National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Project Evaluation Form

Project Name and Number: Great Birding : Panhandle Section #2002-0369-009 Recipient: Wildlife Foundation of Florida, Inc. Project Location: Panhandle region of Florida (eight counties)

1) Were the specific objectives as outlined in your application and grant agreement successfully implemented and accomplished? Explain. All project objectives were met. The focus of this project was site enhancements at 10 locations in eight counties of the Panhandle section of the Great Florida Birding Trail, and all components of the project were completed. Site enhancements were designed to foster high quality experiences for birders as well as bird conservation. Enhancements included assembly and delivery of loaner optics trunks (with binoculars, books, and other educational materials), construction of viewing blinds, printing interpretive brochures, installation of interpretive signage, and purchase of replacement highway signs for the Panhandle section of the Great Florida Birding Trail (78 sites). 2) Please assess project accomplishments as quantitatively as possible. Through this grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Great Florida Birding Trail’s loaner optics program grew to 23 locations (a 53 percent increase). Eight loaner optics trunks were assembled in January 2006 and were delivered to the designated parks and refuges in February 2006. These include: Henderson Beach State Park (Okaloosa County), Rocky Bayou State Park (Okaloosa County), Blackwater River State Park (Santa Rosa County), Three Rivers State Park (Jackson County), Gulf Islands National Seashore: Fort Pickens Area (Escambia County), St. Joseph Peninsula State Park (Gulf County), (Walton County), and Lynn Haven Sports Complex and Nature Trail (Bay County). Optics trunks included 10 pairs of Audubon Vector 8 x 42 binoculars from Eagle Optics, seven bird field guides and a reference book, a Birding 101 PowerPoint presentation on CD and on color 35 mm slides, Birdwatching Basics (in English and Spanish), other educational materials, an instruction book for site managers, and more. Visitors are able to check out the binoculars and field guides for a day with a driver’s license or credit card. Site managers can also lead bird watching trips or give interpretive programs with the optics and materials provided in the trunks. Fifty pairs of the binoculars were purchased from this grant, and 50 additional pairs were donated by Eagle Optics. Noted bird expert Kenn Kaufman also donated eight copies of his new book, a Spanish language Guide to the Birds of North America (Guia de Campo a las Aves de Norteamerica) for the optics trunks (plus nine more copies for the nine gateway sites on the Birding Trail around the state). In addition, two bird watching blinds were constructed on the south shore of at Three Rivers State Park in Jackson County. From these blinds, visitors are likely to see a host of wading birds throughout the year and many species of waterfowl in winter. Interpretive signage was installed at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County to help protect nesting birds such as endangered Least Terns, threatened Snowy Plovers, Black Skimmers, and American Oystercatchers. An educational brochure for The Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in Liberty County was printed (5,000 copies) and is being distributed to visitors at the preserve. Lastly, 155 replacement highway signs for the Great Florida Birding Trail were purchased for use on the Panhandle section (78 sites). These reflective highway signs have a 10-year life span, and signs must be replaced when they become damaged or destroyed. 3) Assess the number of people reached through your work (e.g., landowners, students, organizations, agencies) Did other land managers benefit from the project? The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Great Florida Birding Trail now has a loaner optics program at 23 sites throughout the state, including the eight sites in the Panhandle that were part of this project. Site managers report that they are thrilled to have the optics, and that the program is popular with their visitors, but no figures are as yet available on the number of users. Approximately 3,800 of the 5,000 interpretive trail guides printed for The Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve have already been distributed to their visitors. The Panhandle Florida Birding Trail guide booklet, which is used to promote this section of the Trail, underwent a revision and a second print run in May 2006, as all 30,000 copies of the booklet (first printed in May 2004) have now been distributed. Boxes of Panhandle Birding Trail guide booklets were sent to many of the site managers for distribution. 4) Were any surveys or interviews conducted with partners to help gauge the success of your efforts? Topsail Hill Preserve State Park was contacted to determine if the interpretive signage was helping prevent disturbance of nesting shorebirds such as least terns and snowy plovers. One of their staff commented that yes, the signage has improved awareness of the issue, and together with roping off the nesting areas, these actions have resulted in decreased disturbance. Site managers will be contacted in July 2006 to evaluate the level of loaner optics use at each site in the Panhandle. Staff at The Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs Preserve were contacted to determine the number of brochures distributed. 5) How will the project be evaluated in terms of monitoring or assessment of cause-and- effect response? Describe the evaluation timescale (e.g., one year, five years, ten years). How will monitoring results be reported? Site managers will be contacted in July 2006 (five months after delivery of the optics trunks) to evaluate the level of loaner optics use at each site in the Panhandle section of the Great Florida Birding Trail. At that time, we will assess whether any modifications are needed for the loaner optics program. Inventory of all loaner optics is conducted once per year, and since the loaner program started in 2000, there have been no major problems. The success of the loaner optics will be included in an upcoming Birding Trail newsletter article. 6) Does this project fit into a larger program, spatially or temporally? If so, how has that program benefited from your work? (For example, an easement or on-the-ground work that connects or benefits other protected properties.) The Great Florida Birding Trail will continue to provide site enhancements throughout the state to enhance birders’ experiences and to promote conservation of birds and habitat. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) will continue to look for grants and other opportunities to provide viewing structures such as blinds and observation decks, interpretive signage, loaner optics, and to assist with bird conservation efforts. More than 550,000 Great Florida Birding Trail guides have been distributed since November 2000, to all 50 states and 8 foreign countries. Reflective highway signage purchased as part of this grant project will help the FFWCC maintain the Panhandle Florida Birding Trail’s all- important sign component to direct visitors to each of the 78 birding sites. To date, highway sign installation has been completed for two of the four Birding Trail sections. 7) Does the project incorporate an adaptive management component? If so, please explain. Any lessons learned that will guide future implementation of this, or similar, projects? After evaluating the level of loaner optics use at the eight Birding Trail locations in this project in July 2006, FFWCC will determine if any modifications to the program are necessary. Topsail Hill Preserve State Park staff will be contacted periodically to determine if additional signage or other protective measures are necessary to safeguard their nesting shorebirds. 8) Was there a local/regional/national response? Any media/press involvement? One magazine article about the Panhandle Section of the Great Florida Birding Trail will appear in the SweetTea Journal magazine in September 2006. This is a regional publication of the St. Joe Corporation. The Great Florida Birding Trail was represented at the largest birding festival in the state, the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, in November 2005, and at the Big “O” Birding Festival in Moore Haven in January 2006. Birding Trail guide booklets and other information about the Trail is disseminated at these festivals. The Panhandle Florida Birding Trail guide booklet, which was first printed in May 2004, included the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Gulf Power logos on the back cover as project sponsors. All 30,000 copies of the guide booklet have been distributed across the US and to 8 additional countries, and a second print run (updated version) of 60,000 copies (also with the NFWF and Gulf Power logos on the back cover), was initiated in May 2006. 9) To what degree has this project contributed to the conservation community as a whole? The Great Florida Birding Trail is designed to conserve and enhance Florida’s bird habitat by promoting birdwatching activities, conservation education, and economic opportunity. Habitat and viewing improvements on Birding Trail sites, both private and public, can make a real difference for wildland conservation and rural economic development. One noteworthy project accomplishment that benefits the conservation community is helping to protect nesting shorebirds such as least terns, snowy plovers (a threatened species in Florida) and black skimmers (a species of special concern in Florida) at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. We anticipate that the loaner optics trunks, with educational materials in both English and Spanish, will help foster additional interest in birding and habitat conservation. 10) Did your work bring in additional partners, more landowners, et cetera, who would be interested in doing similar work on their land in the future? If so, please describe. Eagle Optics donated 50 pairs of binoculars for this project and this company continues to be a big supporter of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Eagle Optics supported the South Section of the Birding Trail in January 2006 with a donation of 20 additional pairs of binoculars for the two gateway locations, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Kenn Kaufman donated eight copies of his Spanish language Guide to the Birds of North America (Guia de Campo a las Aves de Norteamerica) for the eight optics trunks in this project, plus nine more copies for all the gateway sites on the Birding Trail statewide. 11) Do you have any suggestions for NFWF to guide improvement of our project administration? NFWF administration of the project was exemplary. Please share any additional information that you feel is important to the evaluation of your program.