Archbold Needs Volunteers To Train Children

LAKE PLACID - People see those short, stunted trees on Florida's dry prairie and wonder, what are they good for?

Rick Lavoy has an answer.

"A lot of them are oaks," said Lavoy, the education coordinator at Archbold Biological Station. "They're so stunted because Florida is almost a desert habitat. They survive because they grow with a stunted pattern. You'll even see cactus out here."

Lavoy is recruiting volunteers for Archbold, a non-profit facility southwest of Lake Placid, devoted to conservation and ecological research. The station owns and manages a 5,193-acre natural preserve on the Lake Wales Ridge, a 2 million year-old chain of islands, which forms the spine of today's Florida peninsula.

Volunteers, said Lavoy, help put practical science in the classrooms of local students. At least 14 school groups - about 1,500 students from DeSoto, Okeechobee and Hendry counties - are confirmed this fall to visit Archbold.

"That's a lot of kids in a short amount of time," Lavoy said. The adult volunteers will lead the kids on field trips, but may also participate in a summer ecology group and a workshop for teachers.

At least 12, but hopefully 24 volunteers are needed, Lavoy said. They will work three or four days a week, from 9 a.m. to noon. However, some may come only once a week or once a month. They get to use the Archbold library for their own research, and often are fed lunch.

Volunteers will learn, then teach about the saw palmetto, which is one of the oldest plants in the Florida scrub. There's also the blazing star, the slender-stemmed herb which is blooming right now with a light purple flower.

"We don't often see animals," Lavoy said, "but see a lot of tracks: gray fox, bobcat, armadillo, rabbit, snakes, the Florida black bear, and, although rarely, we'll see panther tracks."

When the students come, they break up into groups for a scrub hunt. They're given cards and try to find items listed, Lavoy said.

Volunteer teachers also pose and answer questions about why animals burrow into the ground.
To avoid the hot Florida sun, Lavoy said. "Below ground, it's cooler and moister."

Volunteers should wear closed-toed shoes and long pants. An orientation session is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Sept. 20. For more information, call Lavoy at 465-2571, or e-mail rlavoy@archbold-station.org.