It's hard to believe that Into the Springs is just one month away! We have been working hard behind the scenes to create a fun weekend of entertainment, education, recreation and community. While we are still working out some of the details, we are excited to share what we do have finalized, starting with our music schedule. We are excited to welcome back Noah MacGinnis, Mourning Glories, Cliff Dorsey, and Locochino; as well as welcome Whitey Markle…
The Florida Springs Institute wrapped up its fifth Springs Field School on August 16th in Silver Springs after four days of science education and history on our springs and aquifer. Today we take a look back at each day during the Springs Field School and all that we learned. Day 1 Participants from all over the state arrived on August 13th at the Retreat at Silver Springs to check in and meet their fellow Field School students,…
Our yearly educational retreat, Give Springs A Break (GSAB), which takes place at Ginnie Springs Outdoors and is aimed towards young people, attracted 42 students and young professionals from around the state making it our biggest GSAB event! Funding for our 5th Annual GSAB was provided by First Magnitude Brewing Company. First Magnitude raised nearly $10,000 for the Florida Springs Institute during their 7.2k Springs Run event in January of this year. With endless possibilities, the FSI team…
Sweetwater Wetlands provides an interesting combination of both engineering innovations and wildlife benefits. Bob Knight began the outing by discussing the design aspects of the project. His initial remarks included comments on the challenges, the cost, the effectiveness, and the benefits of the design. The challenges included the 20-30 years it took to convince the City fathers that the project was worthy of the $25 million cost. The project was given a boost when a $45 million…
On this hike, the Florida Springs Institute combined with St. Johns Riverkeeper for a day hike through Seminole State Forest. Led by Jane Durocher of Riverkeeper, Heather Obara of FSI, and Ranger Ralph Risch we hopped from a conversation with a scrub jay to three small unknown (to most of us) springs. The first stop was a mile or so along the appropriately named Sand Road, where Ralph called a nesting pair of scrub jays to welcome us…
