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Outdoors: A Family of Volunteers at the Refuge
December 5th, 2010

Outdoors: Bird Walk Set for Monday Dec. 6
December 3rd, 2010

Outdoors: Join In the Great Suwannee River Cleanup Saturday
November 29th, 2010

Outdoors: Red-cockaded Woodpeckers Moved to New Home
November 1st, 2010

Outdoors: 25th Annual Coastal Cleanup Saturday
September 21st, 2010

Outdoors: Dolphin Research Team Needs Fish
June 13th, 2010

Outdoors: Business Spotlight: Dan May Island Adventure
May 26th, 2010

Outdoors: Nature Walk Monday
January 31st, 2010

Outdoors: Free State Park Admission on Veterans Day
November 6th, 2009

Outdoors: Shell Mound to be Temporarily Closed for Improvements
September 24th, 2009

Outdoors: Join International Coastal Cleanup and Cover Net Week in Cedar Key
September 17th, 2009

Outdoors: Youth Discover Shired Island in Refuge Program
August 24th, 2009

Outdoors: Learn About Scallops Saturday
June 2nd, 2009

Outdoors: Refuge Volunteer Receives Award
May 19th, 2009

Outdoors: Hunters Invited to Refuge Hunt Group Meeting
May 3rd, 2009

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Florida Humanities Council Visits Cedar Key

Florida Humanities Council Visits Cedar Key

Submitted by Pam Darty

Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge was the destination for the Florida Humanities Council for a study in cultures: the ancient ones, the pioneers, and the families whose names we still see and hear in the culture-rich village of Cedar Key.


Local resident, Florida Master Naturalist John Lohde began the day's event with a paddle over to the historic Atsena Otie. The colorful boats made their way to the "cut" where a dozen or so roseate spoonbills preen daily and Lohde addressed how the dynamic island had reshaped itself over the centuries due to erosion and human activities. After beaching the kayaks, he encouraged the group to observe debris of earlier cultures that was scattered across the beach due to the attrition over the centuries. His specialty being flora and fauna, he wove the thread of common use of natural resources by various cultures that have occupied the Cedar Keys.


Florida Master Naturalist John Lohde shares his passion for paddling, plants and people of the past and present.


Lohde said of his theme "Times may change; cultures and how we use our resources may change, but our basic needs as humans remain constant and predictable."


When on the island trail, once Main Street to the incorporated town of Atsena Otie, the group gathered around soft-spoken Eric Brogren, active member of the Cedar Key Historical Society and volunteer extraordinaire. He explained what a bustling industrial city this first port on the Gulf had been. Eyes widened as he recounted the number of residents and industries established on the small island.


Erik Brogren, center, a member of the Cedar Key Historical Society Board of Directors, tells of newly discovered gravestones and vandalism.


Brogren has spent several years caretaking the nineteenth century cemetery: mending broken headstones, seeking out missing stones, and replacing mysteriously returned head and foot stones to their proper place of rest. He shared with the group his appreciation for the sincere verse inscribed on the more than century old memorials to the pioneers of the Cedar Keys.

The Cedar Keys and Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuges work with partners to renew peoples' ties to their cultural heritage by viewing ancient and historic sites within the refuges.

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