Education

Raleigh Otter’s mother, Sallie Otter, works for the St. Johns River Water Management District. Her office is at its headquarters in Palatka, Fla. Raleigh thinks his mother has a cool job because her job is all about water, and Raleigh loves the water!

Sally Otter

Mrs. Otter is an environmental scientist and enjoys her job because it allows her to work outside many days. Her favorite part of her job is when her work takes her to the St. Johns River or one of the smaller rivers and creeks that flows into the St. Johns River. When she gets to work outdoors, she takes water samples that she sends to the laboratory, where the water is tested to determine if it is healthy water.

Some days after school, Raleigh stops by his mother’s office to see the work that she is doing.

The people who work with Raleigh’s mother have many different things to do every day. Their work includes setting rules for water use, conducting research on water quality and quantity, collecting water use and water quality data, and restoring and protecting water above and below the ground.

When Raleigh visits his mother’s office, he always takes time to talk to other people who work in the office and enjoys the times when he gets to help out.

Alice Alligator

Alice Alligator spends a lot of time in her garden during her spare time, helping everyone to learn about waterwise landscaping. But, during the business day, she and her staff provide the computers and software that staff need to write reports, prepare financial documents, develop the models that track rainfall and water use, and prepare artistic outreach messages to keep the public informed of the district’s work.

Harriett Heron

Harriett Heron and her group are responsible for making sure that there will be plenty of clean, fresh drinking water around for Raleigh and his friends for years to come. Mrs. Heron works with staff members to make sure that people use just the water they need. Raleigh and his friends need water to drink, take baths, cook food and to play in. Others need water to make the products that we use in our homes and businesses.

William W. Owl

William W. Owl watches over the finances of the district. He’s an accountant who makes sure that money is available to buy the equipment and office supplies that the scientists and other district staff need to do their jobs. At the same time, he makes sure that everyone spends the money wisely and properly follows the rules for making purchases.

Ramon Raccoon

Ramon Raccoon works in the district’s laboratory. When Raleigh helps Mr. Raccoon, he watches the scientists mix chemicals with water samples to learn what toxins or other bad substances might be in the water samples. Raleigh has decided that his time in the laboratory is a bit like Halloween because he puts on safety goggles, a lab coat and rubber gloves for protection. Raleigh has also gotten to see the boat that the scientists use to ride on the river to collect water samples. Mr. Raccoon’s co–workers are scientists who study substances that pollute water, learn where those substances come from, and make water bodies healthy.

Tom Turtle

Tom Turtle is a land manager who loves his work because he gets to spend time outdoors, enjoying nature and protecting the plants and animals. Some days he counts the different kinds of animals living on public lands. Some days he helps a crew of firefighters who carefully set fires to burn off undergrowth – known as prescribed burning – to get rid of forest fuels that could burn very hot and uncontrolled in a wildfire.

The St. Johns River is the longest river in Florida – 310 miles. It is one of the few rivers in the United States that flows north.

The land area that drains into a water body is called a drainage basin, or watershed. The St. Johns River is divided into three drainage basins.

Because the river flows north, the upper basin is the area to the south that forms its marshy headwaters in Indian River and Brevard counties.

The middle basin of the St. Johns River is the area in central Florida where the river widens, forming lakes Harney, Jesup, Monroe and George.

The total drop of the river from its source in marshes south of Melbourne to its mouth in the Atlantic near Jacksonville is less than 30 feet, or about one inch per mile, making it one of the laziest rivers in the world.

The middle basin of the St. Johns River is the area in central Florida where the river widens, forming lakes Harney, Jesup, Monroe and George.

The lower basin of the St. Johns River is the area in northeast Florida from Putnam County to the river’s mouth in Duval County, where the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

The width of the river varies. It is a flat marsh at its headwaters and averages about 2 miles in width between Palatka and Jacksonville. It widens to form large lakes in central Florida.

The total drop of the river from its source in marshes south of Melbourne to its mouth in the Atlantic near Jacksonville is less than 30 feet, or about one inch per mile, making it one of the laziest rivers in the world.

Salt water enters the river at its mouth in Jacksonville. In periods of low water, tides may cause a reverse flow as far south as Lake Monroe – 161 miles upstream from the river’s mouth

Major tributaries and smaller streams and rivers that flow into the St. Johns River include the Wekiva River, the Econlockhatchee River and the Ocklawaha River.

As part of a science project at school, Rainer’s class is developing a plan for creating a water–conserving garden. The garden will be located next to the playground behind the school. The class already decided that it wants to attract butterflies to the water–conserving garden. Now the students need to learn more about creating a habitat for butterflies. The class decided to take a field trip to the public gardens.

Rainer and his classmates followed a tour guide along the winding path through the maze of separate garden areas. They looked all around and made notes in their journals.

The tour guide stopped frequently to tell them about each of the areas.

“All the trees, shrubs, plants and ground covers that we use for landscaping are native to the area and they don’t need much water,” said the guide. “Everything you see in the landscape is well–suited to our natural conditions and climate.”

Just then, the tour guide noticed Emma closely watching the hundreds of butterflies fluttering around the orange, red, yellow and purple flowers that filled part of the garden.

“Butterflies are attracted to flowers with strong colors,” the guide told Emma. “They also like flowers that are very fragrant, because butterflies have a sensitive sense of smell. The butterflies search for sun–loving plants that can serve as good hosts on which they can lay their eggs.” “Are those butterflies drinking water?” asked Katie as she pointed to a group of butterflies around the edge of a small puddle.

“Yes, there are some butterflies that cannot survive on a diet of nectar alone. There are certain minerals that these butterflies need that are found in standing water or mud puddles. Creating a mud puddle or two in your garden is just another way of attracting butterflies to your garden,” said the guide.

“Do you have to use a lot of chemicals to keep insects out of the gardens?” asked Rainer.

“Oh, no,” replied the guide. “We don‘t use any chemicals. If we did, we wouldn‘t have any butterflies. This is an environmentally friendly garden where we don‘t depend on fertilizers and chemicals to create attractive landscapes.”

“Wow! That tree limb over there is covered with butterflies,” said Derrick.

“Those are monarch butterflies,” said the guide. “They are often called the ‘wanderers’ because they travel so far. Every year, hundreds of millions of them fly from the eastern part of the United States to Mexico. The trip may be more than 2,000 miles.

The monarchs sometimes use Florida as a resting place before flying across the Gulf of Mexico.”

“If I had to fly that far, I would need a rest too,” said Emma.

The students continued their walk through the gardens. They saw butterflies of many different colors, shapes and sizes. Butterflies seemed to be everywhere.

At the end of the walk, the guide made the following suggestion to the students:

“Remember, you have only taken the first step in learning about butterflies and environmentally friendly gardens,” said the guide. “You can continue to discover more by visiting other gardens, going to the library, using the Internet and creating your own garden.”

The students thanked the tour guide for their visit and returned to school to begin planning their garden.

It was a calm morning, and the cows munched happily on the dew-soaked grass. A fog rolled lazily through the trees. Jesse walked out to the pasture to say good morning to her favorite cow, Betty Moo. Jesse had just learned to whistle and was practicing with an old song her father had taught her.

“You sure got it figured out, Betty,” said the girl. “You just lay around all day, eating and sleeping, as if you don’t have a care in the world.”

Betty Moo didn’t respond; she just strolled over to the watering trough and drank the cool, fresh water. Jesse saw this and realized that she was thirsty too. She said goodbye to Betty Moo and started to walk back to her house to get a glass of water. She looked across the fields as she walked. They were planted with cabbage and potatoes and seemed to go on forever.

That night at dinner, Jesse jokingly told her father that she wanted to be a cow when she grew up, just like Betty Moo. Her father smiled and played along. “A cow?” he said, “Why’s that?” “It just seems so easy,” replied the girl. “They just lay around all day and eat grass.”

“Well, it’s easy for them because we take care of them,” said her father. “Like many other things in nature, Betty Moo depends on us. Do you know what stewardship is?” “No,” said Jesse, scrunching up her face and trying to think. “What’s that?”

“Stewardship means taking good care of something that you have responsibility for. As farmers, we impact the land we farm and the animals on and around it. One of our responsibilities is to make sure that we don’t harm nature while growing food for people to eat.” “I don’t understand,” said the girl. “How could we harm the land?”

“Well, you were probably too young to remember when we bought this farm,” said the father. “Betty Moo and a few other cows were here, but they didn’t have it as good then as they do now.”

Jesse smiled because she realized her father was going to tell a story. It was winter, a few weeks after the family had bought the farm. The farmer and his wife stood by their truck and looked out over the fields.

“So this is it,” said the wife. “It needs work, but I like it.” It certainly did need work. The cows were standing in mud up to their knees and drinking from the same stream the previous farmer often used for dumping waste. Not only was the stream cluttered with debris, but it was also bright green and choked with algae. This told the farmer that the fields had way too much fertilizer on them, and rain was washing that fertilizer into the stream.

Not only were the cows miserable, but the farm’s neighbors also had to deal with the erosion and pollution downstream.

“Here they are,” said the wife, as a blue truck bumped toward them on the dirt road. It had the words St. Johns River Water Management District on the side. A woman got out of the truck when it stopped.

The woman smiled at the farmer and his wife.

“I’m with the district,” she said. “We talked on the phone.” She was there because the farmer had asked to meet with someone from the district to discuss best management practices. He wanted to clean up the farm.

The woman from the district tested the soil and confirmed what the farmer had thought. The farm’s soil was over fertilized, and excessive fertilizer from the farm was going into the stream. The woman from the district suggested several best management practices that could help. She explained to the farmer that best management practices grow healthy plants, with less water and fertilizer. This saves water and keeps pollution out of surface waters.

After the woman from the district left, the farmer decided to begin implementing the best management practices immediately.

First, the farmer installed water control structures. Throughout the farm, ditches collected the water that ran off the fields and it washed into the stream. The water control structures blocked the ditches to hold the water back. This helped conserve water and kept the fertilizer-rich water on the fields, where it could help the crops grow, instead of running into the stream.

When it came time to plant, the farmer planted corn and beans in some of the fields, adding variety, not just cabbage and potatoes. Alternating crops in a field helps to improve the productivity of the soil while reducing the risks of insects and plant disease. Corn and beans also need less fertilizer to grow, so the farmer didn’t need to use as much. This meant that less fertilizer would wash into the stream.

To keep animal waste out of the stream, the farmer built a fence to keep the cows out of it. He built a pond with a water trough and gave the cows clean water. Grass soon began to grow on the steep stream banks, reducing erosion and filtering rainwater.

The farmer seeded the cows’ pasture to eliminate the mud. He rotated the grazing cows into different pastures throughout the year. He also began collecting and storing manure to use as fertilizer. The cows were happy, and less sediment and pollution was washing into the stream.

Finally, it came time to put fertilizers on the fields so the farmer’s crops would grow. The farmer knew that excess fertilizer washed off the fields and into the stream in the rain, and he wanted to keep the stream clean. So, he used only as much fertilizer as he needed.

When he was done, the farmer looked out over the farm and smiled. As he did this, one of the cows ambled up next to him. The farmer looked at the cow. He thought the animal looked happier and, perhaps, was even thanking him.

“You’re welcome, Betty,” he said. “Yeah, that’s a good name for you. I think I’ll call you Betty Moo.”

As the farmer finished the story, his daughter looked out the window. The sun was setting, and Jesse could see the stream that ran along their farm. She spent a lot of time playing beside that stream, and it made her sad to imagine it polluted. She could also see the cows in the distance, including Betty Moo.

“So it’s up to us to keep our land healthy and productive,” Jesse said.

“Yes, but it’s bigger than that,” replied Jesse’s father. “Our stream runs into the river a few miles from here, and we keep the river healthy by doing our part. Like everyone else, on a farm or in a city, the things we do affect everyone’s water resources. It’s a pretty big responsibility.”

Suddenly, the father chuckled. “But you won’t have to worry about that if you’re a cow,” he said.

Jesse shook her head. “I don’t want to be a cow anymore,” she said. “I’d rather be a steward like you. I think I will be a farmer when I grow up.”

Protect our watershed

When Paul, Todd, and Maggie arrived at the park, they quickly got off their bikes. Then they locked them to the bike rack next to the path that led to the wetlands and Parkside Pond.

Maggie looked at the big sign posted at the path entrance and read it aloud. “Protect your watershed. Come to the pond cleanup on Saturday!”

“What’s a watershed?” asked Paul. “I can see the damp, soggy wetlands and the pond, but I don’t see a shed anywhere.”

“It’s an area where water collects and then sometimes moves to a bigger body of water,” said Maggie. “My teacher says that we all live in a watershed. She said to think of a watershed sort of like a neighborhood. That’s because everyone who lives in a watershed should help take care of it.”

Paul thought about it for a moment and then asked, “Is Parkside Pond part of the watershed?”

“Yes, absolutely,” said Maggie. “The wetlands near the pond are part of the watershed too. And so is the creek that runs by the pond that feeds into the stream, which flows into the river that’s a few miles away.”

River clean up
“Whew! That’s a lot of different water bodies,” said Paul. Todd pointed at the puddle next to his bike and asked, “Is the puddle part of the watershed?”

“Yes, even the puddle,” said “It’s a mini-watershed. The water collects there and either flows to a bigger water area, soaks into the ground, or evaporates.”

As Paul, Todd, and Maggie began walking on the path that led them by the wetlands and toward the pond, they quickly understood why a cleanup was scheduled to take place.

When they arrived at the edge of the pond, Paul exclaimed, “This place is a mess!” Several soda cans and bottles littered the shallow shallow water. A few empty motor oil cans could be seen in the bushes nearby. An abandoned kite, several plastic cups, and a variety of candy wrappers floated near a group of water lilies. An old fishing pole with its hook and line still attached was wedged between two rocks in the water.

“Look over there!” exclaimed Todd. “Someone even left an old bicycle tire. What do people think this is, the city dump? People who do this aren’t being very good watershed neighbors.”

It was clear to all three of them that people who visited the area had created this horrible condition. They looked at each other and sighed. Then they continued walking around the pond and silently thought about how people’s actions can harm the environment.

“What do you think all this nasty stuff does to the water?” asked Paul.