Sociology in the Woods

We were very happy to host the USF Sociology Club, their families, friends, and members of the community they recruited to participate in an invasive plant cleanup in the Back Woods this past Saturday. Professors Jenny and Laurel organized the volunteers as part of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party coordinated by 350.org, a campaign dedicated to reducing global CO2 emissions.

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Fortified by bagels and fruit, volunteers of all ages learned to id the non native invasive plant species Boston fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) and air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) and set to the task of removing them. Armed with loppers, machetes, shovels and rakes the volunteers made a serious dent in a heavily impacted corner of the Back Woods. Along with a few bags of trash found beneath the vines the volunteers cleaned out approximately 10 yards of air potato vines, air potato bulbils and tubers (check out that monster below), and Boston fern! WOW!!

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We can’t thank these dedicated folks enough for giving up a Saturday morning (and the USF Homecoming Game!) and putting in such effort to help us in our efforts to control invasive plant species in the Back Woods! We look forward to the opportunity to coordinate many more projects with USF Sociology Club, their friends and family in the future! Go Bulls!!

Check out coverage of the day in the USF Oracle, Students and faculty partake in global clean-up effort…their reporter not only covered the event but participated in the entire cleanup!

WE WANT YOU: If you are looking for a great work out (pulling up plants and wielding loppers) we are always looking for intrepid VOLUNTEERS to help us out in our battle against invasives. Ongoing opportunities M-F 7am-4pm.

Americorps in Action

We were very pleased to have had the opportunity to work with an absolutely wonderful team (Delta 3) of young adults in service with Americorps this past Saturday. One of the mottos for Americorps is “Service through Teamwork” and these bright and enthusiastic young men and women lived up to that motto by making quick and easy work of yards and yards of vines and cut brush in an area we have been clearing in the flatwoods.

Reminiscent of the depression era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women age 18–24. The young men and women we worked with were assigned from the Southern campus in Vicksburg, Mississippi having originally come from all parts of the U.S..

We look forward to working with AmeriCorps service members again in the future. We are working to see if we could have a team assigned to stay with us and work in the Back Woods. Think of the progress that could be made with that kind of teamwork and initiative available to us, wow.

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New Trail Surface and More

What a wonderfully frosty start to the new year. Much of the Back Woods vegetation is thoroughly dormant right now. The few Semi evergreen and evergreen trees and shrubs stand out starkly against the sleeping skeletons of deciduous trees. The warming weather has brought our gopher tortoises out foraging to make up for lost time in a torpor over the wintery past couple of weeks. We did catch a fine example of some mighty generous and frosty gopher tortoise poo deposited right before the freezes.

Volunteers George, Shayna, and Catlin helped me finish pulling up the last of the plastic on the main trail in preparation for the new shell bed. Local contractor Scheid’s Tractor Service did an awesome job of laying out the shell and doing a finally grade by hand! Thanks Eddie, it looks great. The new trail really looks fabulous and feels great underfoot. It is definitely crunchy, as a couple of people noted, but that should evolve as the material breaks down under traffic. The new surface is now much safer surface for hikers of all abilities. Take a moment to peak your feet from time to time, there is some other fossiliferous material mixed in with shell. You might just find a sharks tooth or two if you have a keen eye.

More on the Volunteer front: Great news for the Back Woods! Volunteer Catlin has begun an internship with us in conjunction with finishing an Environmental Science and Policy degree at USF. We are very happy to have her input and help as we complete the last of the requirements of our EPC grant and move on implementing a new grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service rehabbing the uplands.

The past two weeks have been a doozies  for finding the weird in the Back Woods. A collection of the usual unusual as we continue to pick up and maintain the preserve.

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Volunteers Tackle Trail Demo With Teamwork

Wow! We had one fabulous assemblage of volunteers this past Saturday to help pull up the old trail underlayment in preparation for a new shell path. Two of our weekly volunteer staff Catlin and George were joined by Michael, Erin, and Brian, Richard, Jeanne, David, Judy, and myself for some seriously dirty and back challenging work.  The first couple of volunteers to arrive (Jeanne and David) dove into the work right away. The rest of the mornings introductions were done on the fly…”good morning, gloves are over there, hop right in and just follow the lead” :-)!!

 

The volunteers cleared 2/3 of the trail or just over 900 linear feet of Geoblock 4-5 ft wide. That’s over 4000 sq ft of material lifted from the ground. That was 4ooo sq ft of plastic grid full of gravel, wet sand, anchored to the ground with weed and tree roots! And, all of this was accomplished in just 4 hours. I was truly impressed by the tenacity with which the team tackled the project. And, I am truly grateful for all the help!

Much thanks again to members of the Jose Gaspar Toastmasters of Tampa; Richard, Jeanne, David, and Judy (the Toastmasters public speaking group meets at MOSI and volunteers for the museum and the Back Woods), extra thanks to Jeanne and David for the field ‘power station’ to keep the drills recharged, Catlin and George for putting in an extra day (you guys are the best), Brian (nice to see you again), Erin (Gator Gal extraordinaire), and husband Michael (thanks honey!)…an additional note of thanks goes to ‘Super Amazing Steve’ from our facilities staff for the last minute manufacture of specialty tool for the job; the volunteers send their thanks!

Barred Owls and Boardwalks

Construction of the new boardwalk got underway this week just in time for all the stormy weather. Posts from the previous boardwalk had to be removed before construction of the new walk could begin. The crew from Golf Construction seem to be having plenty of fun slogging about in the thick of it to get the job done.

Rumbling through the Back Woods on the GATOR utility vehicle is not always the best way to catch sight of wildlife. Unless you are satisfied with glimpse of their rear ends dashing away from the awful rattle the gator makes. I startled this beautiful Barred Owl out of a tree as I rumbled under its perch along the trail. Fortunately for me, after swooping right over my head, this owl took a moment to catch a glimpse of me before silently flying off to some other spot in the canopy. What a cutie!! The Barred Owl should be right at home in our little forest, preferring a mature canopy and tolerant of urban areas. The habitat improvements we are making, including opening up the understory, should improve the habitat even more for the  Barred Owls.

Oh boy, this Saturday December 19th is going to be some down and dirty fun. About a dozen intrepid volunteers have signed up to help us pull up the old plastic Geoblock underlayment from the nature trail. Fortunately for us, it looks like the rain will let up just in time for the work to start tomorrow morning. The chilly temperatures expected might just be perfect for the heavy load of the day, pulling up nearly a 1/3 mile of plastic panels all screwed together and full of  rock.   I am excited to see the trail with out the Geoblock which has been exposed and damaged for a number of years. The short experimental stretch that volunteer Shayna and I pulled up yesterday looks really good. If you are free we could always use a couple of extra hands. Volunteers are meeting in the far southeast parking lot of the museum at 7:45 am, see ya there!! :-)

Back Woods Happenings and Such

I am remiss in yet lauding the activities of our two new repeat volunteers. College students Shayna and Catlin joined us in October. Since that time, they have made a serious impact on invasive species with their weekly volunteer activities. The gals took the lead in clearing air potato by hand out of the bottoms west of the Buttonbush Pond. From there, they have been tackling the Caesar weed (Urena lobata) that sprang up en masse in the plow line cut to control the brush fire last spring. I can not thank these women enough for their dedicated efforts in the Back Woods.

We welcome back our volunteer George. Down for the winter, George brings his trail maintenance experience from working on access trails to the AT at his summer home. He is currently helping me break down all the cherries we are thinning out of the forest. George also volunteers for us on a weekly basis, we are very happy to have him back.

Bones from above…last week while pulling air potato vines from the tree canopy, one of the volunteers was rewarded with bone dropped on her head. The bone looks like a large bird tibia. First thought was maybe it was from a bird that died in the tree top and the carcass never made it to the ground because of all the vines. A closer look at the bone shows it to be thoroughly gnawed on all over (nom, nom, nom as our Butterfly Guru would say.) It is possible a squirrel brought the bone up into the canopy to gnaw on for tooth maintenance or calcium.

The western sandhill is home to at least 1 large adult and a couple juvenile gopher tortoises. The big guy ( I call him Fred) has nice burrow with a huge apron of sand right near the trail. This location is great for the education staff to show students the characteristics of a burrow fairly up close. This location also puts the tortoise at a little greater risk from visitors who are not familiar with the sensitive nature of the burrows or the threatened status of the tortoises. Recently, it appears a regular visitor likes to inspect the burrow up close and with a canine companion. We have now posted a sign asking visitors to maintain their distance. In the near future, we will have kiosks with rules for the Back Woods posted. One of those will be pets must be leashed and picked up after. Until that time, I guess we’ll have to rely on our resident pooper scoopers like this rainbow scarab (along with at least one other variety of dung beetle) made quick work of a pile o’ dog doo left in the sandhill.

Awww! I am a serious sucker for ‘possums. Fortunately for me, they frequently find themselves trapped in the bottom of a trash can on the MOSI grounds. The staff must have me on speed dial for this situation because, I always get the call to help resolve the problem. My solution: Trek the can, possum in tow, to a spot off trail in the Back Woods. Most of the time the possum is in such a defensive stupor they won’t even make a run for it when I lay the can over. This little lady however skipped right out of the can the moment I laid it down and quite calmly sauntered off into the brush. Take a close look at the pickin’s in that trash can. What respectable Opossum could pass that up? Find one in your can at home? Just lay the can over and leave it be for awhile and the possum will find its way out on its own. Secure your can lids to prevent the problem in the future. :-)

Possibly to become a weekly tradition is a post featuring the the endless supply of air potatoes and more unusual or interesting trash collected during our work in the Back Woods. I humbly bring you this week’s Taters and Trash.

Out of a pile of air potatoes picked up up while clearing Caesar weed, this one was definitely worth highlighting. With a little imagination it definitely looks cartoonish even reminiscent of a Bill Plympton caricature. The trash seems to be everywhere you look some days. A closer inspection finds all kinds of household garbage and construction debris as well as automotive junk. The plastic horse head, slightly surreal without its stick, is our find of the week.

MOSI Green Day 2009

Wow, what an absolutely smashing success! First off I have to extend my thanks to the 204 VOLUNTEERS who showed up Saturday to participate in the plantings and clean up! Can you believe that number?! There are some seriously awesome folks in Tampa Bay who are all about making a difference any way they can. My most sincere thanks and kudos go out to them!

This past Saturday MOSI held it’s first ever Green Day event to celebrate the week of Earth Day and National Arbor Day. MOSI led into the event with plantings in the Richard T Bowers Historic Tree Grove starting Wednesday on Earth Day carrying through to Friday on Arbor Day. Nine thematic plantings tied in with the unique histories of the trees in the grove were funded by a grant from Fiskars and were installed by another corps of awesome volunteers led by Kristen G our curator of the BioWorks, butterfly gardens and tree grove. (Check out Kristen’s blog Lepcurious for more details and pictures)

Saturday MOSI held a Green themed exhibitor fair in the Richard T Bowers Historic Tree Grove with some wonderful folks including; Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, South West Florida Water Management District, Natural Resource Planning Services, Morningstar Fisherman, M & B Products, HCC Institute of Florida Studies, Galaxy Eco Wash, Enviro-tech, Green Armada, FL Aquarium Green Team, Baby Girl Cleaning Products, Hillsborough County Solid Waste, Posey Power Batteries, and a few more (apologies to anyone I am missing!)

Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful was pivotal in helping us recruit and register 204 volunteers for the event. Volunteers cleaned up a mile and a half of city roadways including Fowler Avenue in front of the museum and the side streets bordering the Back Woods. More volunteers bagged trash along the nature trails and dug out long buried trash deep in the woods. Another team of volunteers filled bags and bags with seed pods of invasive trees. With shovels lent to MOSI by Hillsborough County’s Special Events Team, volunteers planted 90 longleaf pine throughout the east and west sandhills of the Back Woods. Cub Scout Pack 78, always up to any task, took on trimming trees growing into the trails. An intrepid group of Girl Scouts dove into duty late in the day cleaning and raking the trails. And with some serious gusto, teams of volunteers armed only with rakes and shovels and some serious fortitude filled in the plow line from our recent brush fire!!

Many thanks go out to all the MOSI staff and friends for help making the day possible. Thanks to Phil, Joel, Guest Services, Custodial, Parking, Cafe, Kristen, Sara, MOSI Science Store, and probably a ton more staff I am forgetting. Thanks to Mindy from NRPS for help mapping and flagging trees. Super thanks to Will and T.R.E.E. Inc. for donating nearly 100 longleaf pines for the plantings! Thanks to Steve for helping me schlep all those trees in and out of the truck! Thank you to Walter for taking photographs (and to Erin for letting me borrow him.) And, thanks to Joe and Pat for helping me heft 60 plus bags of garbage in the dumpster at the end of the day!

Our most sincere thanks go to the folks who provided extras for all of our amazing volunteers; thank you to Natural Resource Planning Services for providing over 200 bottles of water for our volunteers, thank you to M&B Products for providing water and juice in their unique bags to our volunteers, thank you to Dunkin Donuts for providing coffee and donuts for our volunteers, super thanks to MOSI for giving all volunteers a free pass to MOSI, and super super thanks to Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful for providing volunteers with t-shirts, sunscreen, bracelets, more water, tote bags, snacks, and other goodies in appreciation of their great service!

Thanks to Pat and Daisy from Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful for all of their awesome efforts with out which the day would not have been possible. KHCB does some really awesome work with almost no staff and more enthusiasm than 100 people!

Here is looking forward to MOSI’s Green Day 2010, Cheers!

Outdoor Stage Renovation

Boy Scout Andrew D. preformed some renovation work on the outdoor stage area as part of the requirements to earn his Eagle Scout status. This past Saturday; Andrew, family, and other scouts cleared the outdoor stage platform and surrounding area of weedy debris, reset the campfire rings and resurfaced all the seating with new stained and treated planks. Awesome work Andrew! MOSI and I thank you immensely!

Just to give you an idea of the improvement this photo is of the state of the seating area in July of 2008.

Sandhill Expansion

Saturday was an absolutely wonderful day spent with old friends and new. Members of the Caribbean Chapter (all of central to southern Florida and Puerto Rico) of the Society of American Foresters held their annual volunteer service day in the Back Woods @ MOSI. New volunteer Forest Stewards, George and Brian, joined us to learn some chainsaw skills and help in the cleanup.

Priority of the day was to tackle the hardwoods (mostly sand live oak [Quercus geminata] and some black cherry [Prunus serotina] that are encroaching on the sandhill plant community. Commonly the canopy of trees in a sandhill community in our area might be dominated with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) with a mix of a little turkey oak (Quercus laevis) , bluejack oak (Quercus incana), sand live oak, and others depending on the amount of disturbance (fire) the system is exposed to. Typically these systems are very open and subject to frequent low intensity fires that keep all but the fire resistant longleaf pine from dominating the canopy.

Needless to say their were some hardwoods shaking in their roots on Saturday. To the task; professional foresters (Sam), land managers (Stu), forestry consultants (Eric), and forestry students (Walter) broke out their chainsaws and starting clearing. Many thanks to SAF member Sam for sharing chainsaw skills with our volunteer Brian (we might even make him a forester). Some serious progress was made in the western sandhill. Unwanted hardwoods were cleared in the center and around the perimeter. This section is one of the few open areas in the forest still able to support  herbaceous sandhill species and gopher tortoise.

In addition to clearing trees, we cleared a serious amount of garbage from the sandhill. Volunteer George meticulously collected bags and bags of broken glass, mattress coils, and miscellaneous construction debris buried in the sandhill and more  revealed by the clearing activities. There is still a disturbing amount of buried material throughout the forest but with our volunteers concerted efforts, the task is most definitely surmountable!

SAF members Mindy and Erin took on the task of recording GPS coordinates and conditions of the over 100 trees planted in January for MOSI’s Florida Arbor Day Celebration. Fortunately both Mindy and Erin participated in the January plantings and were familiar with the scattered locations of all the trees. Following the field collection, Mindy is collating all the data and producing GIS documents to analyze the data spatially(Thanks Mindy!). With this data, we hope to track the success of the planting and the future growth of the trees.

We closed out the day hot and dusty. I thanked my friends for all their help and wished them well on their way home (some traveled over a hundred miles to join us for the day). I captured one last photo in the woods as everyone left. A honey bee on poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) blossoms signaling to me Spring is on the way and all is well with the woods.

Technorati Tags: sandhill,volunteer,volunteers,SAF,restoration,vegetation management

Wow, what a difference. Two new volunteer forest stewards Brian and George made a major dent in some of the demolition necessary in the Back Woods. The lush invasive filled picture shows our picnic platform in the western flatwoods. It was dilapidated, rotting out from underneath, and collapsing from soil subsidence.
Needless to say, it was in even worse shape than pictured here.

The second photo shows the fruits of some dedicated volunteer labor. New volunteer Brian (demolitionist extraordinaire) started his first day tackling the platform. On a second day he and new volunteer George (saw palmetto slasher extraordinaire) finished up the job! WooHoo! All that is left is some tidying up, repairing the waste can, and deciding on how to use the area in the future.

A comment on the brown: A fan to the MOSI Facebook page mentioned concern about the appearance of the Back Woods. Here is what I said in response; The Back Woods is undergoing an habitat restoration process which includes treating non native invasive plant species mechanically and with herbicides. Top that with a notable nippy and dry winter, and there appears to be a lot of brown in the Back Woods. Already we are seeing native shrubs and herbaceous material that was smothered by invasive competitive air potato vine making a come back even in this challenging weather. Please check out our forest blog TheLongleaf at http://thelongleaf.blogspot.com/ for more details about the restoration process. In addition to pictures on the blog, you can see more pictures of the Back Woods at our Flickr site MOSI Outside http://www.flickr.com/groups/mosioutside/ where you will definitely find plenty of beautiful things very much alive in the Back Woods.Thank you for your concern! Cheers, TheLongleaf

Types of Trees Planted

Pat from Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful is fortunately keeping me on my toes. How could I have forgot such a detail. Would you like to know what we planted? Check out the list below.

Trees Planted:
Qty. 10 3-gallon loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus)
Qty. 10 3-gallon dahoon holly (Ilex cassine)
Qty. 3 15-gallon dahoon holly (Ilex cassine)
Qty. 10 3-gallon Simpson’s stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans)
Qty. 3 15-gallon Simpson’s stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans)
Qty. 20 3-gallon redbay (Persea borbonia)
Qty. 3 15-gallon redbay (Persea borbonia)
Qty. 50- 3-gallon longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)
Qty. 10 3-gallon Walter’s viburnum (Viburnum obovatum)
Qty. 3 15-gallon Walter’s viburnum (Viburnum obovatum)

Additionally we never got to another 10 3 gal black gum (Nyssa sylvatica biflora) and a member of the SAF student chapter donated some 3 gal basswood (Tilia americana). The black gum (I call them tupelo) will find a home in the depths of the wetlands and the bass wood will find a home somewhere in the flatwoods transition.

After the planting a volunteer asked why I chose the species I did. We didn't exactly get our first choices due to the time of year and availability from the nursery industry. But, the thought behind all the choices was the same. I wanted to find species that were commonly found in the habitats exhibited in the Back Woods (sandhill, flatwoods, hardwood wetland, transitions). And, I tried to find species that would increase the diversity of plant species and provide resources for wildlife.

More soon on some of those individual tree species...

Tree Planting Photo Album

More pictures of all the happenings at MOSI in celebration of Florida Arbor Day

Florida Arbor Day

If you can help me place names to faces please check out the album on picasa and email me the info at crhodes@mosi.org

Florida Arbor Day Tree Planting Event

This past Saturday January 10th 2009, we celebrated Florida Arbor Day with a volunteer tree planting and an outdoor exhibition. The trees for the planting were provided by a grant to MOSI through a partnership of the USDA Forest Service, the Florida Division of Forestry and the National Football League to promote urban reforestation in the Tampa Bay Watershed in conjunction with Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay.

The real stars of the day were 80 plus volunteers who pre-registered to help us plant 120 trees in the Back Woods and Bioworks Butterfly Garden. (Many of our volunteers found out about us through the great efforts of the folks at Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful.)

The volunteers stepped up to the challenge of matching names and color codes of half a dozen different species of trees and finding pre-flagged locations in the Back Woods to plant them.

The volunteers made short work of their individual planting tasks, returning to the staging area again and again looking for more plants to get in the ground.

Scout Pack 78 St Francis of Assisi single handedly tackled 10 15 gallon trees in the butterfly garden. Those young men and their leaders did an absolutely awesome job! Hopefully we will be working with these powerhouses in the future in the Back Woods.

Volunteers found many other ways to make an impact in addition to the planting. New friend to the Back Woods, volunteer Rich, brought an entire collection of tree and brush cutting tools. Rich undertook felling a massive invasive exotic tree in the forest that had been killed by herbicide treatments. (pictures soon) Thank you Rich! Another group offered clean-up service in the Back Woods. A pile of 40 plus tires along the trail pulled from the brush is proof of their days work, awesome (pictures soon)! Another new friend to the Back Woods, volunteer David, has offered to outfit our gator with a water tank to help establish all the trees planted. WOW, thank you David! And can not forget to thank regular MOSI volunteers Hands On Tampa Bay who staffed our volunteer check in and helped with the event set up and staffing.

Exhibitors for the celebration included Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful (KHCB), Florida Division of Forestry (FLDOF), University of Florida Plant City, Society of American Foresters(Caribbean Chapter), A-1 Assets, and One Source.
Pat DePlasco of KHCB had t-shirts for all of our volunteers and spent the day sharing information on litter prevention and clean-up. Carrie Kotal, Polk County Forester, represented the Florida Division of Forestry bringing with her Smokey the Bear and another forester on call for wildfire situations with his cool ride. Dr. Martin Wortman was on hand from UF to share info that the University of Florida has a satellite campus in Plant City where you can pursue a 4 year degree from UF in Natural Resource Conservation or Agriculture Education without ever going to Gainesville. Certified arborist Annie from One Source was on hand to discuss tree maintenance. One Source Management, Inc, our grounds company, also graciously sponsored the materials to offer a bird seed craft for our littler guests. A-1 Assets was on hand to offer small electronics recycling for our guests. And the Caribbean Chapter of the Society of American Foresters offered a selection of native tree seedlings for sale as part of their annual scholarship fundraising.

Special thanks also go out to many who helped by lending us the tools to make the day possible. MOSI employees contributed a nearly a dozen shovels to the task. Landscape design firm Plant Adoption Landscape, Inc lent out their entire compliment of shovels to us for the day. And the real heroes were the Special Events Team of Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation who filled in the gap by bringing enough shovels and rakes to put a tool in every volunteer’s hands. Park Ranger Charles Moss also kept track of all our tools and resupplied volunteers with materials throughout the day.

Additional thanks go out to some special friends who helped make this day possible; Mindy Moss (Consulting Forester: NRPS) who was invaluable in helping me promote and stage this event, Erin Givens (Continuing Education Coordinator Hillsborough Community College - Plant City Campus) who was my crack photographer for the day, Walter Givens who tackled all my last minute staging craziness with a smile, Lisa Leonard MOSI Events and Promotions Coordinator who helped turn a planting into an event, Kristen Gilpin MOSI Bioworks Butterfly Garden and her volunteers, T.J. Couch and his "deuce and a half", and Will Moriaty of T.R.E.E. Inc. who has worked diligently to coordinate the all the parties involved in the NFL tree planting initiative and has promoted reforestation in Tampa Bay for over 20 years.

I am sure there are many more I may have missed unintentionally; Thank you all for participating and contributing to habitat restoration in the Back Woods.

Florida Arbor Day Volunteers

MOSI is celebrating Florida Arbor Day this Saturday January 10th with a mass volunteer planting of 100+ trees in the Back Woods forest preserve and the BioWorks Butterfly Garden. In addition to the plantings, there will nature and tree related craft activities for the kids, a native tree seedling sale, recycling info from the City of Tampa, info from the Florida Division of Forestry, and more!! The event takes place from 11am to 3pm.

Now what was that about volunteers? Well, I just wanted to note that we have an overwhelming response to our call for volunteers to help with our planting! I owe many thanks to Andrea Barber at Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Mindy Moss with the Caribbean chapter of the Society of American Foresters, Rob Northrop Hillsborough County Extension Forester, and the marketing staff here at MOSI for getting the word out to potential volunteers!

If you are volunteering this Saturday, thank you in advance. This is going to be a wonderful day to get outdoors, plant a tree, and get involved with the restoration of the Back Woods forest. It is my hope that many of you will want to return to volunteer for more restoration activities!

Weekend Foresters

Volunteer USF Community Plunge:

Volunteers from USF dove into service in the forest on Saturday August 23rd!

Twenty students from varied backgrounds took a day out of the hectic fall semester to help cut and pull vines from the perimeter fence. Armed with only loppers, rakes and handsaws; they grappled with wrist thick grape vines, endless air potato vine, and rock hard sand live oak.

The overgrowth was no match for these determined Bulls!

Much thanks to the young men and women of USF for their service to the community and Museum of Science and Industry!