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Director's Report
by Dr. Quenton Dokken
Failing economies, failing businesses, growing
unemployment, trillion dollar debt, etc, etc – the bad news seems
to be never ending. But, there is good news beneath the
headlines. The Gulf of Mexico Foundation (GMF) is still growing
and making headway in our effort to advance sustainable habitats
and ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to be heavily
involved with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance working with the
Habitat Conservation and Restoration and Education Priority
Issue Teams. Both NOAA and the EPA are continuing to invest
grant funds in the development and advancement of the Alliance.
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America's Sea – Keep It Shining! |
PARTNERSHIPS
GMF Receives $50K from SARP for regional watershed efforts
February 2009 – The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP)
recently awarded the Gulf of Mexico Foundation a $50,000 grant to work on a project
entitled “Sabine and Red River Basins: A Regional Watershed Approach to
Identifying Habitat Conservation Needs.” The project will involve
working with state and federal agencies to identify current
conservations issues within the two watersheds and establish a series of
conservation targets. Additionally, goals will be identified to help
focus resources, to set priorities and to improve coordination. This
information will influence both the Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan and
the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. For more information, visit SARP
online at www.sarpaquatic.org. |
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STAFF
Fikes conducts restoration/resiliency trip in Florida
Robinson Preserve in Florida
Photo: Ryan Fikes |
January 2009 - GMF Project Coordinator
Ryan Fikes traveled to Florida to conduct site visits on several of the
current Gulf Community-based Restoration Program (GCRP) projects
administered by the GMF. He also represented the GMF at a Coastal Community
Resiliency meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. This meeting was
hosted by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve and was
organized to share resilience-related programs, projects and
experience from the Florida Gulf Coast. Fikes conducted CRP site
visits at Robinson Preserve (see photo
at right) in Bradenton, Mattie Kelly and Cessna Parks in Niceville and
Lost River Preserve (formerly Heart
Mountain Farm) in Tampa. In addition to conducting site visits, Fikes joined NOAA
colleagues in several meetings with Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary staff. There are many great restoration opportunities in the
Keys and the GMF hopes to expand its
project-base there in the near future. |
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Weaver to coordinate DUOY cruise
February 2009 - Doug Weaver is GMF's Coordinator for the Down Under, Out Yonder program,
which educates teachers about the reef by taking
them scuba diving. Weaver is a Ruth Campbell Fellow working in the laboratory of the Harte Research Institute
in Corpus Christi, Texas. Formerly, Weaver worked as an expedition scientist and biologist with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
He has expertise in reef fish biology, particularly in those species that inhabit deep-water reef communities in the
Florida Keys and Gulf of Mexico. The 2009 DUOY cruise is set for July 11-15.
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Gonzales attends
environmental education meeting
March 2009 - GMF Project Leader Richard Gonzales took part in
a Gulf of Mexico Alliance Environmental Education Network team meeting
held in
GMF's Richard Gonzales, center, at
GOMA EEN environmental education meeting March 4-5. |
Spanish Fort, Alabama, March 4-5. Environmental education is a priority
of the group, which GOMA has charged with assisting other regional
teams in educating the public about critical issues in the Gulf of
Mexico area. The meeting focused on a social marketing study conducted by the
University of South Florida that aims at changing public behavior on
fertilizer use in an attempt to reduce nutrients that are released into
the environment. Fertilizers are believed to contribute to hypoxia, or
low oxygen levels, which contribute to the creation of "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico. |
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EDUCATION
GMF offers educators dive
workshop, wetlands cruise
February 2009 - The GMF presents two cruises this summer for K-12 and college-entry educators nationwide, the 14th annual Down Under, Out Yonder
DUOY brings teachers to the reef,
while IWWC focuses on wetlands education.
Photo: Carrie Robertson |
and the first annual Coastal Wetland's Cruise. Down Under, Out Yonder (DUOY),
July 11-15, is a five-day workshop that includes two days of on-land coral reef
education, followed by three days of scuba diving aboard a live-aboard vessel.
New in 2009 is the GMF's Intracoastal Waterway Wetlands Cruise (IWWC), June 14-17, which will take educators on a wetlands exploration aboard a
live-aboard vessel up the Intracoastal Waterway from Freeport, Texas, to Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
While DUOY still has a few spots open, the IWWC is full. ConocoPhillips
is the main sponsor for the 2009 IWWC.
READ MORE |
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GMF SSCN presents pipeline replica to commissioners
January 2009 - Students from the GMF
Science & Spanish Club Network (SSCN) from Edna, Texas, presented a 15th Anniversary commemorative replica of the Mary
Rhodes Pipeline on January 21 to the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority
Board of Commissioners. The presentation was a celebration of the “Humanized
Bernard Paulsen and GMF Science & Spanish Club
members from Edna Elementary School pose with the pipeline replica.
Photo: Richard Gonzales |
Watershed” project that brought water from Jackson County to the Coastal Bend region.
The students will present a second replica to the Corpus Christi City Council.
The SSCN is a multicultural outreach project working to bring English-speaking
and Spanish-speaking students together through a coastal environmental education
program along the Gulf coast. Bernard Paulsen (in photo above) was
the primary motivator for the first inter-basin transfer of water in
Texas which provided more water for business and industry in the Port
of Corpus Christi area. More than 150 SSCN students from Edna and the Coastal Bend signed the pipeline display. Those
students, who range in age from 10-13 years old, will be 37-40 years
old when the water rights contract comes up for renewal in 2035.
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RESTORATION / CONSERVATION
Eight new CRP projects underway for 2009
January 2009 - This year marked the eighth year of funding for
the Community-based Restoration Partnership
(CRP) in the
Gulf of Mexico and the fourth year in
Coral transplantation in the Caribbean
Photo: Ryan Fikes |
the Caribbean. For 2009 the
partnership has awarded $262,000 in grants towards coastal habitat
restoration. This year’s projects are located in Texas, Louisiana,
Florida and Puerto Rico. Restoration efforts will restore
approximately 130 acres of coastal habitat, contribute more than 7,000
volunteer hours and leverage approximately $425,000 in non-federal matching
funds.
Project scopes range from coral transplantation in the Caribbean (image
on right) to wetland/marsh restoration in Galveston Bay.
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BOARD / CEO COUNCIL
Marathon Oil Corporation
hosts CEO Council luncheon
January 2009 - Marathon Oil Corporation hosted a luncheon for the
GMF's CEO Council on January 19 in Houston. The program included overviews of 2008
activities of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation and plans for 2009. CEO
Council members recognized the accomplishments of progress of 2008 and
offered support and recommendations for advancing the Foundation to
greater service to the people, communities, business and industries
of the Gulf of Mexico through its conservation, restoration and
education efforts. CEO Council and Board of Directors members all agreed
that even in tough economic times the environment cannot be neglected. A
primary focus in 2009 will be to diversify the CEO Council to include
other industries such as agriculture, ports, shipping, fisheries and
tourism. The GMF will continue to focus on habitat
restoration, environmental education and building collaborative
regional networks.
READ MORE |
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© 2009 Gulf of Mexico Foundation. All rights reserved. E-newsletter design by
Carrie Robertson |
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