| Radio programs for the week of 13 December 1999 (fe91213 - fe91217) | For more information: | ||
Gold for Florida's parks I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Florida's state parks this year were awarded a national Gold Medal in a competition held by the Sports Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of the National Sporting Goods Association. Larry Weindruch is the group's spokesman (Larry Weindruch, Director of Communications, National Sporting Goods Association)... "With Florida winning the State Park Award, it was really just the second winner of this award." Independent judges -- most with experience in park management, looked at state systems across the nation... "They looked for programming, they looked for the amount of budget, they looked for long-term planning, they looked for the amount of participation within the state park system..." One clear advantage for Florida's state parks was weather that allows use of the parks, year round... "The Florida Park System... the State Parks are all year 'round, the same great stuff. And that may've had something to do with it.". That's a major contrast to state parks in other parts of the country... "There's a limited amount of things that one could do in severe winter conditions. Which is why we all come down there every winter." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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 fe91214An award-winning resource I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Florida residents took new notice of our state parks this year, as the parks system was given a national gold medal in a competition between state park systems across the U.S. Wayne Stevens works with the Florida's Park system, which, he points out, offers its award winning resources just about everywhere in Florida (Wayne Stevens, Operations Management Consultant, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Recreation and Parks)... "State Parks are virtually in every corner of the state. From the tip of Northwest Florida to the tip of Northeast Florida to the Florida Keys." Making use of Florida's Environment as a resource for recreation is our state parks' goal... "The principal goal or objective of Florida's State parks is to provide resource-based recreation." In entering this year's national state park competition, the state's 151 park entities sold themselves... "It's not hard to sell Florida and certainly not hard to sell Florida's State parks. But better yet, you have to see them and better yet get out there in them in what we call 'the Real Florida' to find out what it's all about." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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fe91215 Recreation and environment protection I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. As Florida's State Park system celebrates its award of a national gold medal in a competition between state park systems across the US, it also maintains a focus on protecting nearly a half (m) million acres of state lands. (Scott Robinson, Operations Manager District IV, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Recreation and Parks) "We provide outdoor recreation while preserving our natural and cultural resources of the State of Florida and that's just a part of our mission statement." Scott Robinson is an Operations Manager for Florida's State Parks. "It will forever be protected, and that in itself is a great benefit. But there are many things that we do on the properties themselves for resource management: Such as our prescribed burn programs, exotic removal of non-native vegetation... things such as that." In managing the state's parks lands, the objective is returning them to and maintaining them in a natural condition... "Our goal would be to return the lands to their conditions previous to European man setting foot here and its impacts on the land that they have done. So back to a natural, resource condition." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe91216 An award winning attraction This year, in a competition between state park systems from across the nation, Florida was awarded a national gold medal. State parks Operation Manager Scott Robinson hopes the recognition gets more Floridians to appreciate their park resources... "Our rangers do interpretive programs on different aspects of the State Parks and our environment. As well as going to schools... We have an outreach program where we go to schools and local communities to talk about our parks and our environment." The park system's Wayne Stevens addresses the dual goal of attracting visitors and protecting the environment. "We try to keep our parks -- insofar as possible, depending on how pristine they were when we got them in the system -- just the way that they were, originally." Nearly 15 million visitors saw Florida's state parks last year, but the system has room for many more... "We'd like to see a lot more people going to our state parks. Whether it's just for a day at the beach or a picnic or overnight camping or boating or fishing or whatever their form of recreation is." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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fe91217 Benefiting from our state parks I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. This year, the Sports Foundation named Florida the winner of its national gold medal competition for state parks in the U.S. Larry Weindruch, spokesman for the group making the award, has great admiration for Florida's unique system of parks... "There are very few park... State park systems in the country that offer 12 months of pretty much the exact same thing. You know, you have wonderful weather all year for those of us that live up here in the rust belt." The park system's Scott Robinson says the state's 151 park units provide benefits for visitors and residents alike... "One of the biggest things is that we have the visitors that enjoy our state parks and they come in and are able to see wildlife in its natural setting which is a big benefit to all of us." Wayne Stevens is also with Florida's Division of Recreation and Parks... "You can see a lot of wildlife and birds and things that you might not otherwise see if these areas weren't preserved forever in their natural state." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
