WARNING - Video is very disturbing, but a truthful view of what is really going on. Please donate what you can to help with the clean up effort.

The staff at our reserves are heavily involved in the damage assessment process that is currently happening along the Gulf coast. Our reserves also will be reference sites for the long-term cleanup and restoration of the Gulf. To give you some idea of what our people are already doing on research and sampling:

• Rookery Bay Reserve assembled a multi-agency team with to design a Natural Resources Damage Assessment sampling plan for water and sediments. The Rookery Bay Reserve is coordinating NRDA sampling for the west coast Florida region covering Hernando County to Collier County.

• Apalachicola Reserve has coordinated the placement of an Air Quality Monitoring Station at the reserve. Sampling benthic infauna samples has begun in St. Joseph’s Bay and Apalachicola Bay.

• Grand Bay Reserve has completed a shoreline photo-monitoring survey of the Reserve’s shoreline, has collected resident fish using fish traps, and is preparing for emergent marsh and more fish sampling next week.

The funds we are raising will be used to assist the staff at the reserves in continuing their damage assessment work. It will also be used for direct cleanup costs at the reserves and any habitat restoration work that is needed.