Oh the places you’ll go

Just off the Gulf coast fishing village of Cedar Key lies a group of uninhabited islands with white-sand beaches, coastal forests and creatures from ancient-looking horseshoe crabs to thousands of migratory birds. Shaped like its namesake, Seahorse Key is one of the largest bird rookeries in North Florida, and home to the University of Florida’s Seahorse Key National Marine Laboratory. UF is the only university in the nation with bi-coastal marine labs, Whitney in St. Augustine on the Atlantic side and Seahorse on the Gulf of Mexico, destination for this semester’s #EJUF field trip. Education and outreach coordinator Dr. Maria Sgambati led Environmental Journalism students on a memorable tour of the Seahorse beach, where we learned about coastal climate change impacts including tree die-offs and talked about how to cover this story in ways that can draw in new audiences. If you’re thinking about taking Environmental Journalism this fall, Seahorse Key is already on the syllabus!SeahorseKey