FRIENDS OF SAPELO

FRIENDS OF SAPELO

SUMMER MEETING

JUNE 8, 2019 

Meeting called to order:        Hyde Post       12:30 pm

Opening Remarks by Hyde:

  • Don Benz, long time president of FOS, passed recently.  He will be greatly missed by FOS and all who knew him.  We are happy to see his wife, Jeanette, in attendance today. Thank you to those who contributed food for the luncheon at Don’s memorial service.

  • Thank you to Jane Meyers for many years of taking responsibility for set-up and break down at our pot luck meals during general meetings.  She would like to retire from this responsibility.  We needa volunteer to take over this task – please let any board member know if you are interested.

Minutes of Spring Meeting approved:  motion by Linda, second by Jerry

Treasurer’s Report:    Hyde Post for Ann Majure

  • We are in good shape.

  • We are ahead of budget on the incoming side, with good membership dues response to letters sent.

Business:

Board Memberships:

  • Two Board positions coming open: Vice-President(Ethel retiring) and Treasurer(Ann retiring)

  • Nominating committee established: Susan Fardy, Hyde Post, and Linda Daniels

  •  If interested in either position, please let us know.

  •  New board members installed at September meeting

      Memberships:

  •  11 (individual and/or family) new memberships since March, with 3 new members in attendance today

2019 Meetings:

  • Thursday, September 12        Advisory Board Meeting at Visitors’ Center

  • Tuesday, September 17          General Fall Meeting (elections) at Visitors’ Center

 Projects for 2019 status:

  •  Native Bee Survey – ongoing (every 3rdMonday of month – next is Mon., June 17th)

  • Beach Slope Monitoring – Monday, June 10th

  • Beach Sweeps – ON HOLD (transportation issues to, and on island)

  • Weed control around tabby ruins at Chocolate – Jerry and Hyde will coordinate with Fred

  • Phytoplankton Research (FOS Citizen Science Project) continuing under Rachel (can use + volunteers)

 EVENTS:

  •  June 14th- 1:00pm                  Ribbeting Research – frog research on Sapelo Island

    Lecture by UGA grad student, Annie Paulukonis

  • June 25th                                Crab and Shrimp Day– Sapelo Island tour, Low Country boil, beach 

seining with Suzanne, Rachel and Thompson  ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT!

Note: if not among the already designated workers, FOS members must pay as does general public  

  • July 13th                                  Beach sweep – Contact Linda Daniels if you want to participate

  • Nov. 12th                                 Docent Training- Reynolds Mansion on Sapelo Island - (Robin White)

  • TBD in Sept.                            Advisory Board meets with Tony Patronis regarding Christmas tours 

 SINERR REPORT:  

  • Projects of Stewardship Program      (Suzanne VanParreren – Stewardship Coordinator/FOS Liason)

    1.Wetland Inventory:  involves identifying wetland areas on Sapelo Island

            - where are they located?

            - permanent or ephemeral?

            - map and categorize the wetlands

            - sample for:  dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature, etc.

            - will use Annie’s research (frogs) to collaborate, and eventually note which frogs found where

2.  Living Shoreline:

-2 current living shorelines (bagged oyster shells pinned to shoreline slope encouraging oyster colonization to stabilize bank

            - one on Post Office Creek at Long Tabby DNR dock area, the other at Ashantilly

             - 1 failing, why?

            3. Native Garden:

                        - FOS plays large part in keeping the garden – Thank You to FOS workers

                        - trailing mimosa (a native) has taken over the clear areas and keeps weed population down

                        - slides of false indigo, trailing mimosa, and coral bean – all looking healthy and in bloom now

            4. Invasive Species:

                        - Member (founding) of CISMA – Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area

                        - Chinese Tallow Tree is currently the worst invasive offender 

                        - other invasive species include Chinaberry Tree (Pride of India), Water Hyacinth, Beach Vitex

                             (strictly a dune species), Chinese Privet, Chinese Wisteria and Cogon Grass

            5. Habitat Mapping– such as mapping of wetlands in #1

            6. Nature Trail:

                        - general maintenance of all components

                        - dock repairs

                        - plank replacement on boardwalks

- anti-slip on trail walkwa

- aluminum ramp supports breaking down

- Thanks to FOS for major support on this projec

  • Research Projects       (Rachel Guy – Research Coordinator)

 1.  Frog and Salamander Survey:   

            -  Graduate research by Annie Paulakonis (UGA)

            - Using recording devices and previously recorded specific frog calls to locate species

2.  Moth, Butterfly, Beetle Survey:

            - experts in field working on this for the past 8 years

            - day vs nighttime moths

            - trapping has yielded 1,030 different moth species on Sapelo  

- 1 moth species brand new to science

            - 105 of these moth species never before recorded in Georgia

            - 466 beetle species identified on Sapelo 

            - 81 butterfly species identified on Sapelo

3.  Native Bee Survey:

            - FOS project under Sam Droege of Maryland

            - 2017 survey in the secondary beach dunes at Nanny Goat Beach

            - 20 species identified

            - 3423 individual native bees collected

            - 995 still not identified at the lab

4.  Phytoplankton Study:

            - FOS Citizen Science project

            - will continue for at least 1 year – every other week

            - no blooms detected yet, but numerous interesting species

            - one harmful species detected, with several representatives of this species

  • Research Program Updates   (Rachel Guy)

 1.  SWMP  -   System Wide Monitoring Program:      (Thompson is in charge of this)

            - every reserve is required to have 4 water monitoring sites 

            - 4 sites on Sapelo have been up and running since 1999

            - breakdowns of the monitoring equipment are becoming frequent – 3 since this past Jan.

            - June 13this scheduled for attempted repair

2. Swamp Data Analysis:

            - seeing a trend in water temperature with the lowest temperature increasing

            - the winter average temperature over the past 20 years is steadily increasing

            - more analysis is needed

            - annual report to come out soon

3. New LED Research:

            - this is an effort involving 11 of the National Research Reserves

            - focused on instrumentation to help predict timing of blooms 

            - includes both lab and field analysis

            - FOS Phytoplankton Monitoring is a critical component – Thank you to FOS

4. Increasing Research Capacity:

            - SINERR has purchased a new Carolina Skiff

            - a 2ndPolaris will be purchased, bringing the total to 3 for SINERR

            - SINERR is leasing a new, modern lab on the first floor of UGAMI

            - Graduate Fellowships are now available. Students currently accepted or already in university grad programs will

be applying to start next year

  •   NOAA Section 312 Report    (Doug Samson)

- every 5 years NOAA does a formal evaluation of DNR, including site visit 

- our evaluation was this past year, with the site visit in August 2018

- the initial report just came in to DNR and results will be made public when it is formalized

- the report was very complimentary with no major issues identified 

- of the few things recommended/suggested, many are already in place, or in the works

- very complimentary of FOS

 

Meeting Adjourned:  2:14pm

 Respectfully Submitted   –   Susan Fardy