Florida environmental officials put on a yearly series of interactive and educational sessions on Apalachicola’s ecosystems. The Department of Environmental Protection aims to give participants insight into human impacts on the environment.
The seven-part “Panhandle Habitat Series” aims to educate enrollees on the history, ecology and geography of the region’s ecosystems. The courses, put on by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, are part classroom-based, but also part field-based. Participants are taken out into the Apalachicola system, where they learn firsthand about the ecology of different habitats.
Research Reserve spokeswoman Margo Posten says the lessons are meant to instill a sense of the environment’s importance.
“I think that by educating people about their surroundings and their habitats, I think that they are more aware of it and become more knowledgeable about it, and then perhaps care more about it and will manage it better," Posten says. "That’s our hope.”
People in managerial and decision-making positions are encouraged to enroll in the courses, though the lessons are open to the public at a cost of $15. Next Thursday's course is a daylong session during which participants will be taken by boat to explore Apalachicola’s rivers and floodplains.