Gator Pines

Hello, virtual PINES community – unfortunately, because of a lack of participation in our election, the continuation of this club will not be possible for the coming semesters. If, at any point, students would like to bring the club back to life, all materials will be left with our club’s advisor Dr. Rae Crandall ([email protected]). Thank you for the fun times. As always, see you in the PINES!

Are you interested in taking on a leadership role in the coming school year? Do you want to be part of a new club on campus that wants to harbor diversity, inclusion, and community within the natural resources sector? If you answered yes to these questions, Gator PINES would love YOU to run for an officer position for the 2020-21 school year!

Because of our current situation, elections will be held online. The first step to this process is filling out an information form by April 15th (survey link: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_72mS1uaGAlzBlWt ) Next we will be holding online elections from the 16th - 23rd. During that time people can go online and vote for the officers they would like to represent the club (more info on that step to come).

We look forward to your participation in this new process and can’t wait to elect the next group of officers of Gator PINES. As always, see you in the PINES!

Through all this craziness it’s important for us to still come together as a community to celebrate our school and what we’ve accomplished over the last year! Tune in to the Virtual SFRC Spring Celebration 4/4 & 4/5!!

More info:http://sfrc.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/virtual-spring-celebration.pdf

Hello PINES people,

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all PINES events for the month of March are currently canceled.

I will keep you updated if we will be having any meetings in April.

Stay safe, stay informed, and support one another.

- Daisy Andrews (President, Gator PINES)

What have you been doing over Spring Break?
This week our President Daisy Andrews took a trip to the U.S. Capitol – here’s what she had to say:

”This spring break, I traveled to Washington D.C. with my class focused on Agricultural/Life Science policy communication.

The trip was an absolute whirlwind! Our first day, we met with the American Farm Bureau, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, and special interest groups like the National Cattleman’s Beef Association and Crop Life America.

The next day was all about Capital Hill, where we were led around by UF’s own lobbyist! We spent the day meeting with congressional and senate staffers; even two congressmen stopped to have a word with us. And the day ended on a high note when we met with the Senior Policy Advisor at United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works!

This trip definitely gave me a better idea of what role I would like to occupy in the political sphere one day. If anyone has any interest in working in policy one day, I would highly recommend this class: AEC 4932 Effectively Communicating Agricultural and Life Science Policy Issues”

Enjoy the rest of your break PINES People!!

Cool event on biodiversity happening on 2/28 - registration is FREE!!

Humboldt Symposium 2020 Biodiversity Institute » University of Florida The UF Biodiversity Institute is sponsoring the Humboldt Symposium, in honor of the 250th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt. The symposium will be in the Chandler Auditorium, Harn Museum of Art, on the University of Florida campus, Friday, February 28, 2020, 8:30AM-5:00PM. Leading the symposium are...

This article was a reminder of a recent meeting we had with Jen Walls, a biologist with the Florida Forest Service, who works to manage RCW's.

"McGee (a staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center) and others fear that policy decisions are steering endangered species classifications instead of the best available science....The southeast region of FWS adopted a directive dubbed the "Wildly Important Goal" that established a quota to minimize the size of the endangered species list... The agency set out to downgrade, delist, or otherwise prevent 30 species from recieving protections under the ESA."

For a Rare Woodpecker in the Longleaf Pine Forest, It's a Hard-Knock Life Conservationists have worked hard to help the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker recover, but say there’s still lots more to do. The government seems to disagree.

Congratulations, Grace! We are so lucky to have you — thank you for all you do 🧡🧡

Congratulations to SFRC's Grace Burmester, the 2019-2020 UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Professional Advisor of the Year!

Our meeting this Thursday with Python Cowboy has been postponed until further notice.

What a fun day at Gainesville's 6th annual Great Invader Raider Rally! The Pines crew targeted the gnarly Ardisia crenata in a local woods. It's always a blast ridding an area of invasives! @ Gainesville, Florida