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Gathering Highlights Appreciation for Florida's Natural Beauty
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was one of several organizations invited to display at the Annual Joint Holiday Meeting of the Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and the St. Petersburg Audubon Society, held on December 3, 2003. Elementary- and middle-school students visiting the USGS booth were eager to collect satellite-image posters of the Tampa Bay community, various publications, and other educational materials. Supplies at the meeting were limited, and so five individuals visited the USGS office in St. Petersburg, FL, on a later date to collect educational handouts and posters. Students were also interested in finding resources, ideas, and help for upcoming science-fair projects. A highlight of the joint meeting was guest speaker Jeff Ripple, landscape photographer and natural-history author, who left an audience of about 120 people in awe as he shared his lifetime of experiences exploring some of the few remaining wild places in Florida. Ripple accompanied his slide photographs with the nighttime sounds of frogs croaking and crickets chirping, and with precise words to describe the subtleties of the natural landscape. In addition to the USGS, organizations represented at the meeting included the Clearwater Audubon Society, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the Pier Aquarium, the Pinellas Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association, the South Cross Bayou Water Reclamation Facility, the Frog Listening Network, the Gopher Tortoise Council, the Florida Master Naturalist Program, the Florida Marine Research Institute, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, Florida Yards and Neighborhoods, the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Park, the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve, Moccasin Lake Nature Park, the Pinellas County School District, Pinellas County Environmental Management, Trail of Lost Tribes, Inc., and the Florida Frontiers/Native Earth Cultural Center, Inc.
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in this issue:
cover story: Submarine Ground Water in Rhode Island Underwater Microscope System Patented Meeting Highlights Florida's Natural Beauty Coastal Environmental Indicators Workshop Internet Tools Featured at Tampa Bay Workshop Normark and Oremland Selected AGU Fellows |