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The largest number of all manatees in the United States spend their winter in Crystal River. Manatees are the most endangered mammals in the world. To keep the manatees from becoming extinct humans must work to protect them. One of the jobs of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is to protect endangered species. Along the east coast of Florida the USFWS controls the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge Complex and the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is part of that complex. Today we visited the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters to met some of the people who help take care of this Refuge. You will be meeting some of these people during the week. Click on "Meet the Manatee People" and "Meet the Manatee Experts" to meet some of these interesting people and learn about their jobs. Ms. Joyce Kleen is the Wildlife Biologist for the Refuge. She collects data to help refuge administrators determine what animals and plants need protection, what kind of protection the animals and plants need, and where special wildlife sanctuaries should be set up. Ms. Kleen is responsible of finding out about all the plants and animals that are part of the ecosystem here. During the winter season a big part of her job is watching out for refuge's most popular residents, the manatees. 9 AM - We caught up with Joyce just before her weekly manatee count. From November 1 until March 1, each week Ms. Kleen counts all the manatee that are in all of Kings Bay, here in Crystal River. Doing a manatee count by snorkeling or even from a boat would take too long, so she does the count looking down from the sky. Every Tuesday, if the weather is good enough, Joyce has a pilot and airplane fly her low (about 500 feet) over Kings Bay to count manatees. Even though she is in the air and the manatees are underwater it is not hard to find them. The water in the bay is pretty clear and not very deep. Manatees like to stay in shallow water, near the surface, and, because they are big animals, they are easy to see from the air. It only takes Joyce about 2 hours to count all the manatees where ever they may be in this bay. Joyce has a map of Crystal River where she marks the locations of all the manatees she sees. (We have copied Joyce's weekly survery for teacher's to print out. Teachers: click on Teacher's Link to find them.) Unfortunately, today's count had to be cut short due to the rainy weather and low clouds this morning. After the aerial survey we returned to Joyce's office where she told us more about her job and what she thinks about manatees. Joyce collects the data used to make manatee sanctuaries and help make rules on how and where people interact with manatees in the wild. Once rules are made, some one must enforce them or some people will not follow the rules. Sometime during the expedition we will take you on a day with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement officers and show you what they do to help protect manatees. Until then, we have some surprises for you this week...No clues....OK, one clue. One of the surprises involves manatee myths. |
The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. Ms. Kleen's office when she is not in the air, in the wild, or meeting with other wildlife biologists from other refuges.
Ms. Joyce Kleen's office at HQ. Much of her time is not spend in the wild, but in her office - making reports, talking to other biologists on the phone, and entering data into her computer.
Banana Island. (The white dots are the boundaries of the manatee sanctuaries.)
Click on Banana Island and look carefully at the picture. Can you see the manatees underwater within the sanctuary boundaries? How many can you count? TODAY'S DATA PHOTOS TAKEN SO FAR |
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Day 8
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