Lecture Series
JOIN US AT THE RIVER CENTER FOR OUR MONTHLY LECTURE SERIES
The first Friday of each month we have a Noon Lecture from 12pm – 1pm
The third Friday of each month we have an Evening Lecture from 6pm – 7pm
NOON LECTURE
Transformational Intersection of Nature and Us
Friday, March 1st 2024 | 12pm – 1pm
Speaker: CJ McCartney, Florida Wildflower Foundation, Board of Directors
This talk explores how we interact with nature and how nature interacts with us. How we interact with wildlife and how wildlife interacts with us. How we interact with the environment and how the environment interacts with us. And how all that shows up in our daily lives, our communities, our world.
After moving to south Florida from Chicago, CJ McCartney started learning how to be a knowledgeable and effective Environmental Steward. Along with training to become a Master Gardener, she started taking a variety of botanical and horticulture classes as well as seminars to supplement her formal training in public policy and urban management. Currently, she serves on the Florida Wildflower Foundation Board of Directors and serves on the garden committees of several organizations.
EVENING LECTURE
Endangered Species – Chronicles of a New England Fisherman & the Fishing Vessel Ellen Diane
Friday, March 15th, 2023 | 6pm – 7pm
Speaker: Captain David Goethel, Retired Commercial Fisherman
David is a small boat fisherman, an “endangered species”, who works tirelessly for himself and others like him to survive. Follow along on that journey, sea stories and autobiography mixed with twists and turns of science and management as David and his family work relentlessly to feed America sustainable seafood.
Fishing is not a job; it is a way of life. David is determined to maintain that life fighting through storm tossed adversity that nature lays out endlessly, and the new sinister efforts of a modern society who live on land and have no concept of how those at sea ensure their own survival as well as the fish on which they depend. Reading Endangered Species will take readers on a journey through time while demonstrating why some individuals will always be called to work the sea.
David will be reading an excerpt from the book then discussing a series of photos depicting his decades on the water, followed by a book signing.
April 2024
NOON LECTURE
The Wild Dolphin Project
Friday, April 5th 2024 | 12pm – 1pm
Speaker: Hayley Knapp, Masters Student at Florida Atlantic University
Can you identify individuals in a wild dolphin population? Yes, you can! Over the last 40 years, The Wild Dolphin Project (WDP)––founded by Dr. Denise Herzing–– has studied Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) in the Bahamas, focusing its research on understanding their behavior, ecology, life-history, and acoustics. Through rigorous photo identification methods and a hands-off approach, the WDP has been able to develop a unique, respectful relationship with the Spotted dolphins living in the Bahamas. The project even knows the individuals by name! Their current graduate student, Hayley Knapp, is a masters student at Florida Atlantic University and is working on tracing paternity and genetic diversity by using fecal DNA to match calves to their parents. This is just one area of research the WDP focuses on. Join us in learning about the Wild Dolphin Project as we hear about the exciting research they are doing and how Hayley’s research ties in!
May 2024
NOON LECTURE
Seagrass Then & Now – A look back at 20 years of seagrass monitoring and mapping in the Loxahatchee River Estuary
Friday, May 3rd 2024 | 12pm – 1pm
Speaker: Jerry Metz, Lab Tech at The Loxahatchee River District’s Wild Pine Lab
Since 2003 the Loxahatchee River District has been monitoring and mapping seagrass in the Loxahatchee River Estuary. Seagrass monitoring was conducted at least bimonthly at select seagrass beds within the estuary and continues to this day for over 20 years of uninterrupted seagrass data. In addition to the small-scale bimonthly monitoring, the Loxahatchee River District has also conducted large scale, whole estuary mapping assessment of seagrass in 2007, 2010, 2018, and 2022. This presentation will take a look back at some of the changes in seagrass abundance, composition, and distribution that 20+ years of monitoring and mapping efforts have provided as well as provide an overview of the current seagrass community in the Loxahatchee River Estuary. The presentation will also briefly showcase the results of recent mapping of seagrass around the Sawfish and Fullerton Islands recreation area, a region previously unmapped by the district.