Southeast Coast Network News August 2019

Lily Martin (left) and Ben Flanders (right) are new CESU interns working in the Southeast Coast Network.

NPS photo

New CESU Interns

Two new Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) interns from the University of Georgia will assist on upcoming projects in the Southeast Coast Network. Ben Flanders, a graduate student at UGA studying Artificial Intelligence, is assisting the network with database programming support. He will primarily be working on designing front-end user forms for the new Estuarine Water Quality database. Ben recently graduated from UGA with a B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Cognitive Science. Lily Martin, a graduate student in Wildlife Ecology and Management at UGA, will be working on the vocal anuran monitoring project. She will help with classifying frog vocalizations from ARD (automated recoding device) recordings and will learn to do audio analysis in Kaleidoscope Pro. Lilly earned a B.S. in Forest Resources at UGA in 2017. Since then she has assisted with the University of Tennessee's Regional Cooperative Bear Study as a research technician, taught environmental education classes at Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Georgia, and monitored sea turtle nesting on Blackbeard Island, Georgia, as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services volunteer. Welcome Ben and Lily to the SECN!

The 2020 Southeast Coast Network Steering Committee/Board Meeting is November 13-14 at Cumberland Island National Seashore in St. Marys, Georgia.

NPS photo / Wendy Wright

Steering Committee Meeting Dates Set

The Fiscal Year 2020 Southeast Coast Network Steering Committee/Board Meeting is November 13-14, 2019 in St. Mary's, Georgia at Cumberland Island National Seashore. Meetings will take place on both days. A tour of Cumberland Island is planned for the second day. Travel days are November 12 and November 15. Rooms should be booked in St. Marys. More information will follow in the next few weeks.

A manatee checks out a data sonde during the coastal assessment at Canaveral National Seashore in July.

NPS photo / Eric Starkey

In the Field

Upcoming in August:

• Terrestrial vegetation monitoring continues at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
• Wildlife biologist Michael Parrish travels to Grand Canyon National Park for NPS Fundamentals training.

Completed in July:

• Terrestrial vegetation monitoring was conducted at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
• An assessment of estuarine water and sediment quality was conducted at Canaveral National Seashore.
• Bat monitoring work was completed in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. The acoustic survey indicated the presence of four species including the Big Brown Bat, Eastern Red, Evening and Tricolored/E. Pipistrell.
• A secretive marsh bird survey was completed in conjunction with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service at Cape Lookout National Seashore. The survey indicated the presence of a single Black Rail, a species recently proposed for listing as Threatened on the Endangered Species Act list and not seen in the park for several years.