Articles tagged with 'Stewards of the Keys' | Florida Keys

Captain Frank Betz, a native of Tampa, Florida, began fishing the Florida Straits in 2005 while working as a captain for the Boy Scouts of America at the Sea Base Camp on Summerland Key.“I fell in love with our fishery,” Betz said.He shares his …

Dan Dawson, co-owner with wife Mollie of Key Largo’s Horizon Divers, certified by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary as an environmentally responsible Blue Star operator, discovered his life’s passion at an early age.Dawson’s father …

Michelle Nicole Lowe, one of the Keys’ best-known artists, paints colorfully whimsical and expressive wide-eyed marine life, wild birds and multi-hued flora and fauna.Through her artwork, she promotes conservation of the Keys’ natural life — sea …

Erin Allison has been executive director of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc. since June 2023. Though just 26 years old, she is a dedicated Keys nonprofit leader who’s big on achievable goals.The Key Largo resident is building …

Terence “Terry” Helmers, known as a real-life “Aquaman,” is a Florida Keys volunteer extraordinaire. His underwater specialty, as a volunteer and as both a NOAA- and national parks-authorized diver, is mooring buoys.The retired information …

Mill McCleary, executive director of the 1,300-member Reef Relief organization based in Key West, knows how to effectively utilize advocacy and organizational skills to create tangible impacts through clean water and healthy ecosystems.This year, …

Sue Cooper, a Florida Keys paddleboard guru and author of the “Millionaire in Flip Flops” book series, is also the face of Lazy Dog Adventures, known for its slogan, “We do more in a week than most people do all day.”But don’t let that …

Cindy Lewis, director of Keys Marine Laboratory on Long Key, is a woman of diverse talents.

Artist Taylor Hale, a Florida Keys native raised in Key Largo, has come home. Recently moving back to Key Largo after living in St. Augustine, Florida, Hale is known for his stunning ethereal works of clouds and surreal scenes of the Keys' natural …

Billy Litmer, founder of Key West's Honest Eco tours specializing in wild bottlenose dolphin­-watching and nature charters, grew up in landlocked Edgewood, Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mike Goldberg of Islamorada and Dave Vaughan of Summerland Key have earned recent global recognition for their work on coral restoration in the Florida Keys. Both men were previously profiled as Stewards of the Keys for their dedication to …

Tom Sweets, now the executive director of the Key West Wildlife Center, decided to become a New York City fireman after arriving at his office near St. Vincent's Hospital and witnessing the horrific aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.

John Mirabella, owner of off-the-beaten-path Castaway Waterfront Restaurant & Sushi Bar in Marathon, could well be called the "Lionfish King" of the Florida Keys.

Brian Vest, founder-president of the Conch Republic Marine Army, a nonprofit organization created to restore Florida Keys marine habitats, has taken more than 4,000 volunteers to the Keys' backcountry.

Danilo Alayon is a fifth-generation "Conch" born and raised in Key West, an avid diver, a self-taught artist and proud grandson of the creator-painter of the island's famed Southernmost Point buoy.

Captain Matthew "Matt" Bellinger grew up in Sandy Springs, Georgia, studied marine science at the University of Tampa, traveled as a divemaster after college and clearly remembers the aha! moment that prompted his move to the Florida Keys.

George Bellenger, who co-founded Key West Eco Tours with wife Carla in 2006, believes that even a five-minute commitment helps to preserve the Keys' natural backcountry and dense mangrove islands.

Marine artist Lisa Lee Herman, owner of Gallery of the Arts Islamorada, is known throughout the Upper Keys for her gyotaku - the ancient Japanese art form for traditionally recording a catch.

Erin Muir, a sixth-generation Upper Keys native, is a descendant of two founding Florida Keys families - the Albury and Lowe families that settled in the Keys in the 1860s - whose roots run as deep as those of the mangroves lining the island chain's …

Autumn Blum, the founder of Stream2Sea reef-safe skin-, hair- and body-care products, is a part-time Key Largo resident, an avid diver and a cosmetic chemist who developed sunscreen products billed as the world's only ones proven safe for saltwater …

Florida Keys residents are as deeply rooted in the island chain as the surrounding mangroves, choosing to live among the Keys' natural wonders and striving to preserve their satisfying lifestyle.

Captain Dave Dipre, Marathon-based operational captain with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Division of Law Enforcement, oversees 32 patrol officers and operations from Key Largo to Key West.Dipre's love of the Keys runs as …

Mark Hedden, executive director of the Florida Keys Audubon Society and artist-in-residence at The Studios of Key West, is perhaps the Keys' best known "bird man.His recent "South of Southernmost" photography exhibition documents scenes from fragile …

Ken Nedimyer, an Upper Keys–based director of Reef Renewal Foundation International, is globally recognized as a father of reef restoration, creating strategies and techniques to rebuild coral reefs around the world. The organization oversees …

Allyson Gantt inspires others to care for the Florida Keys' two national parks and their unique environments. She's overseeing a year of activities for Everglades National Park's upcoming 75th anniversary of its founding Dec. 6, 1947.A National Park …

Jordan Budnik, executive director of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center in Tavernier, has already achieved at age 29 what she hoped to accomplish perhaps in her pre-retirement years.The Atlanta native landed her first full-time job in …

Harry Appel co-owns Big Pine Key's eco-friendly, boutique Deer Run on the Atlantic, the Keys' only designated "Four-Palm" Green Lodging Property earning the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's highest designation for protecting the …

Jeanne Selander oversees the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm at the Stock Island Detention Center - believed to be the United States' only facility of its kind on jailhouse property - and the care of 150 animals including 17-year-old Mo …

Sarah Fangman, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, is a Minnesota native whose impressive career as a marine scientist has spanned the United States. She's conducted more than 600 dives in Keys sanctuary waters, holds a …

Captain Samantha "Sam" Zeher, solo captain and one of only a few Florida Keys women who are charterboat owner-operators, believes in captaining her own fate.Zeher, 33, operates KeyZ Charters, an eco-tour operation specializing in wildlife tours out …