Meet SPAS Board Member

Gabe rejoins the St. Petersburg Audubon Board for 2011-2012.  He has been very active in the community as a volunteer caretaker for the Birds of Prey at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve since 1987.  His early falconry apprenticeship was helpful in training the Preserve’s non-releasable raptors for use in environmental education programs. Over the years, he and several other volunteers have brought the birds to schools, summer camps, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and the Ronald McDonald house where we do monthly programs.

Gabe received his BS and MS degrees in Botany from the University of Miami and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.

Until his retirement in 2008, his work focused on the physiological ecology of phytoplankton; primarily on the growth and nutrition of our local red tide organism, Karenia brevis.  For the last several years before he retired, his work shifted toward the impacts of red tides and their toxins on wildlife, particularly sea and shorebirds. This led to an involvement with SEANET, a volunteer program which monitors sea and shorebird deaths along the U.S. east and gulf coast.

Gabe also volunteers for Florida Audubon’s Eaglewatch program and monitors two local nests to assess the nesting activities and success of urban Bald Eagles. Most recently, he has become an apprentice bander with a permit to band non-endangered raptors.

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The 2011/2012 St. Petersburg Audubon Officers and Board Members are:

Officer Slate:

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   Judi Hopkins, President 

• Alice Tenney, Vice Pres.
• Dave Kandz, 2nd Vice Pres. /Conservation Chair
• Nancy Ogden, Secretary
• Rick Potter, Treasurer

Director Slate:

Harold Albers, Maureen Arnold, Mary Brazier, Wanda Dean, Sandy Harris, Saskia Janes, Janica Johnson, Mark Mueller, Susan Pepper, &  Gabe Vargo.

Associates:

• Sue & Ed Tess, Volunteer Data Base
• Linda Emslie, Membership Chair
• Kim Kandz, Web Editor