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On April 20^th, 2010, as many American’s watched their TV sets in utter disbelief as oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico, a group of college students were planning their trip to come help!  As we reach the one year anniversary of the oil spill, the University of California at Berkley students joined National Wildlife Federation and dedicated their spring break time away from examinations and study sessions to engage in restoration events in Florida.

On March 25th, a dozen students traveled more than 2,000 miles to volunteer at local state parks in Florida. Their high energy, hard work, and determination was certainly felt by all at National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf Restoration Event at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.  The importance of restoration and maintaining Florida’s Gulf coast also resonated with locals who call the Gulf home.  South Walton Community members joined us and together, we were able to accomplish properly marking 6 trails, installing signs and effectively roping off over 3 miles of beach to protect the dunes and wildlife, and removing invasive exotic plant species to allow for native pitcher plant growth.

The volunteer events in Florida (Bald Point State Park, Perdido Key State Park, and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park) have all been a true testament that hard work, dedication, team work, and some suntan lotion and bug spray, can lead to tremendous improvements for wildlife who call these parks home. 

As our restoration events are now moving west we need your help now more than ever!  Tasked with planting 23,000 grasses over two, two day events, our National Wildlife Federation team is partnering with the Louisiana Wildlife Federation to make this goal a reality.  Our next event will take place at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, just outside New Orleans.  Planting marsh grasses will restore lost habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife species and we need your help!

Join us April 15^th and 16^th and or May 27^th and 28^th – Together we can meet our goal to plant 23,000 plant species!

Sign up today!  See you in Louisiana!

Volunteers traveled from as far as Cape Coral – 400 miles away – to roll up their sleeves and get to work!  Florida Wildlife Federation also joined us from Tallahassee to engage in the days activities and also had available a petition to sign for a constitutional amendment to prohibit oil and gas drilling in Florida’s near-shore waters.

NWF volunteers raking the soil and planting wiregrass seed

Engulfed in a faint familiar campfire aroma, Park Ranger Kevin Patton welcomed us to Bald Point State Park and introduced us to its complex ecosystems. Known as the “lightning capital of the world,” Florida frequently has natural wildfires.  Subsequently, Florida is home to many fire adapted and dependent species, and Kevin thoroughly explained the importance of prescribed burns at the park, informing us that, “wiregrass will only produce viable seed if you burn it through lightning season — May through July.”

Halfway through the day, we gathered for every volunteers’ favorite pastime – lunch!  We took the opportunity to cool down, fuel up and get to know one another on a personal level. During this time, we discovered amongst us a professor, a PhD student, a cave diver and a full time mom—and perhaps most remarkably, a couple married for over 48 years!

Hardworking couple Phil and Cecilia

Their tip for a long, healthy marriage?  Volunteer together as often as possible! Cecilia enlightened us, “Marriage is all about working towards a common goal. That’s the same attitude we have towards the volunteer work we do together. Why stay home and get old when we get out and make a difference?”

Park Ranger Kevin Patton with a box of wiregrass plugs ready to be planted

After lunch, our volunteers plowed full steam ahead, finishing the planting of more than 5,000 wiregrass plugs, exceeding the Park rangers’ expectation for the entire weekend!

While rain is seldom seen as a positive in the world of volunteerism, the overnight thunderstorms couldn’t have been better timed; watering our recently planted grass plugs, leaving us with the perfect conditions to lay down raw seeds. ‘No-see-ums’ (tiny biting bugs that can quickly become the bane of a volunteer’s existence) were out in full force, but that didn’t stop our hard working volunteers from showing up enthusiastic and ready to work on day two.

Marshland nearby kept us all alert as alligators and black bears call this land home.  Much time was spent discussing the hypothetical “what if’s?” and as the weekend was winding down, we were thrilled and relieved that our only encounter was with little spring peeper frogs. After the last grass plugs were planted, the last seed scattered and the last tuft of wiregrass trimmed, we spent time reflecting on the past two days.

Photo taken by volunteer Walter Pickel

As the sun set on our last day, we all left the park with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and a greater knowledge of the local forest ecology.  In the end, we all had a better understanding of how our work fit into the larger restoration picture, and left with a well deserved (and gratifying) feeling of fatigue, which made our bug bites itch a bit less and the soreness in our legs a lot more tolerable.

Read this news article for additional details about our experience at Bald Point State Park!

Join NWF at our next event at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park or at a event later this spring! Learn more on the NWF website.