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Outdoors: Kayak Cedar Keys Hosts Youth Groups
July 1st, 2013

Outdoors: FWC restricts boating on Suwannee River`s Zone 4
March 11th, 2013

Outdoors: Scrub Jay Watch
July 1st, 2012

Outdoors: Whooping Crane Chicks in Training
August 5th, 2011

Outdoors: Fishing Report
August 4th, 2011

Outdoors: Busy Bees
June 28th, 2011

Outdoors: Bay Scallop Season Opens Early
June 24th, 2011

Outdoors: All About Mosquitoes
June 21st, 2011

Outdoors: Small Boat Meet This Weekend
May 6th, 2011

Outdoors: FREE Guided Birding Walk for the Visually Impaired
May 6th, 2011

Outdoors: Ranger-led Paddle to Atsena Otie
April 6th, 2011

Outdoors: TICKS!
February 25th, 2011

Outdoors: Annual Stargazing Party Coming to Cedar Key
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Outdoors: Refuge Bird Walk on Monday, January 10
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Outdoors: Good Neighbors Clean Historic Suwannee
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Youth Discover Shired Island in Refuge Program

Youth Discover Shired Island in Refuge Program

Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge

Let`s Go OUTSIDE and Discover Shired Island

It was soon to be 94 degrees outside, but that didn`t stop the kids of Dixie County from discovering the story of Shired Island`s beginnings. Parents and grandparents joined in the fun, too.

These kids didn`t stop learning just because school`s out. They joined Ranger Pam and Volunteer Miranda Haire for a lesson about the first Indians of the area, and how and why they built the midden of shells. On the trail, the group observed some of the wildlife and marine life that made the coast so attractive to those first people who made tools, jewelry, and meals from shells.

The young explorers walked around the midden as long as a football field, discovering discarded points and pot shards scattered on the ground. They used magnifying glasses to look closely at shells and artifacts of the midden learning that everything they found must be returned to the exact spot from which it was taken.

"I think next time, we`ll bring cameras for the kids to take photos of their finds, as well as ospreys and herons in flight", said Ranger Pam Darty. The Lower Suwannee NWR has ten digital cameras and a portable printer in order to connect kids to nature through the lens of a camera.

Kids gathered around the Ranger to learn the ancient coil-method of creating pottery from river clay donated by Amy and Henry Gernhardt and Cedar Key Pottery. They were encouraged to create effigy pots with likenesses of wildlife seen in the Lower Suwannee NWR. After their day of discovery, the kids went home with their pottery, and goodies from the Refuge: posters, wildlife coloring books, and stickers.

If you are interested in signing-up your group, club, or scouts for this activity, call Ranger Pam at 352/493-0238, ext. 223.


Volunteer Miranda Haire, a Cedar Key sophomore, helps Chance Mayo with his pottery.


Kids made coil pots with clay donated by Amy & Henry Gernhardt of Cedar Key Pottery.

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