For the “Ask Ranger Mike” project, we made a list of 21 questions that a child (or adult) would likely ask about the Fakahatchee Strand Park Preserve. The questions range from flora and fauna to topography and the “Everglades Rain Machine.” We’ll create videos where Mike Owen answers these questions while immersed in the corresponding environment. To further enrich his descriptive answers, we have received permission to use images and videos from Everglades image-making icons: Mac Stone, Clyde Butcher, and Jay Staton.

The final product will be an educational app for use with a touch-screen. This touch-screen can be a large format console for use in a museum or a smaller format item, like an i-pad.

The purpose of “Ask Ranger Mike” is two-fold. The first priority is to get people (especially grade-schoolers) curious and excited about the Fakahatchee Strand Park Preserve and the greater Everglades. As we build interest, we will promote conservation.

The other reason to make “Ask Ranger Mike” now, is that after 28 years of working as Fakahatchee’s biologist, Ranger Mike will be retiring in July 2022. It’s the perfect time to archive his deep knowledge and share his passion for this unique place.

 We’ve already created some video interviews with Mike, but our story is incomplete. The Fakahatchee is a complex ecological wonder and to do it justice will take another go-round.