Summer Foam

Words & Photos by Krysta Denzer

I dislike the way the foam builds up along the edge of the water. The waves crash together and, of course, make so many bubbles which must inevitably form into a thick beige foam. The foam rides upon the waters, eventually coming to rest on the sand, only to sit there shivering in the wind, jiggling like some brown, bubbly bowl of jello. All-natural jello on the beach, anyone? {You can learn more about sea foam here.}

Great end of the year review of our TEEN AMBASSADORS

Our young ambassador teens were able to participate in many events this year. Here is a highlight of the activities.

June-November our teens hosted four piers along county Road one in Fairhope AL and raised oyster gardens with the local extension office and the Auburn University sea lab on Dauphin Island. This was a great deal of work and commitment on the part of each student and their families.

The teens cooked and served meals at the Ronald MCDonald House in Mobile Al.

The Teen ambassadors were able to fill leadership roles at the first Annual 3 million dollar 8th grade world career expo in Mobile , AL September 2010

The ambassadors work for 4 days in our booth at the annual Shrimp Fest in Gulf Shores AL.

Journalism Team of ambassadors attended a photography training day at the Gulf Shores Zoo with photographer Sam.

Outdoor Family was invited to work with helping hands Volunteers and hand out water at an assigned visitors bus pick up during the Jimmy Buffet Concert after the oil spill.

The ambassador team meets with Baldwin County Comissioners and shares our outdoor program we host for families in the south.

The Outdoor Family ambassador team participates yearly in the coastal Cleanup program , This is our second year we worked the causeway along the 5 Rivers center.

Half of the world's population of animals live in the rain forest which means there is a lot to explain.
There is an enormous amount of animal species that live in the rain forest, that means many animals have a variety of different habitats and food sources.
Animals in the rain forest are now losing what they need to survive.cattle ranching and crop farming are some of the ways animals have lost food sources and habitats.
What most people don't realize is how important our rain forests are, everything has a purpose in life so do rain forests God created it for many reasons so let's find ways to take care of it.
there are a great variety of rain forests. These include the Amazon rain forest, African Rainforest, Southern Asia rainforest, and the Australasia rainforest.
Within these rainforests lies a diverse range of animals. These include Toucans, boa constrictors, macaws, spider monkeys, sloths, poison arrow frogs, and many others.
Rainforests are vegetation types dominated by broad-leaved trees that form a dense upper canopy (layer of foliage) and contain a diverse array of vegetation. Contrary to common thinking, not all rainforests occur in places with high, constant rainfall; for example, in the so-called “dry rainforests” of northeastern Australia the climate is punctuated by a dry season, which reduces the annual precipitation. Nor are all forests in areas that receive large amounts of rainfall true rainforests; the conifer-dominated forests in the extremely wet coastal areas of the American Pacific Northwest are temperate evergreen forest ecosystems. Therefore, to avoid conveying misleading climatic information, the term rainforest is now preferred over rain forest.
More than two thirds of the world's plant species are found in the tropical rainforests: plants that provide shelter and food for rainforest animals as well as taking part in the gas exchanges which provide much of the world's oxygen supply.
Rainforest plants live in a warm humid environment that allows an enormous variation rare in more temperate climates: some like the orchids have beautiful flowers adapted to attract the profusion of forest insects.
Orchids comprise one of the most abundant and varied of flowering plant families. There are over 20,000 known species and orchids are especially common in moist tropical regions. Although temperate orchids usually grow in the soil, tropical orchids are more often epiphytes which grow non-parasitically on trees.
Orchid flowers vary considerably in shape color and size, although they share a common pattern of three petals and three petal-like sepals. The lower petal has a very distinctive appearance.
what all the rainforests have in common is that they require a fair bit of rain.Rainforests are also known for very tall trees.animals of the rainforest have also adapted to a life in a moist place crowded with species.Frogs and reptiles are also very abundant in rainforests. Many frogs are tree frogs, and many snakes are tree snakes. Most lizards can also climb trees. Waterholes are often inhabited by turtles and rivers by large killer crocodiles.
Rainforest plants thrive extremely well in their environment, because every plant loves a lot of water, and rainforests are indeed very wet places.This means rainforests are thick and dense, full of plant life, and packed with different plants - it gets so crowded that the biggest competition is this of sunlight.
Rainforests provide habitat for a variety of different animals they contain an abundance of varying plant life, some of which is used to create cures for different diseases.The preservation of the world's rainforests are not only in the best interest of the plant's and animals that live there but the world itself.

Rainforest
BY Alyce Ballard


Half of the world's population of animals live in the rain forest which means there is a lot to explain.

There is an enormous amount of animal species that live in the rain forest, that means many animals have a variety of different habitats and food sources.

But animals in the rain forest are now losing what they need to survive.
cattle ranching and crop farming are some of the ways animals have lost food sources and habitats.

there are ways to prevent destruction in the rain forest, but most people don't know how important our rain forest are, everything has a purpose in life so do rain forest God created rain forest for many reason so let's find ways to take care of it.

SAVING

By Krysta Denzer

Easter brings our focus to a very important topic—salvation by the grace of God through Christ crucified and resurrected, the Lamb of God and atonement for our sins. God has written the papers for us, and His Son paid our debt. All we have to do is accept the agreement and sign the papers with our faith. It is a transaction in which we trade the control of our own lives to Christ in return for our ransom and forgiveness. In surrendering to God, we gain true freedom and eternal life. Christ, the greatest hero the universe has ever known, has saved us. As Christians we are called to follow the example of Christ. Not neglecting our spiritual duty to spread the gospel, what else are we supposed to save?

In Genesis 2:8, 9, & 15 it says, “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 1:27-29 (NIV) further describes how God gave the earth to mankind as our responsibility. “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'”

Later, as Noah and his family came out of the ark, God commanded them to “Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” (Genesis 8:17 & 9:2-3)

So we see that God has given the earth and everything on it for mankind to use and to care for. Even the animals, now declared food and with a natural fear of man, were meant to be fruitful and multiply upon the earth. Our resources are to be used wisely. If you had only one garden, from which all your food must come for the rest of your life, how would you manage it? Would you eat all your fruits and leave no seeds for planting? Would you hunt all your game at once and leave none to reproduce for the future?

Christ has saved us, and God saved Noah's family and all the creatures aboard the ark. Here we have an example. But how well are we doing to save the earth which God has given us? We have a responsibility to guard the earth, and to help it produce abundantly. Have we been wise stewards, or poor ones? Regardless of what has happened in the past, there is much that we can do in the present. Simple lifestyle choices and small daily actions can greatly minimize negative impacts on our global garden. We live in a consumer society; however, it is not wise to take much from the earth, unless you are prepared to give much back. It is better to take less and to harvest better in the first place than to have to spend time making up for damage done.

Sea Turtles

Tuesday, April 19^th several families gathered on the beach at Bon Secour to learn how to save and protect the sea turtles that nest on Alabama shores. All of them are either threatened or endangered species.

Sea turtle nesting season lasts from May through October; females may make several nests per season and lay an average of 100 leathery, ping-pong-size eggs per nest. The turtles return to the same beach where they were born to lay their own nests.

What does a sea turtle nest look like? There would be a “crawl line,” a distinctive set of tracks, from the water to the nest and back (although some of it may have been washed away by the tide). The crawl line would show markings from the female's flippers as she “swam” her way over the sand, with a large drag marking in the middle from her body. The nest itself is shaped rather like an upside-down lightbulb, stuffed with eggs, gently refilled and compressed, and lies underneath a patch of disturbed sand.

An expert from Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge teaches about the sea turtles. The large shell and the skull in the woman's hand (left) are from a loggerhead sea turtle, named for its large head size compared to other turtles. Loggerheads are the main sea turtles that nest in Alabama. The woman on the right holds the much-smaller shell of the average land tortoise.

Students excavated, relocated, and marked a mock sea turtle nest. When relocating, experts try to place each egg into the new nest in the same position it had in the original nest. Nests are moved if they are too close to the water or other dangers.

Sea turtles suffer very high mortality rates within the first two years of life. Only about 1% survive.

So, what can you do to help save the sea turtles?

• Avoid disturbing sea turtle tracks.
• Never disturb sea turtles or their nests. (This is a federal offense.)
• Never leave trash on the beach or anywhere besides a trash can. Animals can mistake trash for prey and become very sick from eating it.
• Bring all beach furniture (chairs, umbrellas, etc) in and off the beach. If you leave it out, a female sea turtle could run into it and turn back around into the ocean without ever laying her nest!
• On and around the beach, keep porch and house lights off and do not use a flashlight. Hatchlings are attracted to the light; normally the reflection of the moon on the water guides them to the ocean, but house and street lights can cause them to go in the opposite direction!
• Volunteer or sponsor a nest. Call 251-653-NEST or email adopt1@alabamaseaturtles.com. Visit AlabamaSeaTurtles.com.

Who Said Rocks Can't Float?

Post by Krysta Denzer

A brief afternoon stroll along Mobile Bay revealed an interesting oddity: a fist-sized hunk of floating rock. The floating volcanic rock, scientifically called pumice, is formed from lava with high amounts of water and gases mixed in. The lava cools before the gases can escape, creating a light-weight rock with air bubbles inside. Like a life jacket on a human, the air bubbles keep the pumice afloat. Apparently proximity to a volcano is not necessary for the discovery of these rocks; natives of the Mobile Bay shore have commonly found them. Pumice is also very common on the volcanic island of Santorini in Greece.

Pumice floating in the fountain.

Oceans

BY Alyce Ballard

When going to the beach or a wetland area, you begin to think everything is just water nothing interesting because all there is to see may be a smooth or ripply surface of water but there is so much more!

you can learn the most exciting facts about sea life.

And sea plants, maybe all you see is water but inside are amazing and lovely adventures.

Did you know sealife is a big part of the food chain? just stop to think if a bluecrab eats zooplankton and all the zooplankton die then the bluecrab die, striped bass who eat bluecrab will also die, well now you see that if one thing dies then another will to so always take care of our Oceans.