LIFE - Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve

The LIFE Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM NERR) Program is a partnership between GTM NERR and the St. Johns County School District. The program targets seventh grade students in the district and involves two separate field days, one each semester. Each field day involves three distinct field labs led by GTM Reserve staff and assisted by seventh grade teachers and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Northeast District staff. Field sites include the Guana River Marsh Aquatic Preserve and the GTM NERR Guana Beach. The LIFE GTM NERR Program will be working with 150 seventh-grade students from Sebastian Middle School. The LIFE GTM NERR Program is sponsored in part by support from Florida Sea Grant and the Friends of the GTM Reserve.

Site News

• LIFE-GTMNERR Launch: St. Augustine Record [PDF - 227 KB]
• LIFE-GTMNERR Launch: Ponte Vedra Beach Leader [PDF - 111 KB]

Program Implementation Team

• Angie Golubovich
  Education Outreach Coordinator
  Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
  505 Guana River Rd
  Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082
  (904) 823-4500
  http://www.dep.state.fl.us/COASTAL/sites/gtm/education/

• Nicole Evans
  K-12 Education Specialist
  Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
  505 Guana River Rd.
  Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082
  Phone: (904) 823-4500; Fax: (904) 825-6829

• Jodi Conway and Beth Weatherford
  District Outreach and Education Coordinators
  DEP Northeast District Office
  7825 Baymeadows Way, Suite 200B
  Jacksonville, FL 32256-7590
  Phone (904) 448-4300; Fax: (904) 448-4366

• Debbie Hagenbach-Reese and Kristina Harvey
  Teachers, Sebastian Middle School
  2955 Lewis Speedway
  St. Augustine, FL 32084
  Phone: (904) 819-3840
  http://www-sms.stjohns.k12.fl.us/ 

• Mark Lewis and Lynn O'Connor
  District Science Coordinator
  St. Johns County School District
  40 Orange St.
  St. Augustine, FL 32084
  Phone: (904) 819-7529

Program Content

Additional Resources

General Environmental Science Information:

• USGS’s Water Science for Schools
• NASA’s Visit to an Ocean Planet
• NOAA’s Tides and Water Levels
• NOAA’s Online Research Resources for Middle Schools
• EPA’s Kids, Students and Teachers
• Natural Resource and Environmental Education Web Sites at UF
• Florida Sunshine State Standards (Science; Grades 6-8)
• Sea Grant Florida
• Florida COSEE
• Central Gulf of Mexico COSEE
• National Geographic EdNet Oceans for Life
• NOAA Education for Teachers and Students
• Unit Conversion Web Site