Florida Keys - Archive Stewards of the Keys
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2025
Oil painter John David Hawver, one of the Florida Keys’ best-known artists, is soft-spoken, modest and friendly. While he loves the people of the Keys, he paints the 125-mile-long island chain’s unique environmental scenes and nature-scapes.“In my …
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January
03,
2025
|
18:58 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Chris Bergh, The Nature Conservancy’s Florida field program director based in the Lower Keys, is optimistic about the Florida Keys’ future and ability to adapt to environmental challenges in the next few decades.The Nature Conservancy manages about …
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2024
November
25,
2024
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19:31 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Valerie Preziosi, founder and president of the nonprofit Save Our Key Deer Inc., works to save the diminutive, indigenous and federally protected herd of about 800 Key deer from human-provoked tragedies. In late December, Preziosi is opening a …
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October
21,
2024
|
22:10 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
“To a diver, there’s nothing more important than a crystal-clear sea bottom,” said Spencer Slate. “Every diver is an ecologist. We love the ocean.”Slate, who owns Captain Slate’s SCUBA Adventures in the Upper Florida Keys community of Tavernier, …
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What makes someone a Steward of the Keys?Stewards are people who make it a priority to conserve, preserve and protect the precious natural resources of the Florida Keys.They’re people motivated to care for the fragile environment — through fisheries …
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Islamorada fishing guide and captain Steve Friedman loves water: salt water, fresh water, white water, blue water and particularly clean water.Friedman’s love of water includes prioritizing the preservation and restoration of the South Florida …
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David Burke, recently named deputy superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, has flown more than 3,500 Navy helicopter flight hours above the earth, across the world.“I’ve spent a lot of time flying, over oceans, mountains and …
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Allison Delashmit, who became the executive director of the Lower Keys (Fishing) Guides Association last fall, is a natural-born storyteller.The petite organizer is using that talent to be a big voice for the association, which includes more than …
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Naturalist, eco-guide, photographer-writer and paddling guidebook author Bill Keogh, a 44-year resident of Big Pine Key, operates Big Pine Kayak Adventures.He provides kayak and low-impact motorboat excursions and private motorboat trips to the …
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Captain Frank Betz, a native of Tampa, Florida, began fishing the Florida Straits in 2005 while working as a captain for the Boy Scouts of America at the Sea Base Camp on Summerland Key.“I fell in love with our fishery,” Betz said.He shares his …
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Dan Dawson, co-owner with wife Mollie of Key Largo’s Horizon Divers, certified by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary as an environmentally responsible Blue Star operator, discovered his life’s passion at an early age.Dawson’s father …
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Michelle Nicole Lowe, one of the Keys’ best-known artists, paints colorfully whimsical and expressive wide-eyed marine life, wild birds and multi-hued flora and fauna.Through her artwork, she promotes conservation of the Keys’ natural life — sea …
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2023
Erin Allison has been executive director of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc. since June 2023. Though just 26 years old, she is a dedicated Keys nonprofit leader who’s big on achievable goals.The Key Largo resident is building …
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Terence “Terry” Helmers, known as a real-life “Aquaman,” is a Florida Keys volunteer extraordinaire. His underwater specialty, as a volunteer and as both a NOAA- and national parks-authorized diver, is mooring buoys.The retired information …
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Mill McCleary, executive director of the 1,300-member Reef Relief organization based in Key West, knows how to effectively utilize advocacy and organizational skills to create tangible impacts through clean water and healthy ecosystems.This year, …
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Sue Cooper, a Florida Keys paddleboard guru and author of the “Millionaire in Flip Flops” book series, is also the face of Lazy Dog Adventures, known for its slogan, “We do more in a week than most people do all day.”But don’t let that …
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August
31,
2023
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13:43 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Cindy Lewis, director of Keys Marine Laboratory on Long Key, is a woman of diverse talents.
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July
27,
2023
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09:25 AM
Europe/Amsterdam
Artist Taylor Hale, a Florida Keys native raised in Key Largo, has come home. Recently moving back to Key Largo after living in St. Augustine, Florida, Hale is known for his stunning ethereal works of clouds and surreal scenes of the Keys' natural …
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June
20,
2023
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16:18 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Billy Litmer, founder of Key West's Honest Eco tours specializing in wild bottlenose dolphin­-watching and nature charters, grew up in landlocked Edgewood, Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati, Ohio.
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May
19,
2023
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13:25 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Mike Goldberg of Islamorada and Dave Vaughan of Summerland Key have earned recent global recognition for their work on coral restoration in the Florida Keys. Both men were previously profiled as Stewards of the Keys for their dedication to …
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April
24,
2023
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11:37 AM
Europe/Amsterdam
Tom Sweets, now the executive director of the Key West Wildlife Center, decided to become a New York City fireman after arriving at his office near St. Vincent's Hospital and witnessing the horrific aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
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March
27,
2023
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15:31 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
John Mirabella, owner of off-the-beaten-path Castaway Waterfront Restaurant & Sushi Bar in Marathon, could well be called the "Lionfish King" of the Florida Keys.
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March
01,
2023
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13:40 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Brian Vest, founder-president of the Conch Republic Marine Army, a nonprofit organization created to restore Florida Keys marine habitats, has taken more than 4,000 volunteers to the Keys' backcountry.
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January
30,
2023
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09:02 AM
Europe/Amsterdam
Danilo Alayon is a fifth-generation "Conch" born and raised in Key West, an avid diver, a self-taught artist and proud grandson of the creator-painter of the island's famed Southernmost Point buoy.
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2022
December
21,
2022
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15:19 PM
Europe/Amsterdam
Captain Matthew "Matt" Bellinger grew up in Sandy Springs, Georgia, studied marine science at the University of Tampa, traveled as a divemaster after college and clearly remembers the aha! moment that prompted his move to the Florida Keys.
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George Bellenger, who co-founded Key West Eco Tours with wife Carla in 2006, believes that even a five-minute commitment helps to preserve the Keys' natural backcountry and dense mangrove islands.
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Marine artist Lisa Lee Herman, owner of Gallery of the Arts Islamorada, is known throughout the Upper Keys for her gyotaku - the ancient Japanese art form for traditionally recording a catch.
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Erin Muir, a sixth-generation Upper Keys native, is a descendant of two founding Florida Keys families - the Albury and Lowe families that settled in the Keys in the 1860s - whose roots run as deep as those of the mangroves lining the island chain's …
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Autumn Blum, the founder of Stream2Sea reef-safe skin-, hair- and body-care products, is a part-time Key Largo resident, an avid diver and a cosmetic chemist who developed sunscreen products billed as the world's only ones proven safe for saltwater …
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Florida Keys residents are as deeply rooted in the island chain as the surrounding mangroves, choosing to live among the Keys' natural wonders and striving to preserve their satisfying lifestyle.
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