Coordinator's Note

The Trail is here! Well... almost. Since our last update, the Trail has progressed by leaps and bounds. Sites have been determined for the first section; an interactive Web site is in the works; we've been awarded our next grant from FDOT for the West Florida Section; and I hope you'll all help celebrate these accomplishments at the groundbreaking for the East Florida Section on November 12! This celebration will be the public's first glimpse of the Trail and its purpose is to celebrate your success in making this project a reality. Read on for details, and I look forward to congratulating you all in person in November! Hope you're out enjoying the migration!

Julie Brashears, BirdingTrail Coordinator FL Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Using the East Florida Birding Trail

Free commemorative guides will be available starting with the groundbreaking celebration. These guides provide locations, directions to, and brief descriptions of the 136 sites in this first section of the Trail. Highway signage marking these sites will be erected by summer 2001, when the extended Guide to the East Florida Birding Trail will be available for sale in bookstores across the state.

Watch for the guide, with its extensive site descriptions, birding resources and essays on birding and bird conservation in Florida!

Can't make the groundbreaking celebration? You can get a Trail guide after Nov. 12 at the Gateways (Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Ft. Clinch State Park, or Tenoroc Fish Management Area), or request one: www.floridabirdingtrail.com or 850/922.0664!

Groundbreaking Celebration!

Join the free fun, food and festivities as the first section of the Great Florida Birding Trail is unveiled at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in Titusville on Sunday, November 12!

This is the public's first chance to use this exciting Trail! Starting with food and music at 12:30, the unveiling will commence at 2:00. Afterwards, linger at Sand Point Park to watch the awards ceremony for the birding classic, or take a free shuttle to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge's Black Point Wildlife Drive for a guided birding hayride sure to delight beginner and expert birders alike! For more info on the celebration or the festival, call 321/268.5224 or point your browser to the festival Web site: www.nbbd.com/fly.

Birding Trail sponsorships available!

Your business can still sponsor one of many Birding Trail projects! Events, publications and site improvements could all feature your business' name; for details, contact Julie Brashears, Trail Coordinator.

West Florida site nominations have opened!

To nominate a site in one of the West Florida Section counties (listed below), download a nomination form or request a paper copy from the website or from the Trail Coordinator. Anyone can nominate a site – birders, citizen conservationists, tourism executives or land managers – and a diversity of sites are appropriate for the Trail. They can be on public or private land; be excellent birding year-round or just in one season; their access can even be restricted to appointments only. Before you exclude a site because it's non-traditional, consult the Trail Coordinator– you may be sitting on a fabulous birdwatching opportunity and a great benefit to your local economy.

Nominations for sites in the following counties are due by January 15, 2001:

The birders are coming ...and Citrus is ready!

Dick Blewett, pictured at left, is a veritable force of nature in Citrus County. Before Trail nominations were even open in his section, he had organized land managers in his county to identify birding sites and then census them year-round. Couldn't find enough birders to do the censuses? Nonsense! He simply taught a multi-week course on bird identification, creating new birders. What a dynamo! Send questions or notes of hero worship to Dick at seaeagle@hitter.net. To follow Dick's progress, check Citrus County's Birding Trail site at http://www.citruscounty-fl.com/birdcount.html.

Where there's a willet, there's a way!

Looking for a way to finance improvements to your birding site? Matt Hixson may be the man with just the idea. The Blue Heron Water Reclamation Facility, in Titusville, FL, has turned their artificial wetlands into a successful birding site! Typically a wastewater treatment budget doesn't include funding for wildlife viewing amenities, so the staff went out in search of grants. Innovation and community support obviously made for great success . . . in the form of a $150,000 grant to fund two boardwalks, an info station, signage, and an observation deck. Blue Heron's grant was part of the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP), which funds recreational improvements to lands open to the public. For more information on FRDAP, check: www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/bdrs/grants/ Way to go, Matt and Blue Heron!!

West Florida funding approved!

Many thanks to the Florida Department of Transportation for their continued support of the Birding Trail! FDOT recently committed $447,000 in TEA-21 funds (formerly known as ISTEA) to provide groundtruthing, publications and highway signage for this second section of the Trail!

Have binoculars, will travel!

The Great Florida Birding Trail wants to offer a big round of applause to our crack team of volunteers who offered their time and energy to double check driving directions for the East Florida Section. Thanks to each of the following for their meticulous and constructive comments: