The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 15 No. 12 - January 14, 2015

headlines

Fishermen school officials on mullet dumping
Carol Whitmore

CINDY LANE | SUN

Fishermen fear that dead fish washing up on Anna Maria Island’s
shores may hurt tourism and lead to the sunset of mullet fishing.

CORTEZ – Commercial fishermen educated officials about mullet dumping on Sunday afternoon, asking them to pull together with them to stop the practice before the state shuts down the fishery.

The men skipped an NFL playoff game to explain the complex problem, which affects tourism as much as the fisheries, said Mark Coarsey, of Fishing for Freedom, which called the meeting at Fishermen's Hall. The group has a case pending in the Florida Supreme Court to lift the 1995 gill net ban.

“People aren’t going to sit on the beach with stinkin’ rotten mullet” on Anna Maria Island’s Gulf beaches, he said.

“Tourists enjoy the heck out of watching the boats offshore. But dead mullet is not an attraction,” said former commercial fisherman Mark Taylor, who cleans the county’s beaches.

On the bay side, “Million dollar houses have rotting mullet in the mangroves. It’s not fair to them,” Anna Maria stone crabber Anthony Manali said.

Officials from the Manatee County Commission, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service listened intently to the men, representing generations of fishing experience in local waters.

Why do they do it?

Like tourism, mullet fishing draws visitors to the Island, fishermen said.

Each roe season, starting about Nov. 15, fishermen come to cash in on the plentiful mullet, which is easier to spot in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay than it is in their home waters of the deep Atlantic and northern Gulf.

“They have roe mullet in their areas, but these fish are easier to catch here,” Coarsey said.

Each year, fishermen netting fat, high-dollar female mullet carrying red roe, or eggs, also net low-dollar male mullet carrying white roe.

At the start of the season, they can usually sell the males, as white roe is often used as crab bait. But they prefer females, as red roe brings more cash – it’s a delicacy prized in Asian markets and locally promoted on Chiles Group restaurant menus.

As the mullet season starts jumping, the two Cortez fish houses fill up with mullet and gradually pay less for the males. Cortez Bait and Seafood owner John Banyas said he kept the price up to 15 cents a pound as long as he could, even when he should have been paying a nickel. But at some point, he had to stop buying them altogether because the freezer was full.

That’s when fishermen started dumping males overboard in the Gulf and bay. It saves room in their boats for the female red roe mullet.

Returning the males to the water live is what they’re supposed to do under state fishery regulations. But in the fishing frenzy, known as a roundup, they don’t always release them right away. Usually, they toss their nets two or three times, while the males from the previous catches lie dying in the boat.

“If you’re going to cull fish, you should go through them right there at that time, you can't throw twice and expect to cull fish,” fisherman Gene Ames said.

Even when they are discarded live, the fish are doomed to death in a few days, and wind up hanging from the mangroves or piled on the beach.

Taylor hates that, and not just because he has to clean it up. He’s a proud former commercial fisherman and the former president of Organized Fisherman of Florida.

“We were professionals,” he said. “These boys aren't professionals.”

“You don't let hunters blow the wings off quail or blow the legs off pigs and let them die. Why are you doing that with mullet?” Manali asked.

The out-of-towners

Manali said most of the offenders are not locals, whose families have been fishing for generations, and who know that if you leave a male mullet alone, about 80 percent of the time it will eventually turn into a female and bear red roe, making fishermen more money.

“These guys are throwing away next year’s red roe. That’s a major problem,” he said.

The offenders are not commercial fishermen either, Ames said, claiming that they are sports fishermen with steady day jobs or recreational guides who voted for the gill net ban that put Florida’s commercial fishermen out of work in 1995.

One fisherman suggested outlawing fish finding machines during mullet season, saying, “That will curtail all of it. They (the out-of-towners) don't even see them when they jump in their boat.”

License plates on trailers at the boat ramps confirm many fishermen are not local. Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker said the ramps were never designed to be hotels for out-of-town mullet rigs. The county is talking about limiting commercial fishermen next season to Coquina South boat ramp in Bradenton Beach, as local recreational fishermen are intimidated by the big mullet rigs and fishermen sleeping in their trucks at the ramps, he said.

Tom Graef, FWC’s regional director, suggested that the county could institute parking fees and launching fees at boat ramps and outlaw overnight parking and camping.

A big fishing permit fee for out-of-towners, like $500, and $1,000 for out-of-staters also might deter them from coming, fishermen said. Locals would pay $50.

“It’s hard to say, ‘You guys can't come fish off this coast, these are Cortez fish.’” said Dan Ellinor, of the Marine Fisheries Service. “A reasonable request floats better than saying nobody else can fish in Cortez.”

Reinstating the nets

Fishermen asked FWC officials on Sunday to consider allowing gill nets again, at least for those experienced fishermen who turned their nets in 20 years ago and have the state records to prove it.

The gill nets outlawed in 1995 by state constitutional amendment reduced unwanted bycatch due to the larger size of the mesh, letting smaller male mullet swim through and live, according to the fishermen.

Ames said that when the ban went into effect, the new smaller nets with smaller mesh size caught everything.

“Now, there's a great deal of waste,” he said.

“It’s time to quit playing around,” fisherman Larry Fulford said. “If we could just have a bigger mesh we could get a kicker boat to run the net off the back, and you would slow down the cast netting.”

But Graef said that won’t happen while the Florida Supreme Court has a pending case on Fishing for Freedom’s gill net lawsuit. Even then, it might not happen, he said.

The FWC can make rules on bag limits, fish size, and season dates, but it could take a year, they may not pass as requested, and they may have amendments added, Graef said.

And fishermen would have to unite and speak as a group, with an agreed-upon list of grievances and suggestions, and show up at fisheries commission meetings to give testimony, Ellinor said.

“If we try to get a majority of the people who are cast netting right now, that's not going to happen,” fisherman Junior Guthrie said.

Taylor brought a list of suggestions the group could consider as its platform, including limiting the mullet season from Nov. 15 to Jan. 15 and increasing the minimum mesh size allowed.

“That way you have selectivity like it used to be,” he said.

High license fees for non-locals could go towards education, enforcement, product marketing, habitat restoration, boat ramp maintenance, restrooms and showers at boat ramps, he said.

The county could dedicate a single ramp and parking area for commercial fishing, which would limit the dumping of thousands of pounds of dead male mullet in other ramp parking lots, which the county has to pay to clean up, Taylor said.

Where’s a cop when you need one?

Another solution is better law enforcement by the FWC and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, fishermen said.

“I saw the law sit on a pack of boats and watch people throw them overboard and they didn’t do a thing about it,” fisherman Nathan Meschelle said.

“If it’s against the law, stop us. I've also seen the law watch and do nothing,” Fulford said.

It is against the law to throw dead fish overboard, but law enforcement has to see it happen or somebody has to take a video to file charges, the FWC’s Graef said.

“It’s not cut and dried,” he said, because you’re allowed – and obligated – to release the fish unharmed, and officers need to be sure the fish are dead. “It’s a pretty tough call.”

Another possible solution is to enlist law enforcement to get the unwanted fish to the county prison, fishermen suggested.

But transportation, ice, processing and other costs have long kept organizations like food banks from accepting the fish.

Clouds on the horizon

Commercial fishermen said the state burned them in 1995, and they are afraid the mullet dumping will cause them to do it again.

If dead fish keep washing up on the beaches, threatening tourism, the fishery may be shut down completely, Coarsey said, adding, “The government has had enough of this problem.”

While it’s too late to approach the 2015 Florida Legislature with any suggestions – the county’s legislative priorities have already been presented to the legislative delegation – it’s the right time to prepare for the 2016 session, Hunsicker suggested.

Gov. Rick Scott’s push to increase employment in Florida is inconsistent with regulations that reduce someone’s ability to earn a living fishing, Graef said, adding, “I think your long-term goal is going to be raising the fees.”

But fishermen insisted they want the net ban lifted and larger mesh size allowed, which the FWC opposes, Banyas said, adding, “Somewhere along the line, somebody’s got to give a little bit of something.”

The present situation has got to change, Manali said.

“They (dead mullet) are at million dollar houses, and we’re going to go down, so we've got to come together and figure something out quick.”

Congestion committee tweaks parking plan

HOLMES BEACH – Responding to complaints from residents, Island Congestion Committee members refined their residential parking plan to include property owners and those who rent for 30 days or more.

The proposal would eliminate street and right of way parking in residential areas, except for residents with decals. In December, city commissioners asked City Attorney Patricia Petruff and Planner Bill Brisson to draft an ordinance.

“This isn’t about deterring people from coming to the Island, it’s about parking in the right place,” Chair Jayne Christenson said. “It’s about providing public parking, and there will be public parking signs.

“There’s 325 spaces at the public beach and many of our 47 beach accesses have spaces open to the public. People have safe parking, and they’re not walking through our neighborhoods.”

According to the draft parking permit application two-year decals will be issued to residents with vehicles registered to a city address, property owners’ who show proof of ownership and vehicle registration and renters with a lease agreement of 30 days or more and vehicle registration.

Member Pam Leckie suggested that rental agents have decals for their renters, but member Ursula Stemm said they would not be able to provide vehicle registration.

Resident Don Hartsfield asked about his children who use the house for two weeks at a time when it is empty. City Commissioner Carol Soustek, the former chair of the committee, said he could apply for a decal for their vehicle.

Golf carts

Resident Kim Rash asked if golf carts would need decals.

“Some are street legal so they have registration and tags,” Soustek. “Those that don’t can bring in their driver’s license and follow similar rules we have for vehicles.”

She said the decals would be a different color and include the words Golf Cart, so people could not put them on vehicles.

Leckie said rented golf carts would be a problem.

Member Richard Brown suggested exempting golf carts to encourage their use and added, “No one’s going to come from Bradenton in a golf cart to visit the Island.”

The others agreed, and Christenson said vehicles with handicap stickers also are exempt.

Rash asked about people with 30-day rentals who might give the decal to someone else when they leave. Soustek said they are non transferable, and police could perform random checks.

“It’s not infallible,” she said. “There will be problems, but we can work them out over time.”

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible, so we don’t have people driving through using our neighborhoods as parking lots,” Christenson added.

Leckie asked if residents with decals could park on any road or right of way in the city, and Christenson said yes unless there is a no parking sign.

Education and communication

Christenson said committee members must educate the public by communicating the plan and said they could make a brochure and mail it to residents and property owners, have a town hall meeting and post the information on the city’s website.

Leckie said brochures should be put in the AMI Chamber office, businesses and other locations, and Hartsfield said they should keep it simple.

Christenson said they should wait until after the city commission discussion on Jan. 29 to hold the town hall meeting, and Stemm said they also should wait for the brochures in case city commissioners make change, in the plan.

However, Christenson disagreed and said, “It’s a draft. If the public knows what’s in a proposal in a draft they can give more educated comments.”

Soustek felt they should go ahead with the brochures and could get approval from the mayor, but Leckie said they should get city commission approval.

Christenson said she would get city commission approval at the Jan. 15 meeting.

“Most communities will take action once a tragedy happens – when a kid gets hit by a car or a bicyclist gets hit, but we’re trying to take action before a tragedy happens,” Christenson pointed out.

“There are a lot of people in neighborhoods who are not affected by this,” Leckie added. “But you have to think about others – the people near the beach who are just miserable. It’s the neighborly thing to do. We have to work together.”

Anna Maria fires attorney

ANNA MARIA – After 27 years representing the city, James Dye has been dismissed because of a family-owned rental house that Mayor Dan Murphy feels keeps him from being able to serve when the city commission works on controlling vacation rentals.

At a work session Thursday night, the commissioners voted unanimously to let Dye go. After the vote, Dye packed up his briefcase and told them, “It has been an all too short 27 years.”

After the meeting, Murphy said he wanted to thank Dye for his years of service to the city.

Murphy also called Bradenton Beach City Attorney Ricinda Perry and asked her to serve as interim attorney for Anna Maria. After talking with Mayor Bill Shearon and the city commissioners, she accepted the assignment and was to be officially named as interim city attorney at a meeting set for Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Problems for Dye arose when Murphy found out about the Dye family rental home, which was built for the late baseball star Warren Spahn.

Dye said he did not believe the house was a conflict of interest because it has two bedrooms and a sleeper sofa and was much smaller than the vacation rentals the city was trying to control, but City Commission Chair Chuck Webb, who is also an attorney, disagreed.

Meanwhile, the city commission voted to hire attorney Susan Trevarthen, who appeared in an online seminar on controlling vacation rentals, to render another opinion on whether the city can treat rental homes like commercial businesses. The state passed a law that prohibited cities from treating rentals differently than single-family homes, but if the cities already were doing so they would be exempt from the provision and grandfathered.

The city hired Sarasota attorney David Levin to render an opinion and he said the city was free to treat rentals differently essentially because the city code did not include rentals in its definition of residential homes.

After Levin’s decision, the city commission failed to agree, and Mayor Murphy decided to solicit another attorney. The commission chose Trevarthen.

In other action Thursday, the commission approved the appointments of John Chambers, Stevie Coppin, Dusty Crane, Ruth Uecker and Liza Walker to a committee to study the future of the City Pier Park. They also approved Maureen McCormick to fill in for former city commissioner Gene Aubry on the Planning and Zoning Board and retired Anna Maria Elementary School teacher Kathy Granstad to serve on the Environmental Enhancement and Education Committee.

City responds to tree house appeal

File photo

The controversy over the tree house has
continued for several years.

HOLMES BEACH – Code Board Attorney Jim Dye and City Attorney Patricia Petruff have responded to an appeal to a circuit judge’s ruling upholding the Code Enforcement Board’s 2013 order regarding the tree house on the beach at Angelino’s Sea Lodge at 103 29th St.

The board found tree house owners Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen in violation and ordered them to remove the violations or demolish the structure by Aug. 28, 2013. In September 2013, the board imposed a fine of $100 per day on Tran and Hazen for failure to comply.

The couple appealed both the order and the fine, and in March 2104, they were granted a stay from the order imposing the fine. However, in September, the judge upheld the board’s original order, but the couple appealed it in October 2014.

Dye and Petruff argued against the three points in the appeal.

First argument

The first argument was that the state has not preempted the city from establishing a 50-foot setback from the Erosion Control Line.

“The city’s view is that both the state’s statutory scheme and the city’s 50-foot setback serve the same public purpose, that being the protection of property from the Gulf of Mexico,” the attorneys said. “These two regulatory schemes are complementary and not at odds with each other, and thus, the city’s section 7.2 has not been preempted by the state.

“Not only are the city’s and state’s laws founded on the same policies of protecting the beach and structures, but the state law specifically invites local regulation to supplement what the state does.”

Second argument

The second argument was that petitioners’ (Tran and Hazen) due process rights were not violated because a survey they gave to the city and which the city provided to the Code Enforcement Board was the basis of a violation at the enforcement hearing.

“Petitioners argue they were deprived of their due process rights,” the attorneys wrote. “A case they cite describes due process as including the full and fair opportunity to be heard.

“The right to be heard includes the right to present their own evidence, to cross-examine the witnesses against them and to be heard on questions of law. Petitioners were provided each of these elements during the hearing process.”

They continued, “As to the survey itself, petitioners argue their rights were violated because they did not have an opportunity to confront the surveyor. What is missing from the argument is that the survey was commissioned by petitioners and provided to the city by petitioners.”

Third argument

The third argument was that the city is not equitably estopped from enforcing its codes and ordinances against the unpermitted tree house based on a short informal meeting between Hazen and Building Inspector Bob Shaffer.

The attorneys pointed out that “the circuit court described the petitioners’ purported good faith reliance on the building inspector’s statement on tree house regulation as unreasonable. Individuals, even those who work for the government, cannot ignore or authorize actions which are contrary to the governing codes.

“They also argue the city’s failure to stop them before they finished the tree house during their construction as an apparent act of omission of the city The city did prosecute petitioners for unpermitted construction following the receipt of an anonymous complaint begging the question as to where the omission is.”

They concluded that “the circuit court stayed well within the bounds of the controlling law in upholding the order of the Code Enforcement Board. The petitioners have failed to show a lack of either due process or a departure from the governing law.”

Island should expect challenges from ULI study

ANNA MARIA – Anna Maria Island can expect the Urban Land Institute to recommend major changes, as it did for Longboat Key in 2013, the town’s Planning, Zoning and Building Director, Alaina Ray, told the Island’s ULI study group last week.

“The ULI doesn’t give you the answers you want to hear, they give you the answers you need to hear,” Ray said.

The Longboat Key town commission is following all of the ULI’s recommendations with one significant exception – loosening tourism regulations to allow shorter stays than 30 days, she said.

Among the changes is a plan to bury all utility lines on the key and install fiber optic cable at the town’s expense – about $40 million, she said, adding that residents resist the look of storm-resistant, higher concrete poles such as those installed in Bradenton Beach last year.

The town also will revise its comprehensive plan and land development code to better allow for redevelopment to keep people from leaving the key, she said, adding that the population has shrunk from 7,400 10 years ago to less than 6,700.

Other initiatives include building a town center and cultural center on 3 acres recently purchased by the town for more than $1 million and renovating Bayfront Park.

The ULI, a not-for-profit organization that consults on development issues, is scheduled to arrive on Anna Maria Island in February to interview more than 100 people being chosen by the ULI study group to contribute information for its report and recommendations for the Island. Among the interviewees will be all of the Island’s commissioners and mayors; Ray suggested including people who have moved off the Island to determine their reasons why.

The $125,000 study is funded with excess revenues from the two county-leased beach concession stands on Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach and Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach.

The ULI toured Longboat Key guided by the mayor and a handful of city staff – no commissioners – and went on a boat tour around the key to demonstrate the need for environmental protection and coastal mitigation, Ray said, adding, “That was a very unique perspective for them, and they got an appreciation for the vulnerability we have as an island.”

Ray suggested that the Island’s ULI group have ULI staff stay on the Island to experience firsthand how difficult it is to get around in high tourist season. The study group had previously discussed lodging and dining for the ULI off the Island to avoid any possible favoritism.

Congestion is a common problem for both Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island, which, while very different, face similar challenges, she said, adding, “To get people to live full-time on the islands, something would have to be done about the traffic.”

Ray suggested that the study group create a brochure about the event and distribute it to libraries, city halls, condominiums, retail stores and recreation centers to invite people to attend the ULI’s public presentation, which will be made prior to its written report.

Ray cautioned the three Island city governments to act quickly on the ULI study when it is published.

“If you wait, it will stagnate, and the study itself will become something that will be sitting on the shelf,” she said.

Pier opening announced

joe hendricks | sun

The crew from Duncan Seawall is putting the final touches
on the reconstructed Historic Bridge Street Pier.

 

BRADENTON BEACH – City Commissioners were scheduled to get their first close-up look at the reconstructed Historic Bridge Street Pier on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Accompanied by Pier Team members, the commission walk-through provides commissioners an opportunity to examine and inspect the work performed by Duncan Seawall since the fishing pier area east of the Cast-n-Cage restaurant was closed in August.

It was announced during last week’s Pier Team meeting that the pier will be reopened to the general public with a soft opening scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 23,

A celebratory grand opening ceremony will take place in February, and that event is expected to include Manatee County commissioners and other county officials who played a role in the county’s decision to provide matching funds for the $1.4 million reconstruction project.

“We’re still on schedule for the completion of the fishing pier on the 16th,” Building Official Steve Gilbert told the Pier Team last week.

The Pier Team is chaired by Police Chief Sam Speciale, and will continue to meet once the pier is open.

Gilbert said the remaining deck replacement for the areas near the restaurant and the clock tower will done at night, during the first few following the reopening of the main pier area.

The pier reopening will also provide a new home for the 20-foot welcome to the city sign once intended for placement at the city gateway at the intersection of Cortez Road and Gulf Drive. The sign that has been sitting inside the Public Works Department for at least a year will be mounted near the large pavilion located at the T-end of the pier.

The pier reconstruction was necessitated by damage incurred during Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012, when the pier structure was battered by boats that broke free from the nearby by anchorage. The damage resulted in the far end of the pier being closed long before the reconstruction commenced.

The pier reconstruction was a collaborative effort overseen by the Pier Team, the mayor and city commissioners, ZNS Engineering, and Duncan Seawall.

Restaurant repairs

A trio of repairs and maintenance upgrades will accompany the completion of the pier reconstruction.

Last week, the city commission approved Public Works Director Tom Woodard’s request to pay Gator Grading and Paving $20,307 to resurface the asphalt parking lot at the end of Bridge Street that serves restaurant and pier visitors. The resurfacing work will take place during non-peak hours in order to reduce the inconvenience to pier and restaurant visitors.

The commission approved an $11,230 bid from TIS of Manatee to repaint the exteriors of the restaurant, clock tower, bait shop and shower and bathroom areas, and Woodard said the paint contractors were aware that the job would require hanging over the water to access some areas of the restaurant building.

The commission also approved a $3,993 expenditure to repair leaks in the restaurant roof.

Parking lot approved, challenged

BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners voted 3-2 last week to spend up to $14,500 on the construction of a five-space, beachfront city parking lot along Gulf Drive, adjacent to the southern end of Ed Chiles’ BeachHouse restaurant property.

Commissioners Jack Clarke, Ed Straight and Jan Vosburgh approved the new city parking lot, despite opposition expressed by Mayor Bill Shearon and Commissioner Janie Robertson, who favored a $500 expenditure that would have still provided for the state required removal of exotic and non-native plants, minus the parking lot.

City Engineer Lynn Townsend Burnett told commissioners either of the proposed plant removal options would satisfy conditions of the state-issued Coastal Shoreline Protection Permit that Chiles obtained after entering into a development agreement with the city in 2012.

Last year, the commission requested an extension rather than make that decision, due to a pending lawsuit filed against the city in response to the development agreement.

Burnett told commissioners the state would not grant a second extension, and City Attorney Ricinda Perry said failure to approve the parking lot or the simple plant removal would result in the city paying an estimated $6,500 to obtain a new permit.

Shearon said he was not given ample time to digest the parking lot proposal, and he expressed displeasure that the commission would approve it with the lawsuit still pending.

On Sunday, attorney Ralf Brookes filed an emergency injunction on behalf of Tjet Martin, Shearon’s significant other, and Jo Ann Meilner. The suit names the city and Chiles’ ELRA Inc. ownership group as co-defendants in an effort to prevent the parking lot from getting built.

The injunction says the plaintiffs filed the emergency motion because the city intends to build the parking lot rather than wait until the parties obtain a final court ruling on the lawsuit Shearon, Martin and Meilner filed in 2012.

ELRA Inc. later joined the city as co-defendants and the legal action has been tied up in the circuit court for more than two years. Judge John Lakin was recently ordered to take over the case that has seen two judges recused and no hearing date ever scheduled.

In addition to allowing Chiles his additional parking, the development agreement requires the city to build a small parking lot that provides an exit for automobiles leaving Chiles’ property. Chiles has expressed a willingness to release the city from this obligation, if Martin and Meilner drop their lawsuit, but that compromise remains unreached.

The 2012 Martin-Meilner suit that Shearon is no longer part of contends the commission seated at that time violated the comp plan and the future land use map by entering into an agreement that allowed parking on properties located in the Preservation zoning district. The debate was further complicated when questions were raised by ELRA Inc. about inconsistencies in the language that accompanies the land use map.

Sunday evening, Mayor Vice Clarke said, “The joint development agreement is a legal commitment by the city. These lawsuits by Ms. Martin and Ms. Meilner merely prevent the city from fulfilling its legal obligations.”

A commission workshop previously scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 14, will include discussion on an amendment to future land use policy that would address land use map inconsistencies, while eliminating the need for a comp plan change that would require the super majority support of at least four commissioners. If approved at a regular commission meeting, the land use amendment could impact the merits of Martin and Meilner’s legal actions.

Robinson hosts four events

Get back to nature at Robinson Preserve with four free events this week.

On Thursday, Jan. 15, from 10 to 11 a.m., try a Tai Chi and Qigong class to improve balance, loosen joints and improve flexibility as you relax and breathe. The class, suitable for beginners as well as longtime practitioners, will include an exploration of several different styles of Tai Chi and Qigong. The program, led by Sensei Brian Nell, a fourth degree black belt in kung fu and a certified Tai Chi instructor, is suitable for ages 13 and up. Reservations are required; call 941-742-5757, ext. 6.

A master gardener tour is planned for Sunday, Jan. 18, from 9 to 11 a.m. with Master Gardener Sam Starrett. As the weather turns cooler, Robinson Preserve's resident plants undergo a miraculously colorful transformation. See Robinson's salt marsh full of beautiful fall colors. The program is suitable for all ages. Reservations are required; call 941-722-4524.

Get ready for the annual Robinson Preserve Race at Couch to 5K on Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 5 to 6 p.m. The walk and run program will start out slow and build up. All levels of experience are welcome, and the program is suitable for ages 13 and up. Reservations are requested; call 941-748-4501, ext. 6044.

Additional programs are on Wednesday, Jan. 21; Thursday, Jan. 22; Tuesday, Jan. 27; Wednesday, Jan. 28; and Thursday, Jan. 29.

Join the Preserve Ambassadors program for Robinson Preserve on Wednesday, Jan. 21, from 2-4 p.m. The course is designed to help volunteers learn more about Manatee County's preserve system. The first course focuses on Robinson Preserve's history, habitats, and wildlife as well as an update on the new acquisition. All participants will receive a certificate of completion and pin for this course. Reservations are required; call 941-748-4501, ext. 6039.


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