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 January 2020
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 The Florida Python Challenge™ 2020 Python Bowl officially kicked off Jan. 10 in south Florida with more than 550 people registered for the competition to remove as many pythons from the wild as possible. Native to Southeast Asia, pythons pose a significant threat to Florida’s native wildlife.
Under the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the FWC and the South Florida Water Management District have teamed up with the Miami Super Bowl Host Committee and other partners to support the Committee’s Ocean to Everglades initiative, which features the Python Bowl.
Participants in the 10-day Python Bowl are removing Burmese pythons from public lands in the Everglades for a chance to win prizes. Winners will be announced at the Super Bowl Live event in Miami on Jan. 25.
 
It’s that time of year again for us to put our best creative feet forward and compile submissions to be considered for the 2019 Association of Conservation Information Awards. We’ve had a great turnout of submissions and awards over the past few years and we want to keep the ball rolling with a variety of submissions from across the agency.
ACI is an organization of outreach and public information specialists from fish and wildlife agencies across the nation. This annual contest, hosted by ACI, is a great way to get great feedback on our communications work and to receive accolades.
Entering your work is easy. Just open the CRO SharePoint site and go for it! Make sure to review the categories carefully to ensure your work meets ACI’s submission criteria. Note that some of the awards offered in 2018 have been removed and new ones have been added for 2019.
NOTE:
- All submissions should be from projects that were worked on or completed in 2019.
- Be sure to enter your submission on the CRO SharePoint site no later than COB Feb 28!
- Submissions will be reviewed on March 2 and successful entrants will be contacted on March 3.
- Successful entrants will need to submit their entries (with appropriate materials) electronically to ACI by COB on March 10 (subject to change).
Winners will be announced at this year’s ACI conference held July 19 to 22 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Thank you for your consideration and support!
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The FWC set the 2020 bay scallop season in Gulf County (including St. Joseph Bay) via Executive Order to open Aug. 16, 2020, and remain open through Sept. 24, 2020, closing Sept. 25.
This season was set after working closely with the local community and allows the FWC to balance stakeholder and community desires for a high-quality scalloping season in late summer and fall with the sustainability of the resource.
Learn more about current bay scallop regulations by visiting MyFWC.com/Marine and clicking on “Recreational Regulations” and “Bay Scallops” which is under the “Crabs, Shrimp and Shellfish” tab.
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Does your child’s school have the National Archery in the Schools Program? NASP is an FWC program that teaches International style target archery in 4th-12th grade physical education classes. More than 470 Florida schools already offer NASP, which covers archery history, safety, technique, equipment, mental concentration, self-improvement and is ADA compliant.
This cooperative effort between the FWC and the Florida Department of Education can provide the following important benefits to students:
- Allows boys and girls from a wide range of ages, skill levels and physical abilities to participate and succeed
- Builds muscle endurance, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, and grip and body strength
- Teaches discipline, respect and self-control
- Motivates students to work harder in the classroom
And for even more incentive to participate in NASP, the FWC hosts an annual NASP State Tournament in February in Bartow, where nearly a thousand students compete for over $20,000 in scholarships!
If you’d like your child’s school to be involved in this program, which meets or exceeds national and Sunshine Standards for physical education classes, please talk to the principal or athletic director at your child’s school and put them in touch with Florida NASP State Coordinator Jeremy Blackmon. He can also provide suggestions for obtaining funding for the start-up equipment package. Jeremy’s contact info is Jeremy.Blackmon@MyFWC.com and 850-404-4459.
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If your New Year’s resolution is to enjoy the health benefits from spending time outdoors, sign up now for the Feb. 7-9, 2020, Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshop near West Palm Beach.
The weekend workshop is open to anyone 18 years of age or older interested in learning outdoor skills. The workshop features expert instructors and safe, hands-on opportunities to learn about fishing, archery, paddling, hunting, nature photography, outdoor survival, boating, birdwatching and more.
The workshop is held at the Everglades Youth Conservation Camp in the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area in northwest Palm Beach County. Scholarships are available.
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 The FWC’s furbearer management and research team needs your help documenting the current range of bobcats, river otters, and red and gray fox in Florida. It’s critical we increase the amount of data regarding distribution of these key furbearer species. As you go about your normal daily activities, we’re asking you to keep an eye out for live animals, trail camera pictures or road-killed animals to help with this effort. You can report your observations on a mobile device using the Bobcat-Otter-Fox Survey in the Survey 123 App (get download instructions here) or the web-based tool. This survey will be active through June 30, 2020.
Staff contributions are vital to this project’s success. We hope you’ll participate! If you have questions or need instructions for downloading the app, contact Buddy.Welch@MyFWC.com or Hannah.Plumpton@MyFWC.com.
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Starting Jan. 1, 2020, recreational harvesters age 16 and older who fish with blue crab traps need to complete an online, no-cost recreational blue crab trap registration before placing their traps in the water. A similar requirement has been in effect for recreational stone crab traps since Oct. 15.
This no-cost registration will allow the FWC to collect needed important information about this recreational fishery for future stock assessments and management decisions.
To register, visit GoOutdoorsFlorida.com and add the Recreational Blue Crab Trap Registration to your account.
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 Gov. DeSantis’ Leadership Made For a Productive and Exciting Year for Conservation
Conservation initiatives have been at the forefront of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda since he took office. During his first full year, he made strides in the removal of invasive Burmese pythons and other nonnative species, Everglades restoration, coral reef rescue and restoration, red tide mitigation, and more.
Key accomplishments during 2019 are as follows:
- DeSantis took critical action to accelerate the removal of invasive Burmese pythons:
- Reaching the 3,600 mark for Burmese python removals from the wild by state contracted programs.
- Re-organized the Red Tide Task Force.
- Reaching over 20,000 members interested in helping with coral restoration efforts.
- Rescuing, along with partners, 1,558 coral specimens.
- Removing over 26,000 lionfish from Florida waters during a four-month challenge.
- Supporting, along with partners, the release of over 34,000 redfish.
- Selling almost 2 million fishing plus over 144,000 hunting licenses to residents and visitors in the Fishing Capital of the World.
- Providing hunter safety instruction to thousands of students.
- Removing 944 impaired boaters from the water to support safe boating experiences.
 Citizens and FWC customers were so impressed by the following employees, they told us about it through email on the "Praise an Employee" page of MyFWC.com/Contact. When your coworkers receive kudos, help share the good news by contacting Kelly.Broderick@MyFWC.com.
Eric Dennis, HSC
Mr. Eric Dennis went well out of his way to assist me the day I went to Camp Blanding. He was very friendly but was very sure to stress the importance of safety in the area I wanted to go in to. He provided some really helpful information about what was going on that day. He was very knowledgeable about what I was looking for, specifically the red-cockaded woodpecker. His advice and assistance were invaluable for me to enjoy the day I spent in that area, and successfully found, sighted and photographed that rare bird. He is certainly a valuable asset to the FWC.
Officer Maria Forrest
Encountered Officer Forrest during a duck hunt. On the way back to the check-in station we were stopped by Officer Forrest for inspection of permits and birds. Not only did Officer Forrest perform her duties in an exemplary manner, she was extremely polite during the encounter and shared quite a bit of information about waterfowling in the area, which was a welcomed enhancement to an inspection stop. Officer Forrest should be commended for her professional bearing, poise and approach to her job!
David Jacob and Jake Travers, Wildlife Impact Management
(The team in Fort Myers - Dan Quinn, Tyson Dallas and Clinton Cunningham - received similar feedback)
Attended the python training at the ARM Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. David and Jake did an excellent job at making everyone feel welcome and capable. They are very knowledgeable and had patience with each registered individual. My 11-year-old daughter completed the capture of the snake and left with confidence and motivation. Thank you for a great program and for the staff.
Andrea M. Boliek Walker, HGM
Andrea is one of the most helpful, passionate, patient and dedicated employees in the FWC. Sometimes I have difficulty expressing myself about things I care about, and Andrea helped me tremendously with some hunting and wildlife viewing limitations since I'm an AMP holder. Not too many people understand severe disabilities and their effects on individuals and their family. Not too many people want to deal with this kind of situation. When hurt in some mental or physical capacity, most people feel hopelessness and uselessness when they were able to do things before the situation came upon them. Andrea is one of the people I spoke with about many issues that might help me and other AMP holders in Florida. I wanted to express my thanks and show my appreciation by praising Andrea for performing her job above and beyond. She is very special since she is using her position to genuinely help the helpless and achieve maximum results. I recommend a pay raise that she deserves especially when others in the agency didn't even bother calling back. We need more representatives like her.
 Congratulations to the following employees for reaching 5-year milestones of employment with the FWC.
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35 Years
Mike Kemmerer, HSC
25 Years
Mark Asleson, HSC
Kelly Gestring, HSC
Tom Maurer, FWRI
15 Years
Amber Burns, OED
Sarah Burnsed, FWRI
Alan Curry, HSC
Kerry Flaherty-Walia, FWRI
Jeremy Martin, HSC
Janetta Melton, LE
Brian Rehwinkel, LE
Alexis Trotter, FWRI
Theresa Warner, FWRI
10 Years
John Booth, LE
Bud Vielhauer, Legal
5 Years
Maurice Austin, IG
Nelson Cline, HSC
Jeffrey Hostetler, FWRI
Geoffrey Lokuta, HSC
Michael McDaniel, LE
Mike Poniatowski, FWRI
Michelle Rutland, FBO
Retired!
Thomas Haworth, LE – 36 years, 7 months
Rae Waddell, SI – 27 years, 3 months
Traci Wallace, HSC – 33 years, 6 months
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(The FWC has a great many non-FTE employees, and they deserve recognition for reaching 5-year milestones too. Unfortunately, the system doesn't keep track of such statistics; but we don't want that to stop us. If you know of a non-FTE employee about to reach a 5-year milestone, please notify the Inside Job by email.) |
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FWC employees have some of the most interesting jobs ever! Here are some of our employees doing what they do best. Send your photos of FWC employees in the office and in the field to Kelly.Broderick@MyFWC.com.
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 Officers navigate a new week-long SOG school put on by Tactical Games focusing on physical fitness, marksmanship, CQB and land navigation.
 Wildlife and Habitat Management staff Rachel Taylor, Rob Creswell, Colleen Closius, Dan Mitchell, Travis Mangione, Carly Randazzo, Cory Gillis and Ashley Chattle work together to complete a prescribed burn in Rotenberger Wildlife Management Area.
 WHM biologist Cory Gillis completes Florida Forest Service’s S-212 Wildland Fire Chainsaw training course.
 FWC Officers Scott Smith (R), Alex Piekenbrock (L) and Lt. Roy Payne conducted a dockside fisheries inspection on a commercial lobster vessel. They found three undersize whole live lobster on the deck of the vessel. After a thorough check, the officers located 78 wrung lobster tails, with 67 of the wrung tails being undersize. The lobster tails were hidden in a hatch toward the front of the vessel. The tails were found in a large black garbage bag wrapped in slickers. The captain admitted to catching and keeping all the lobster on board. The captain was booked into jail and cited accordingly for his violations.
 Officers Milton Osorio and Jeffery Hart at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press conference where the opening of registration for the 2020 Python Challenge™ Python Bowl was announced.
 The Big Brothers Big Sisters program (Bigs in Blue) officers reunited with their former matches and new officers were introduced to their new “littles” from Miami Jackson High School. Above: The “little” is the high school student wearing the red shirt standing next to Officer Stanton along with the match support specialist who works for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. Below: Pilot Raul Perez and his new little brother.
 Biologist Rebecca Lucas, along with Jill Christoferson, trained our partners at Park Services about fishing techniques. Partners will use their training to conduct summer programs with kids. We wish Rebecca the best as she leaves us to work for the USFWS.
 Officers Courtney Baumgartner and Jason Rafter were conducting Federal Resource Patrol off Key Largo when they noticed a recreational vessel with numerous fishing poles was tied off to a mooring ball within Molasses Reef Sanctuary Preservation Area. The officers conducted a boarding and documented the individuals on board were actively fishing with lines in the water. The individuals stated they had only caught a fish and showed the officers a barracuda stored in a floor compartment. The officers gained consent to search the coolers after the individuals were reluctant to open them. Upon inspection of all the coolers, the individuals were found to be in possession of: (3) ocean triggers, (2) great barracuda, (3) graysby grouper, (1) yellowtail snapper, (52) mangrove snappers, (23) schoolmaster snapper; (2 of which were undersized) and (4) French grunts. The individuals were cited federally for fishing within a National Marine Sanctuary. They were also charged for state violations including: Over the Bag Limit Mangrove Snapper, Over the Limit Snapper Aggregate, Possession of Undersize Schoolmaster Snapper, Improper Display, and Safety Gear Violations.”
 Joleen Yanez, 7 pounds, born Dec. 20 to Inv. Christina Yanez and Lt. Randy Yanez in SRB (Miami).
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The Inside Job is a monthly newsletter featuring
the employees and programs of the FWC.
Send your submissions, comments and questions to Kelly.Broderick@MyFWC.com.
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