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Grassy Waters Preserve: Our Precious Portal on the Past · Inside West Palm Beach

• 13:28:25
  Welcome to the City Center podcast. I'm
• 13:28:27
  Gerry Marcelo. Not every city has its
• 13:28:30
  own portal to the past. I'm talking about
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  a place where nature has been undisturbed
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  and the landscape looks just like it did
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  hundreds of years ago. Grassy Waters
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  Preserve is such a portal and today on
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  the City Center podcast we're going to
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  learn all it has to offer visitors and
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  the vital role it plays for the health
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  of West Palm Beach. That's next.
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  And joining us today is Mary Kreider,
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  Environmental Education Supervisor at
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  Grassy Waters Preserve. Mary, welcome.
• 13:29:05
  Hey, how are you? I'm doing terrific. We
• 13:29:08
  appreciate you being here. Listen, one of
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  the things that we all know is living in
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  West Palm Beach and in Palm Beach County,
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  especially the eastern portion, is that
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  there's been a tremendous amount of
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  change over the past hundred years. This
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  is a very different place than it was
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  even 20 or 30 years ago. Give us a
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  snapshot of what things were like here in
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  this part of the world and how it
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  reflects on what Grassy Waters is today.
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  So West Palm Beach has a really
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  interesting history, I think, that maybe
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  a lot of people don't
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  know about. I dug in
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  it this last summer. I was interested in
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  Henry Flagler and then that really
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  spiraled into, I now do a training course
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  for employees on the history. But what I
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  found the most interesting is if you look
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  back snapshot wise, like South
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  Florida in general, Everglades created
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  about 6,000 years ago and then if you
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  look, it's a little bit over a hundred
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  years ago, 1850s or so is when you
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  finally had some permanent settlers.
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  Before that, obviously, there are many
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  indigenous tribes that were around and
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  using it, you know, the Ies and the Obie
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  and some of the other ones that were
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  using the coastal parts in this region.
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  So there were people before those
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  permanent settlers and then at the time
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  of the permanent settlers too, you had
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  Seminoles that were coming into town and
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  trading in this region the entire time
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  too. But those families
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  that were living on the Lake Worth
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  Lagoon, those first handful of families,
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  talk about just a hard life. It's not
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  anything like what we picture these
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  days. They were pretty much just on their
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  own because if you wanted to get to
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  civilization, you had to take a steamboat
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  to Jacksonville and then get on a train
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  from there. So can imagine jumping that.
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  So they were really living on the land.
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  I think that's something that a lot of
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  folks who live here now really can't
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  wrap their head around is that we were
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  really in the in the nowhere land as far
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  as, I mean, it's a beautiful place, of
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  course, but I mean, we had no real
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  connection. There was no Miami. There was
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  no, I mean, Jacksonville, you just
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  mentioned Jacksonville as probably one of
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  the outposts as you were heading
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  south. So you were
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  really by yourself down here.
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  Yes, it was the time
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  period of, I mean, the Barefoot
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  Mailman a lot of people have heard about.
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  I mean, you were getting mail, you know,
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  two weeks after something had happened,
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  basically. And the pioneers that were
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  living here to make money, they were
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  growing crops. But you had to basically
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  put the crops on a wagon, then get up to
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  Jupiter to get on a steamboat, then get
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  on the steamboat, then go all the way up
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  to Jacksonville for the railroad. And
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  then that would go up north to sell to
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  the cities up there. If the crops were
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  bad by that time, you didn't get paid. So
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  just imagine how harsh that that
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  lifestyle really, really was. That's
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  crazy. Listen, you
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  mentioned the Everglades
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  for the audience. The Everglades is what
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  is it just pasture land or is it
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  there's a water there? What makes the
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  Everglades the Everglades?
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  Yes, what makes the Everglades the
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  Everglades? Well, I love the phrase that
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  Marjory Stoneman Douglas uses that
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  there's really no other Everglades in
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  the world. We are so lucky to have that
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  basically in our backyard in South
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  Florida. But what makes the Everglades
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  the Everglades is that slow moving
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  sheet of water. We don't really have any
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  mountains here in Florida, obviously. So
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  the water, we have a ton of water and
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  it's moving very slowly. So we get a lot
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  of rain. And you have water that's moving
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  slowly from Lake Okeechobee, kind
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  of down into Florida Bay area. And as it
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  moves slowly, it creates very distinct
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  ecosystems like marshes and cypress
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  swamps that we have out at Grassy
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  Waters Preserve. And then obviously,
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  because of the rains and the way that
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  that ecosystem is created, you also have
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  unique plants and animals as well that
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  are adapted to that wet lifestyle. Super
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  unique. Yes. You just like you can't go
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  to Louisiana and find an identical, you
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  know. They have. I mean, obviously, yes,
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  they have wetlands. So definitely
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  wetlands. But Everglades is a very unique
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  type of wetland. And we kind of describe
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  it as it's a mosaic of different
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  habitats. When we have field trips out
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  there, we tell the kids it's like a mall.
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  You know, a mall and each habitat is a
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  different store that the Everglades
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  has. So you have just lots of different
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  places for animals to live. That's why
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  we have so many different species in
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  South Florida. How has the Everglades
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  changed over the past 100 years?
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  Oh, that's a big, big question with a,
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  you know, a long history.
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  Yeah. I would say, obviously, it's gotten
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  a lot smaller. So when you look at
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  accounts, about, I think it's about 50%
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  is left. And that's probably a
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  conservative number. It's probably way
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  shrunk down from that. We've developed a
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  lot of the Everglades and pretty much set
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  up a canal system so that the areas
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  that we've developed don't flood because
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  again, it goes back to that water,
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  so much water in South Florida. And so
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  really, the Everglades is kind of
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  constrained by those canals that we're
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  talking about. And even at Grassy
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  Waters, too, we have development around
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  us with canals. So it's really shrunk.
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  And then also the other issue that a lot
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  of places have is you have water
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  quality issues because not only has it
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  shrunk, but you have all the
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  development around. And so then you can
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  get pollution into your, into your
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  wetlands. So that's really impacted a lot
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  of our plants and animals, a lot of
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  endangered species. The great thing about
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  Grassy Waters is we are completely
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  rainfed. So even though we have canals
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  around us, we're actually kind of nice
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  and insulated. So we do not have the same
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  water quality issues that people do
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  hear about, you know, maybe down in
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  Everglades National Park and things.
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  So that's, so the deal is, is that with
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  all the manmade influence in the way the
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  water runs, the, the building around that
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  area, the, you know, the raising of
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  certain areas to put homes and
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  developments, that's really changed the
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  profile of the Everglades. So what I'm
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  hearing is that, that the Everglades
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  has changed. And a lot of the change has
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  taken place because of man's influence,
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  development, the rearranging of water
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  flow, the development of Western
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  communities that, that drain certain
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  areas and constricted the flow of water.
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  But that really hasn't happened at Grassy
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  Waters. So we're thinking that Grassy
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  Waters is really sort of a snapshot of
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  what it used to always be.
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  Yes, yes. So that's one of the great
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  things about Grassy Waters Preserve.
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  Henry Flagler, back when he came to South
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  Florida and decided that he loves it
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  here and he wants to put some hotels
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  down, knew he needed a water supply. So
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  he bought in the early 1900s Grassy
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  Waters Preserve and a lot of the, the
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  Everglades around that area to save it
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  for a water supply, along with the lakes
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  that we see downtown. And since he bought
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  it and set aside for that, it never was
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  developed, built on. And so that, we were
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  really lucky that he had that foresight
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  to be able to preserve it. And the city
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  bought that water system from him,
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  already set up where Grassy Waters kind
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  of flows into the lakes downtown for
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  drinking water in the 1950s. So it was
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  already kind of set up and set aside.
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  And so that's made a huge difference on,
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  you know, preventing development with
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  that. So while folks and folks who live
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  on the coast, the residents of West Palm
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  Beach have seen exponential growth and
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  new buildings and new roads and all the
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  things that make West Palm Beach what it
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  is today, there's still a place where you
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  can go and see what it was like a hundred
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  years, five, maybe a thousand
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  years ago. So that's really neat. Now
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  with, with Grassy Waters, it's not just a
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  preserve to, to protect the water in the
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  wildlife there. There are many things
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  that folks can do when they visit. Tell
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  us a little bit about that. Yes. So I
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  think of Grassy Waters preserve as
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  downtown West Palm Beach's backyard. So
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  come and visit us. We're open seven days
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  a week, 8 to 4.30 on Monday through
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  Saturday and 8.30 to 5 on Sunday. Like
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  you said, there's a lot to do there. We
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  have 25 miles of trail that people can
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  explore. Yes. And you can bike a lot of
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  it as well. So if you like to bike, run,
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  walk. If you have
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  strollers or wheelchairs,
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  our Cypress Boardwalk is completely
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  elevated and that's about a mile long
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  boardwalk. I always tell people start at
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  our main entrance off of Northlake.
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  That's about 10 miles or so from, from
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  here. That's Northlake
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  Boulevard. Yeah, Northlake
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  Boulevard. Yep. And so yeah, a lot of
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  people don't really
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  realize you can get to
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  the Everglades in 10 miles. It is not
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  this, this wilderness that's hard to
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  reach. So definitely come explore it. And
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  I always tell people to start with our
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  Nature Center. There's a lot of nice
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  interactive things in there for kids and
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  adults. We've gotten a lot of new tanks
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  that will show you the world under the
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  water because as you're, as you're
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  walking, you may or may not see some of
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  those creatures. And so that, that's kind
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  of a really fun interactive thing to do.
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  And there, there you can find about our
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  programs. All of our programs run from
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  that main entrance too. So you can canoe
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  or kayak and basically pristine
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  Everglades. Now you've mentioned, you've
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  mentioned cycling.
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  You've mentioned canoes
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  and kayaks. Are those, are those items
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  available there? Do
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  you have, do I have to
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  bring my own? Yes, good question. So all
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  of our trips are guided and we provide
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  everything. Ah. So you just call and
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  reserve a boat or if you're, if you're
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  looking for arts and crafts or a lecture
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  or something else, we have basically a
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  wide away of programs. So you can
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  definitely check those out all on our
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  website, Facebook, Instagram. You can
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  definitely find a list
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  of all those. Let's talk a
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  little bit about the website because
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  people will want to know more and read
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  more. So you're on the city website at
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  www.wpb.org. Yes. And probably just go
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  ahead and search grassy waters and you'll
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  get information. Yes, you can do
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  that. We always tell people wpb.org
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  backslash grassy waters. All one word.
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  Makes it nice and easy. Terrific. Now you
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  also mentioned that there are many
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  programs available. I've got to imagine
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  they're really popular. How hard is it to
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  get in on one? Do I have to get booked
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  early? Yes. So I would say in season, we
• 13:39:52
  have a lot more visitors obviously. So in
• 13:39:56
  season we tell people call if you see a
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  date pretty much immediately that works
• 13:40:00
  for you. You can also call us and get on
• 13:40:03
  our email list and then you know when the
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  calendar comes out and you can call
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  basically that day. I'll tell you the
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  ones that fill the fastest are the
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  paddling programs and we have a moonlight
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  and sunset. People love those.
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  So you really if you want to get on the
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  list you got to call pretty much
• 13:40:19
  immediately. A question that I get a lot
• 13:40:21
  is are there airboat rides out there?
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  So good question. We as an education
• 13:40:27
  staff we don't use airboats. We don't
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  have an airboat operator out there. We do
• 13:40:32
  have a maintenance team and their
• 13:40:34
  watershed management across the way that
• 13:40:36
  you will see airboats. So sometimes
• 13:40:37
  people do see airboats out there but
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  they're doing water quality testing and
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  they're managing that land so that it can
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  stay a nice habitat for the wildlife
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  out there. We don't use airboats because
• 13:40:48
  we want a more passive non-impactful
• 13:40:51
  way to show visitors. And honestly you
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  see a little bit more wildlife when
• 13:40:55
  you're in a quiet canoe. Sure that makes
• 13:40:58
  sense. If I am in a wheelchair or a
• 13:41:02
  walk or is there anything for me to do if
• 13:41:04
  I'm... Yes. So that's why I
• 13:41:06
  mentioned the boardwalk I think is a
• 13:41:08
  great suggestion to start with. It's a
• 13:41:11
  mile long boardwalk so that's gonna be
• 13:41:14
  stroller, wheelchair, walker friendly.
• 13:41:16
  We also have wheelchairs on site so if
• 13:41:19
  you are visiting and you need one
• 13:41:22
  you'll see it when you pull in the
• 13:41:24
  parking light. You can give us a call at
• 13:41:25
  the nature center. We can wheel it down.
• 13:41:26
  Those wheelchairs actually also are all
• 13:41:28
  terrain so they could if someone wanted
• 13:41:30
  to go to one of our other trails that
• 13:41:32
  has a little bit of dirt and boardwalk
• 13:41:35
  mix they'd be able to use those
• 13:41:36
  wheelchairs as well. That's fantastic.
• 13:41:38
  What opportunities do
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  you have for say... I
• 13:41:41
  could imagine photography is a big deal
• 13:41:42
  out there. Is there anything
• 13:41:44
  that's specific for photographers that
• 13:41:46
  they can do? Yes. So photography is
• 13:41:48
  definitely one thing that people really
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  like to do out there.
• 13:41:51
  We are just wrapping
• 13:41:52
  up our photography contest that we do
• 13:41:54
  with the nonprofit the Grassy Waters
• 13:41:56
  Conservancy who hosts it and all money
• 13:42:00
  raised from that thing goes back into
• 13:42:01
  those education initiatives and some of
• 13:42:03
  the tanks and things I was talking
• 13:42:04
  about in the Nature Center. So it's a
• 13:42:06
  great program but yes you can actually
• 13:42:10
  enter for that contest. It's January and
• 13:42:12
  February every year. So not only are
• 13:42:15
  people taking beautiful pictures of the
• 13:42:17
  landscape, the sunrises or the sunsets,
• 13:42:20
  what sort of opportunities do you have
• 13:42:22
  for like capturing pictures of animals or
• 13:42:23
  birds? Yes. So yeah what kind of wildlife
• 13:42:26
  can you really see
• 13:42:27
  there? Yes. So I would say
• 13:42:30
  the exciting thing that people talk about
• 13:42:32
  is really birds. Birds are, you
• 13:42:35
  know, you get bird watchers from all over
• 13:42:36
  the world that are coming. Number one
• 13:42:38
  thing they're looking for usually is our
• 13:42:40
  snail kite which is on all of our logos
• 13:42:42
  and everything. So he's endangered only
• 13:42:45
  found in South Florida in North America.
• 13:42:48
  So we get people all the way from Europe
• 13:42:50
  that are coming just for that that
• 13:42:52
  particular bird sighting. But we do have
• 13:42:54
  a lot of egrets, herons. People sometimes
• 13:42:57
  get really lucky. They'll see a bobcat on
• 13:42:59
  the boardwalk. You can see otters
• 13:43:01
  from the boardwalk. People get shocked.
• 13:43:04
  Deer also will go through the
• 13:43:07
  wetlands. So there's definitely wildlife
• 13:43:10
  there. I will say Everglades is kind of
• 13:43:12
  like a hidden secret. You got to kind of
• 13:43:14
  sit and wait and then wildlife will kind
• 13:43:16
  of come to you. So you have to be willing
• 13:43:20
  to put some time in there. But they've
• 13:43:21
  gotten some great shots of fairy animals.
• 13:43:23
  I asked a set of ignorance, is there a
• 13:43:26
  possibility of seeing something like a
• 13:43:28
  Florida panther or a bear or something
• 13:43:30
  that it hurts too? Yeah, good question.
• 13:43:32
  We're a little too wet for those two
• 13:43:35
  animals. Because we're 15,000 acres it's
• 13:43:38
  possible that some of that wildlife
• 13:43:40
  might be passing through. But you
• 13:43:43
  wouldn't ever really see it or interact
• 13:43:45
  with it. Yeah, because it's not staying.
• 13:43:47
  We're winding a bit.
• 13:43:49
  Yes. 15,000 acres. If I'm
• 13:43:52
  not mistaken, and I believe I saw the
• 13:43:54
  stat elsewhere, that grassy waters makes
• 13:43:57
  up over half of the area of the city of
• 13:44:00
  West Palm Beach. A lot of people don't
• 13:44:02
  know that. And that's pretty amazing that
• 13:44:05
  such an amazing jewel of nature is such
• 13:44:09
  an important part of what the city is and
• 13:44:11
  who we are. That's fantastic.
• 13:44:14
  Okay, we did talk about the animals that
• 13:44:16
  are there. A lot of birds. You mentioned
• 13:44:18
  the snail kite. What makes the snail kite
• 13:44:23
  sort of iconic for the preserve?
• 13:44:26
  For the preserve. Well, we have kind of
• 13:44:27
  different reasons for that. So the reason
• 13:44:28
  that the snail kite is so iconic and we
• 13:44:30
  talk about it so much is because it is
• 13:44:33
  endangered, highly endangered. I mean,
• 13:44:35
  you have about 4,000
• 13:44:37
  birds left in Florida
• 13:44:38
  and that's actually a good number. It's
• 13:44:40
  gone down all the way, dipped down into
• 13:44:42
  the thousands before. So there's more
• 13:44:45
  people probably in this building
• 13:44:47
  right now than there are snail kites in
• 13:44:49
  the state. Well, let me ask you, I mean,
• 13:44:51
  without getting two in the weeds, what is
• 13:44:53
  the reason why the population is
• 13:44:55
  dwindling? So the shrinking of the
• 13:44:58
  wetlands, they specifically only eat
• 13:45:02
  applesnails. All day, every day, they're
• 13:45:04
  looking for this little snail that lives
• 13:45:05
  under the water. The main issue is that
• 13:45:07
  snail really likes nice water quality
• 13:45:11
  and it needs that timing of like dry down
• 13:45:15
  and raising of the water. So
• 13:45:16
  we've kind of messed up the timing of the
• 13:45:17
  water and we've messed up water
• 13:45:18
  quality. So no snails, no snail kites. So
• 13:45:23
  that's why grassy waters really has
• 13:45:25
  served as a haven for them and that's why
• 13:45:28
  we have them as kind of our mascot.
• 13:45:30
  Because with it being rain-fed and kind
• 13:45:33
  of isolated from some of those chemicals
• 13:45:34
  that I was talking about, that snail,
• 13:45:38
  that native snail is
• 13:45:39
  still on our preserve
• 13:45:41
  and pretty high abundance. So we see the
• 13:45:43
  eggs all the time, we know it's there and
• 13:45:45
  so then the snail kites know that they
• 13:45:47
  can come and get snails from us.
• 13:45:49
  You were talking a little bit about some
• 13:45:50
  pollutants that have
• 13:45:52
  worked their way into
• 13:45:53
  the waters there. Where are those coming
• 13:45:55
  from? Is that like
• 13:45:56
  fertilizer or what is it?
• 13:45:58
  So Everglades as a whole, the ecosystem,
• 13:46:00
  yes. A lot of it is gonna be your
• 13:46:02
  fertilizers, your pesticides. So you
• 13:46:05
  obviously have some farms but also we
• 13:46:09
  talk a lot about, I mean, we have golf
• 13:46:11
  courses here in South Florida and we also
• 13:46:14
  all have our lawns. And so since we are a
• 13:46:16
  surface drinking water system, even for
• 13:46:19
  us, even though we are nice low nutrient,
• 13:46:21
  don't have a lot of pollution, we tell
• 13:46:23
  people just be very conscious of what you
• 13:46:25
  are putting on your lawns because
• 13:46:26
  you don't want it running off then into
• 13:46:29
  your drinking water. And even if
• 13:46:31
  you don't live in the city of West Palm
• 13:46:33
  Beach, you are getting your drinking
• 13:46:35
  water here from the Everglades. It
• 13:46:38
  trickles down into the aquifer and
• 13:46:41
  everyone in South Florida basically is
• 13:46:43
  indirectly or directly, in our case,
• 13:46:45
  drinking Everglades water. So it's in our
• 13:46:47
  best interest to preserve it.
• 13:46:49
  And to be aware of it, you've used SAM as
• 13:46:51
  a way to sort of create a lesson for
• 13:46:55
  young and old about the dangers of
• 13:46:59
  messing too much with our
• 13:47:00
  environment and damaging a very important
• 13:47:03
  preserve. Tell us a little bit
• 13:47:07
  about your the iconic SAM the snail kite.
• 13:47:10
  Yes, and so I don't know if I can
• 13:47:12
  get like a little shot if I hold it up,
• 13:47:15
  but this is SAM here. Yeah, so...
• 13:47:19
  And for the folks that are listening to
• 13:47:21
  us on audio, we're looking at the
• 13:47:23
  cover of a really great children's book,
• 13:47:26
  SAM the snail kite. We have a beautiful
• 13:47:27
  drawing of SAM, which is off to one side.
• 13:47:30
  Tell us a little bit
• 13:47:31
  about it. Yeah, about
• 13:47:32
  the end of the project. Well, we wanted
• 13:47:34
  to find a new way to be able to connect
• 13:47:37
  with visitors and this is a great way to
• 13:47:39
  connect with young visitors. When you're
• 13:47:41
  talking about the animals of the
• 13:47:42
  Everglades, everyone loves gators. Yeah.
• 13:47:45
  I mean, they're just great, you know, all
• 13:47:46
  the tourists come in, they want to see an
• 13:47:47
  alligator or they might know a couple of
• 13:47:49
  the other birds, but you know, a lot of
• 13:47:52
  people haven't even heard of this snail
• 13:47:53
  kite. So we were trying to come up with a
• 13:47:55
  way to make it more fun and
• 13:47:58
  impressionable and really have a
• 13:48:00
  connection to it. This whole project
• 13:48:02
  though started because we wanted to have
• 13:48:04
  signs along our boardwalk where you could
• 13:48:07
  read like a story stroll, you could
• 13:48:08
  read a book as you walked. And there's
• 13:48:11
  many, many books about the Everglades,
• 13:48:13
  but as we were looking, we didn't see
• 13:48:15
  ones that really like centered
• 13:48:17
  around our mission of water and also we
• 13:48:20
  really wanted some specific animals. And
• 13:48:23
  the stars aligned, we had amazing people
• 13:48:25
  on staff at that time because this is
• 13:48:27
  fully produced by City of West Palm Beach
• 13:48:30
  grassy water staff. And it's really
• 13:48:31
  cool, again, for those who can't see it,
• 13:48:33
  it's a really neat little book.
• 13:48:35
  Continuously, I'm sorry. Yes, no problem.
• 13:48:36
  And so amazing staff. We had Virde
• 13:48:40
  Shalhainvair, she's the author, so I knew
• 13:48:42
  at the time that she had written some
• 13:48:44
  things and so I was like, well, do you
• 13:48:46
  think that you could write a children's
• 13:48:47
  book? And at the time we were really
• 13:48:49
  thinking maybe just for the signs. And
• 13:48:52
  then Christina Yore is the illustrator
• 13:48:55
  and she was another educator at the time
• 13:48:57
  at the preserve. And I had seen her draw,
• 13:49:00
  you know, sketch on the side. Someone
• 13:49:02
  else was like, you think you can do this?
• 13:49:04
  She learned a whole new
• 13:49:05
  procreate graphics to do it.
• 13:49:10
  That's great. And so, and if you, the
• 13:49:12
  graphics are amazing. So
• 13:49:14
  really putting those two
• 13:49:16
  minds together. And then we had a third
• 13:49:18
  staff member, Sarah
• 13:49:19
  Cravens, that if anyone
• 13:49:21
  here listening is like familiar with
• 13:49:24
  Adobe products, she had to figure out the
• 13:49:26
  Adobe products and put all of those, all
• 13:49:30
  those things together.
• 13:49:32
  So really having those
• 13:49:33
  three staff on board at that time. And
• 13:49:37
  this has been probably
• 13:49:38
  about a five-year project.
• 13:49:40
  We released the book last year. And then
• 13:49:42
  this year now we,
• 13:49:44
  right before spring break,
• 13:49:46
  I believe, let me just double check so I
• 13:49:49
  don't get the wrong date, March 14th from
• 13:49:51
  three, eight, we're actually going to
• 13:49:52
  launch our story stroll
• 13:49:54
  celebration. And so we're
• 13:49:56
  taking the pages out of the book. So just
• 13:49:58
  giving you an example
• 13:49:59
  of one of the, one of
• 13:50:01
  the pages. So you can see, you know,
• 13:50:02
  we're taking this, this
• 13:50:04
  page and putting them on
• 13:50:05
  about four foot wide panels so that
• 13:50:08
  people can read them as
• 13:50:09
  they, as they walk. So, and
• 13:50:12
  then we'll have other activities as well
• 13:50:14
  that day because of the celebration.
• 13:50:15
  How neat. So basically you're taking the
• 13:50:17
  book and turning it
• 13:50:18
  into a living guide. You're
• 13:50:21
  walking along, reading the book while
• 13:50:23
  also seeing the wildlife.
• 13:50:24
  I think it's really neat
• 13:50:26
  that this is truly homegrown. This is,
• 13:50:28
  this is your staff who
• 13:50:29
  put this together. You did
• 13:50:30
  just didn't farm it out to a publisher.
• 13:50:33
  This is something, but
• 13:50:34
  it is a published book.
• 13:50:36
  Yes. Yes. Um, yep. It has a copyright and
• 13:50:39
  everything. So I had
• 13:50:41
  to figure all that out.
• 13:50:42
  That was my role in the whole project.
• 13:50:44
  Yes. I, I really have
• 13:50:46
  so much respect for now.
• 13:50:48
  It's cause I know all that paperwork.
• 13:50:50
  Okay. The question that everyone's going
• 13:50:51
  to ask is that in
• 13:50:52
  bookstores, is that available
• 13:50:53
  on Amazon?
• 13:50:54
  Yes. So good question right now. It is
• 13:50:56
  solely available in our
• 13:50:57
  nature center. You can walk
• 13:50:59
  in to do it. Okay. Um, or you can buy it,
• 13:51:01
  um, on our grassy
• 13:51:02
  waters conservancy's website
• 13:51:04
  and then come and get the copy. So you
• 13:51:05
  can do either, or all
• 13:51:07
  proceeds right now go completely
• 13:51:09
  back into education initiatives at
• 13:51:11
  grassy. So guys, it's
• 13:51:13
  great. So I'm going back into
• 13:51:14
  basically educating and a lot of them
• 13:51:17
  will go to, we can buy
• 13:51:18
  some free copies then to
• 13:51:20
  take them into schools, um, and community
• 13:51:23
  centers to really share
• 13:51:24
  Sam with, uh, students
• 13:51:26
  here in the city.
• 13:51:27
  And so I will tell you just by quick, uh,
• 13:51:30
  of leafing through the
• 13:51:31
  book, that is a fabulous
• 13:51:32
  book to buy for a grandkid or, or, or a
• 13:51:36
  son or a daughter is a
• 13:51:37
  fun book to look at. Very,
• 13:51:39
  very beautiful and delivers a really
• 13:51:41
  important message. It
• 13:51:42
  starts really tuning young people
• 13:51:44
  to think about how fragile our
• 13:51:46
  environment is and how it
• 13:51:47
  needs to be protected and how
• 13:51:49
  all these different animals interact with
• 13:51:51
  each other to co coexist and survive.
• 13:51:55
  Yes. So, um, the whole kind of premise of
• 13:51:57
  the book is, you know, Sam finds out he's
• 13:51:59
  endangered and he has to go explore how,
• 13:52:02
  what is the secret of
• 13:52:02
  keeping the Everglades alive?
• 13:52:04
  So it's this nice journey. Like you said,
• 13:52:05
  he's going to talk to
• 13:52:07
  the whole Everglades
• 13:52:07
  family, all the characters that really
• 13:52:09
  make up the Everglades.
• 13:52:12
  Um, and then you, you kind
• 13:52:13
  of get to the end and there is a, there's
• 13:52:14
  a big secret at the end that I won't, uh,
• 13:52:17
  blow for our audience. Um, but there,
• 13:52:20
  there is a, you know,
• 13:52:21
  something that you can do
• 13:52:23
  to be able to protect Everglades kids and
• 13:52:25
  adults alike. So we
• 13:52:26
  wanted to make sure to
• 13:52:27
  have that, that message in the, in the
• 13:52:29
  book. Now you're open
• 13:52:31
  year round. Yes. Yeah. Uh,
• 13:52:34
  obviously if you're visiting during the
• 13:52:36
  winter months, it's going
• 13:52:37
  to be very temperate. It's
• 13:52:38
  going to be, you know, sweater, wetter,
• 13:52:40
  weather, or a little jacket. Obviously
• 13:52:42
  summer's a different
• 13:52:43
  story. Now what kind of tips do you give
• 13:52:45
  folks who might be popping
• 13:52:46
  out in July or August? Is it
• 13:52:49
  better to go in the evening or what time,
• 13:52:51
  what's the best way to do
• 13:52:52
  it? In summer, if you want to
• 13:52:54
  come in and visit us, the, the really
• 13:52:56
  cool thing about summer. Um, if you, if
• 13:52:58
  you can deal with the
• 13:52:59
  heat, um, is everything is green and
• 13:53:02
  everything is blooming at that time. Our
• 13:53:04
  orchids are blooming.
• 13:53:05
  All the cypus trees have their leaves
• 13:53:07
  back from the long winter. Um, all of
• 13:53:10
  our, our grasses are
• 13:53:12
  nice, that nice green. Um, usually
• 13:53:14
  there's a lot more water. So
• 13:53:16
  the canoeing and kayaking, um,
• 13:53:18
  usually resumes sort of dry this time.
• 13:53:20
  Yes, this is our dry
• 13:53:22
  season. So right now, um, yeah,
• 13:53:24
  the water levels are going down and then
• 13:53:26
  in the summer they'll kind
• 13:53:26
  of pick back up. So, um, it,
• 13:53:29
  obviously it will be really hot. So
• 13:53:32
  earlier is always better.
• 13:53:34
  We don't open until 8am on,
• 13:53:35
  on our side, but there are other trails
• 13:53:38
  that we have. We have several trails
• 13:53:39
  within grassy waters,
• 13:53:40
  as I talked about those 25 miles of
• 13:53:42
  trails. So check out some of
• 13:53:43
  the ones that open earlier.
• 13:53:45
  Yeah. Um, a Poi Park is one of the ones
• 13:53:47
  it's even closer to
• 13:53:48
  downtown. It's only about five miles
• 13:53:50
  from this, the city center. And so that's
• 13:53:53
  another one that, you know,
• 13:53:54
  it opens way earlier. Sure.
• 13:53:56
  So that's another option, but yeah. You,
• 13:53:59
  you, you touch on
• 13:54:00
  something that's interesting. We've
• 13:54:01
  been talking very much about grassy. Um,
• 13:54:04
  you know, and the people are
• 13:54:05
  hungry to see things that are
• 13:54:07
  as close to nature as possible, how the
• 13:54:09
  way things were. Um, you
• 13:54:11
  mentioned one, are there others
• 13:54:13
  around town that people should sort of
• 13:54:14
  check out to see if things were like,
• 13:54:16
  Yes. And so we are lucky in the county in
• 13:54:19
  the sense of West Palm
• 13:54:20
  Beach is really just a,
• 13:54:23
  a great partner in this massive Palm
• 13:54:25
  Beach County, like
• 13:54:26
  preservation system. Right. So, um,
• 13:54:29
  I tell people we're so lucky that we're a
• 13:54:32
  city owned and managed,
• 13:54:34
  uh, property, but we have an
• 13:54:36
  example of a state park in Palm Beach
• 13:54:38
  County. We have, um,
• 13:54:40
  federal lands. We have a national
• 13:54:41
  wildlife refuge down in Boynton beach.
• 13:54:43
  Um, we have great Palm
• 13:54:45
  Beach County natural areas, uh,
• 13:54:48
  owned by environmental resources
• 13:54:49
  management. Um, and then we even have
• 13:54:51
  some FWC lands as well.
• 13:54:53
  Palm Beach County has a wide assortment
• 13:54:55
  of different places to
• 13:54:57
  see what nature used to
• 13:54:58
  look like, um, before development. That's
• 13:55:00
  really tremendous. So
• 13:55:02
  while people can enjoy
• 13:55:04
  the latest and greatest here and more of
• 13:55:07
  the coastal type of
• 13:55:08
  communities, uh, it's not a far
• 13:55:10
  run to find a window back in time to see
• 13:55:13
  what things used to look
• 13:55:14
  like, not only here in the
• 13:55:16
  city of West Palm Beach, but as you point
• 13:55:17
  out all over the county,
• 13:55:19
  and I would assume that you
• 13:55:20
  could probably find out information about
• 13:55:22
  what's in the county by
• 13:55:23
  going to the county website,
• 13:55:25
  perhaps. And yes, so the, the, kind of
• 13:55:29
  the challenging things
• 13:55:30
  with, uh, the Everglades is
• 13:55:31
  there's a lot of partners involved with
• 13:55:33
  preserving all of that
• 13:55:34
  land. Um, and so each partner
• 13:55:37
  generally has its own website. So the
• 13:55:40
  easiest one to go explore the
• 13:55:41
  Palm Beach County lands that I
• 13:55:42
  talked about. Yes, you could go to the
• 13:55:43
  Palm Beach County
• 13:55:44
  environmental resources site. I tell people
• 13:55:47
  just type in Palm Beach County natural
• 13:55:48
  areas. They will pop up. There's probably
• 13:55:50
  over 40 or so to pick
• 13:55:52
  from lots. Um, you also national wildlife
• 13:55:55
  refuge, that would be a
• 13:55:56
  federally owned land. So, but you
• 13:55:59
  know, most people, you could probably
• 13:56:00
  find all these by, if you
• 13:56:02
  want, you know, to see Everglades,
• 13:56:03
  you can type in, you know, try to search
• 13:56:05
  for Everglades or, you
• 13:56:07
  know, if you want coastal
• 13:56:08
  habitats, you can search for those as
• 13:56:10
  well. And the home for the
• 13:56:11
  grassy waters information
• 13:56:12
  is going to be at the wpb.org slash,
• 13:56:15
  front slash grassy waters.
• 13:56:17
  All one word. Yes. Correct. Yes.
• 13:56:19
  Type that in and it'll make it easy to
• 13:56:20
  find. That's right. So
• 13:56:22
  that's a great place to start.
• 13:56:23
  If you had the opportunity to give a
• 13:56:26
  message to folks who
• 13:56:27
  weren't aware of grassy waters and
• 13:56:30
  they didn't know what's there, what
• 13:56:33
  message would you give them? What
• 13:56:34
  encouragement would you,
• 13:56:35
  would you share to them to come on out
• 13:56:37
  and see what you have? I
• 13:56:39
  think the number one thing with
• 13:56:40
  grassy waters to remember again, is this
• 13:56:43
  is the iconic Everglades
• 13:56:45
  system. I mean, everyone has
• 13:56:49
  heard of the Everglades. Um, so you, the
• 13:56:53
  fact that it's here in our, in our
• 13:56:54
  backyards, you, you just
• 13:56:56
  have to go visit it. I mean, people fly
• 13:56:58
  from all over the world to
• 13:57:00
  come and see it. So definitely
• 13:57:02
  come and check it out that you'll see an
• 13:57:04
  alligator, which I know
• 13:57:05
  that's usually on people's top,
• 13:57:07
  top list. Absolutely. Um, you'll see, um,
• 13:57:09
  some great birds, but
• 13:57:11
  also a lot of people come out
• 13:57:12
  just for a relaxing, you know, we're all,
• 13:57:16
  we're all running around.
• 13:57:16
  There's traffic. There's,
• 13:57:18
  you know, big events. It's nice and loud.
• 13:57:20
  This is a nice quiet place
• 13:57:21
  that you can kind of relax.
• 13:57:23
  We have some great rocking chairs. Just
• 13:57:24
  say that it sounds great.
• 13:57:26
  Read a nice book and, uh, just
• 13:57:27
  enjoy the view because 15,000 acres, you
• 13:57:30
  don't think about how big that, that
• 13:57:32
  place is. Fantastic.
• 13:57:34
  Mary, thank you. And thanks to your
• 13:57:35
  staff. Thanks for your, to your staff for
• 13:57:37
  all the things that you
• 13:57:38
  do to keep grassy waters, the beautiful
• 13:57:42
  jewel that it is here in
• 13:57:43
  the city of West Palm Beach.
• 13:57:45
  Well, thank you. And thank you for
• 13:57:47
  joining us for the city center podcast.
• 13:57:50
  Feel free to comment or drop us an email
• 13:57:52
  at podcast at WPB.org.
• 13:57:56
  This city center podcast
• 13:57:57
  is a production of the city of West Palm
• 13:57:59
  Beach communications
• 13:58:00
  department. I'm Jerry Marcello.
• 13:58:02
  We'll see you next time.