Our Hundred Acre Hollows Board was very busy this past summer. We continue working on our mission to “Protect the Wildlife, Restore the Habitat, and Engage the Public.”
We raised $3,200 in the Gannett Foundation “A Mighty Cause” Grant crowd-funding competition! We had to reach the $3,000 threshold to qualify for a grant. On Oct 5, it was announced that we won an additional $2,777 grant award! We plan to purchase picnic tables made from recycled plastic. They are very expensive, but they have a 20-year warranty.
In July, our HAH Board had two Strategic Planning sessions. We set goals for 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years. We are well on our way to achieving our goals.
In August, Tom Unrath, HAH President, and Anita were on the local Radio Show “Visit with Seeta and Friends.” It was fun talking about what a wonderful place HAH is for enjoying nature.
Volunteers replaced part of the fence that had fallen in Mandarin Lakes. They put in a new pole at the south gate. This is part of protecting the wildlife because now the fence is secured again.
Our teen Rangers made QR codes for the native plants in the gardens. They also help weed the gardens and welcome visitors at the gates. They inspect the trails and fix holes that could cause someone to fall.
Tom was interviewed for a Magazine article in Orlando Voyager
http://orlandovoyager.com/interview/meet-thomas-unrath-of-melbourne-fl/
We have made a request for an FWC permit extension to measure and GPS tag the Gopher Tortoise burrows again this winter. Yuliang Huang, one of our teen Board members, wants to compare the new information with what was gathered in Feb 2020 using the app he created for us. Last time, 407 active gopher tortoise burrows were identified. This will be Yuliang’s senior project at Edgewood JR/SR High School. His dad, Lixin, works in the county Information Technology Department.
The Brevard County Survey and Mapping Division of Public Works put three GPS monuments and targets in HAH for drone training. They flew the drone and took hundreds of photos which were stitched into one photo that is huge: 7.86 GB. The county IT department will process it.
Laura Zurro, who started the Facebook page “Florida Native Bees” came out to HAH on Sept 3 to look for and photograph bees. She identified 14 species of native bees in our gardens. On a patch of wild Frogfruit that is growing along the trail, she identified tiny Ceratina bees. She returned on Oct 14 and saw bumblebees in the blooming Goldenrod and longhorn bees. We now know HAH is an important place for native bees!
Sunset in the Hollows on the first and third Sunday of the month is popular with visitors. On Oct 3, there was a special Frog Watch at dusk with Alana Wood from Brevard Zoo leading the walk. We saw a lot of bats at sunset. Unfortunately, with the lack of rain, we didn’t hear frogs, but there was quite an insect chorus.
Purple Martins are one of the 83 species of birds that have been identified in HAH in the E-Bird app. A 12-gourd habitat was purchased from the Purple Martin Conservation Association costing $1,100. Bert Alm, HAH Treasurer, is going to meet with two experts, Dr. Anna Forsman and Dr. Jason Fischer, the first week of November to get their advice on where to put the bird condo. Anna is a research scientist in the Department of Biology and the Genomics & Bioinformatics Cluster at UCF. Prior to joining UCF in 2016, Dr. Forsman completed her Ph.D. work in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. Jason is a Conservation Program Manager for avian projects with Disney Conservation. His graduate research focused on avian urban ecology, and he now brings this passion to managing Disney’s avian conservation efforts. The HAH Rangers will be trained in lowering the winch system of the Purple Martin houses to check for eggs and baby birds.
The gates will be open on Nov 3 and 17 at 3 p.m. for work in the gardens and from 4 to 6 p.m. for Sunset in the Hollows. Our online community is growing. There are 1,161 people who “like” and 1,238 who follow our Facebook page, 166 who follow on Instagram, and we recently added @HAHBrevard on Twitter.
We invite you to join us as we unite to protect the wildlife and restore the habitat!
