 |
Gulf News |
Fall 2007 |
|
space |
|
Quarterly newsletter from the Gulf of Mexico Foundation |
GMF to host Gulf Guardian Awards
The Gulf of
Mexico Foundation will host the banquet for this year's Gulf Guardian Awards
to be held in
Tampa, Florida, on Nov 14. Gulf Guardian Awards, hosted by the EPA's
Gulf of Mexico Program, recognize and honor the businesses,
community groups, individuals, and agencies that are taking
positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful and
productive. All winners receive a
memento, press coverage about their project and recognition by their peers.
First place winners receive a 3-minute professional video about
their project or efforts.
|
|
|
. |
|
EDUCATION
DUOY 2007 photo slideshow online
The 13th annual Down Under, Out
Yonder Advanced Educators Cruise held in July brought 18
teachers to the reef for a three-day trip on a live-aboard dive
boat. ConocoPhillips provided funding for the trip, which is a joint
venture between the GMF and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary. Photographer Franklin Viola was onboard this year to
document the trip. His log of the
trip begins, "Have you ever wondered how a bunch of school
teachers really behave on summer break? ... Stay up late
playing board games, cackle so loud other 'adults' get little
sleep and consume anything chocolate. Then drag out of bed with
uncombed mop-tops and wondering why the floor is moving."
VIEW PHOTOS |
|
|
GMF S&S; Club members learn through beach clean-ups
September 2007 - More than 130 members of the GMF Science & Spanish
Club Network helped to boost the largest volunteer turnout (160) ever
for the Texas
 General
Land Office's Fall Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup at the Lighthouse Lakes Park,
Conn Brown Harbor and the Aransas Pass Aquatics Center held on Sept 22.
S&S Clubs from Sinton, Ingleside, Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass joined
over 30 other community volunteers as 300 hundred bags of beach debris
were picked up. "The Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup experience teaches youth
leadership skills by learning how to take the initiative in picking up
other people’s trash,” said S&S Club project manager Richard Gonzales of
the GMF. Another 180 S&S Club students from other schools participated
in the Redfish Bay Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup in Matagorda County on the same
day.
READ MORE |
|
|
RESTORATION
CRP project focus: Re-planting a newborn lagoon
 October
2007 - Since February, the Manatee County Borrow Pit Transformation
project in Bradenton, Florida, has clocked almost 1,000 volunteer hours
to replant the borrow-pit-turned-lagoon. Utilizing local students and
Marsh Mania weekend events, volunteers became a part of this "Restoration
Revolution" as they worked to plant salt marsh species at the newborn
lagoon. In total 275 volunteers have planted over 30,000 marsh plants
in an effort to bring life to this newly created habitat.
READ MORE |
Committee selects new restoration projects for 2008
Entering into its seventh year, the Community-based Restoration
Partnership administered by the GMF received proposals totaling over $1.5 million for
restoration projects in the Gulf States and U.S. Territories of the
Caribbean. With only $300,000 to award, the selection process was
highly competitive. After careful consideration the Gulf of Mexico
Foundation and its CRP Steering Committee would like to congratulate the following
eight recipients for funding
during the coming year:
- Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Helen Wood Park Restoration Project
- Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge, TM Pass Project
- Department of Biological Sciences at Nicholls State University, Fourchon Dune and Beach Community Restoration
- Imperial Calcasieu Resource Conservation and Development, Peveto Sand Fencing and Vegetation Project
- Choctawahatchee Basin Alliance, Cessna/Mattie Kelly Parks Oyster Bar and Salt Marsh Construction
- Preserving the Environment through Ecological Research, Heart Mountain Farm Fisheries Habitat
- Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, Hurricane Hole Moorings/ Mangrove Protection Project
- Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Rehabilitation of Mangrove Channels in Pinones State Forest and Natural Reserve
|
|
|
STAFF
GMF staff travels to Florida to host RRCT workshop
September 2007 - GMF staff members Dr. Quenton Dokken, Bobbi Reed
and Kathryn Tunnell traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida, to host the
last in a series of state-lead Regional Restoration Coordination Team
workshops at Weedon Island Preserve Sept 22-25. Under a grant awarded to
the GMF by the Environmental Protection Agency, the GMF is tasked with
organizing and facilitating a series of meetings to be held in each of the
 gulf
states to identify needs and priorities for coastal habitat restoration
in the Gulf of Mexico.
PHOTO: Randy Runnels, Florida’s RRCT
State Lead, guides a group kayak tour through Terra Ceia.
Photo courtesy TPWD
The Florida/Caribbean workshop included a field trip to familiarize
other state natural resource managers with Florida restoration and
conservation projects, as well as issues and challenges that the state
faces. The field trip was followed by presentations from natural
resource managers and scientists from the gulf states, Puerto Rico and
the US Virgin Islands. During the workshop, natural resource managers
from across the gulf region discussed parallel problems and challenges,
possible solutions and the implementation of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance
Governor’s Action Plan.
READ MORE |
|
|
BOARD
Board of Directors meets in New Orleans Aug 7-8
August, 2007 – The Gulf of Mexico Foundation
Board of Directors held its summer meeting Aug 7-8 in New Orleans. On Aug 7, ConocoPhillips
hosted an all-day tour by boat for the board members of the Southeast
Louisiana fee lands which the company owns. They own approximately
640,000 acres, all coastal marsh land. The tour provided an
opportunity to identify the challenges faced in managing coastal
properties with many diverse stakeholder interests. Greg DuCote with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources also assisted in
the field trip, and provided an overview of the coastal restoration efforts
ongoing in the state. That evening, GMF board member Marti Powers and BP-America hosted a dinner for
board members and guests, providing an opportunity to socialize,
network and share thoughts and impressions from the day’s field trip. On August 8, the GMF Board conducted its quarterly business meeting at the offices
of Shell Exploration and Production in New Orleans. Fred Palmer with Shell
E&P;, and Kevin McEvoy with Oceaneering International, Inc., were approved for
membership to the board.
READ MORE
|
|
|
|
|
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Subscribe to make certain that you
don't miss GULF NEWS!
Click here to SUBSCRIBE. Click here to
UNSUBSCRIBE.
Please visit www.gulfmex.org for more information
about the Gulf of Mexico Foundation or contact us at info@gulfmex.org, 800.884.4175,
361.882.3939. Write us at PMB 51 - 5403 Everhart Rd, Corpus Christi, TX 78411.
© 2007 Gulf of Mexico Foundation. All rights reserved. E-newsletter design by
Carrie Robertson |
|
