By Laura Greeno, Natural Areas Coordinator, Lee County Parks & Recreation
Funding provided by the Donna J. Heinrich environmental education grants allowed Lee County Parks and Recreation staff to increase awareness of the importance of gopher tortoise and upland conservation through printing of a coloring book, development of an interpretive sign and interaction with elementary school children. By partnering with school staff, we were able to complete the project despite COVID restrictions prohibiting county staff from entering schools.
Dunbar High School Technology Educator Stephen Funderburk worked with senior Joshua Martinez to design an interpretive panel about gopher tortoises and threats they face. The signs have been placed in 14 Lee County Conservation 20/20 preserves and in a preserve area of Littleton Elementary school. Thousands of residents and tourists will pass by these signs in the Lee County Conservation 20/20 preserves each year.
Felicia Nudo produced the Gilbert the Gopher Tortoise coloring book, in partnership with Amanda Gray and Isabella Baquerizo in 2017. As part of the elementary school outreach component of this project, 375 copies of the coloring book were provided to the Environmental Education Coordinator for the Lee County School District to use in her gopher tortoise presentations. Due to COVID, Lee County Staff were not allowed to enter classrooms. Staff provided burrow camera images to the EE Coordinator and visited a local school with a large population of gopher tortoises on campus to assist with determining which burrows were active, as part of a project with FWC to exclude tortoises from the playground.
Public outreach was also hindered by COVID restrictions, but a volunteer was able to attend a local environmental event and provided information to 425 people and handed out 30 coloring books to children. Lee County staff will continue to work with the school district environmental education coordinator to enhance a virtual fieldtrip experience in 2022 with photos obtained from wildlife cameras installed near burrow entrances.