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Lake Placid, Florida 33862 USA Phone: 863-465-2571
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Continuing Education: A Long Tradition at Archbold
Lectures & Seminars | Archbold Conferences | Meetings & Workshops | Visitor Facilities | Biennial Reports | the Web Site
Lectures and Seminars. From the early days of Archbold Biological Station, beginning in the mid-1950s, Station staff and visiting scientists have been giving numerous off-site lectures about science and conservation to clubs, organizations, and societies, locally and throughout Florida and the United States. Scientific seminars at Archbold, always open to the public, have been given by staff and visiting scientists since the early 1980s. A formal seminar program (15-20 seminars/year) with invited speakers from throughout North America and abroad, began in 1987 when the annex, with its 90-seat auditorium, was constructed. The biannual seminar schedule is distributed widely throughout Florida.
Archbold Conferences. The first Archbold scrub conference was in 1983 with 8 papers presented by Station staff. The second Archbold scrub conference in 1992 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Station with 27 papers presented by a wide array of Florida geologists, paleontologists, and biologists. During the 1990s (1995, 1996, 1998) three "Current Research at Archbold Biological Station and MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center" symposia were convened with about 25 papers each. The 4th Current Research at Archbold symposium, on 11-12 January 2001, had 15 oral presentations (mostly by visiting scientists) and 18 poster papers (mostly by staff scientists and their graduate students). The 5th Archbold Research Symposium, on 11-12 January 2005, had 19 oral presentations and 5 poster papers.
Meetings and Workshops. Because of its central location in Florida, its accommodations and habitats, and its scientific facilities and staff, the Station is a favorite venue for small- or medium-size scientific meetings and agency training workshops. The Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy often conduct natural resources management workshops at Archbold.
Visitor Facilities. Local secondary and elementary school classes have been coming to the Station for tours of the facilities and for science and conservation lectures since 1960. During the 1960s most visiting classed were from high schools or middle schools, but during the early 1970s the emphasis switched to elementary schools. Visits by classes, and by adult groups, increased steadily during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1988 the elementary school tour program was formalized into a new environmental education program, "Florida Ecology: Getting to Know the Real Florida," that was integrated with local school board science education objectives. For adult groups, a nature trail, "Scrub Discovery," was developed in 1988 by Station biologists Shirley Denton and Mark Deyrup to augment the regular Station tour. In 1991, Islands in Time, an 18-minute video about scrub conservation and ecology, was produced and distributed to schools and organizations statewide. In late 1998, a visitor information kiosk was installed at the north end of the Main Grounds, along with new picnic tables and visitor parking areas. The illustrated nature trail guide was revised several times during the 1990s, culminating in a 1999, 22-page "Visitor Guidebook" which combines an introduction to the Station's buildings, history, and Archbold activites, with main-grounds natural history and the trail guide. In mid-2000, the trail guide was published on the Station's Web site with photographs new for the electronic edition.
Biennial Reports. The Archbold Biological Station annual reports (last in 1990) were produced in editions of 50 or 100 with a copy machine and a stapler. They had a limited distribution. Beginning in 1991-1992, Archold produced well-illustrated, professionally-printed Biennial Reports that are distributed widely in the United States, Canada, and abroad. These reports present Station activities to a broad audience in science, land management, and conservation communities. The 1995-1996, 1997-1998, and 1999-2000 reports are available on this Web site.
The Web Site. The first edition of the Station's Web site, "An Overview," was published in March, 1997. The expanded second edition was published in October, 1998. Since then the Web site has been continually revised and augmented with information about Archbold activities in science, land management, conservation, and environmental education. A Web-site gateway, encompassing newly-developed regional conservation, land management, and environmental education Web-site sections, was installed in mid-2000.
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