Volunteer Appreciation Banquet

To commemorate the accolades of our volunteers, Everglades National Park hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Banquet on the Ides of March (15th).

Superintendent Dan Kimball has been the keynote speaker at this event for 10 years. Mr. Kimball has never missed the Banquet and feels it is the most important event at the park. For Mr. Kimball, acknowledging the volunteers for their outstanding efforts and support has been his priority, and hopes the next superintendent feels the same. Below is a short list of the accomplishments and contributions of our volunteers last year.

In FY13 1,512 volunteers contributed 54,235 hours. This is equivalent to 26 FTEs at a value of $1,200,762. South Florida Collections Management Center (SFCMC) VIPs deciphered, cataloged, and labeled 3,000 microscope slides, inventoried in excess of 4,000 insects, processed 10 linear feet of science records, and numbered 10,000 photos individually. These contributions resulted in the SFCMC submitting 11,400 natural history recatalog and new catalog records for the National Submission, the highest the Park has ever submitted.

The Artist-in-Residence-in-Everglades program, held its first exhibition of donated artwork at Florida International University from Oct. - Dec. 2012. A series of four more exhibitions were scheduled and partnered with Miami Dade College, National Parks Conservation Association, ArtSouth, Homestead’s Town Hall Museum, and the City of Homestead. As a result, a VIP developed a database to maintain the records of artists and their donated artwork. A VIP assisted with the design and production of 300 CDs containing scientific reports by the South Florida Natural Resource Center. The VIP also produced nearly 100 Hurricane preparedness cards.

As part of the Natural Resource Emeritus Program, a retired employee continued his role in python data management and research, including 29 python necropsies. Env. Edu. Camphosts engaged 3,783 students and teachers. The VIP Program launched a blog with 29 posts and 6,172 pageviews, and an E-newsletter with 789 subscribers.