candice set up last October's sand pine
reduction workday in the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest and has participated in other Ridge Rangers workdays,
and we look forward to working with her again!
Want to participate in the Ridge Rangers program? Apply here, or just look on our calendar, sign up for a workday and come on out! There are no dues and no commitments in the Ridge Ranger program.