Spring Break Thoughts

I rarely have the opportunity to see the beach. While Texas isn't *technically* landlocked, a series of college party houses along a browning eastern coastline isn't exactly the ideal scene. The few trips I've taken to Galveston or South Padre were all covid-driven, please get me out of my house or I'm going to die excursions, not let's go look at the beautiful ocean vacations.

A recent summer in Miami reminded me of the beauty of the beach, so when spring break planning rolled around for my friends and me, I reluctantly decided to forgo my usual ski haunt for a sandy setting. 

As anyone with a sense of geography (a group I sadly cannot figure out the entry fee to) may have 

predicted, Hilton Head, South Carolina was rainy, windy, and on a good day, a breezy 65 degrees. We figured we'd make the most of the weather because regardless, there was the mother freaking beach. Sand that wasn't oily or littered with solo cups. Couples at the ripe age of 70 taking two-handed photos of their spouses.

We decided to drop some cash on a local boat tour. Captain Spike and his not-so-cheery tour girl whipped us around the water, spewing facts about the special pluff mud that never settles in the bay (because, evidently, the water would be "Bahama clear" without the swirling stuff) and the oyster economy Hilton Head ran on for years. 

Halfway through the tour, the boat came to a slow stop. "Now, if you'll direct your attention to two o'clock," Spike announced over the microphone, "You'll see our dolphins." The small kids on the boat looked in every single direction because they had no idea what an analog clock was, but my friends and I watched in wonder as one, then two, then three dolphins lazily arced to the surface. They were pink and grey and charcoal. Their slippery skin gleamed in the sunlight. We stared and took no pictures.

We also watched several sunrises on the trip, waking up before the literal crack of dawn, mumbling to the local coffee joint and bakery, securing sustenance, and settling with our toes frozen in the sand. We stared and took many pictures.

Selfishly, one of my goals for the trip was to go horseback riding. I spotted it on a list of activities to explore and couldn't let the idea go. We visited Lawton Stables, essentially a local retirement home for horses, for an hour-long trail ride. I rode a sassy horse named Flicker, and my friend mounted a significantly more relaxed Cinder.

Our small band rode through the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. It's been a protected area since 1970, and the trees were stunning, tall, willowy things surrounding small bodies of water. We spied two alligators - one that was only a few feet long, and another that rivaled our catch from last class.

                         

My horse made several desperate attempts to throw me off the front, but we eventually settled into a mutual, tentative agreement that basically allowed Flicker to do, well, whatever she wanted, and in exchange, I got to live for the rest of my vacation.

All in all, my spring break consisted of sunshine, foliage, fish, and horses, accompanied by sand and salty water and that briny sea breeze. A different outdoor scene than I'm used to, and one I was happy to visit. Back to Texas skies, oak trees, and dyed-green grass, I suppose.

Gator Girl!

 Note to self: never skip the class before spring break. 

Wild. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these have to be worth a blog post. 

Thankful for the adventure...and an incredibly docile gator.

Where is the Lorax?

 There once was a Lorax. He spoke for the trees.

He was yellow and orange with small knobby knees.

And oh that Lorax, with his hatred for Thneeds,

Tried to teach us all the follies of greed.

He urged us to care, and to care quite a lot.

But caring is different than doing, is it not?

And the people who DO, well they don't seem to care

Despite their similar tuft of orange-yellow hair...

I ran across this post on my Instagram feed a few days back. The carousel post summarized a recent Guardian article about one of Trump's latest victims: the trees. Whatever end of the political spectrum you sit on, policies are subject to public scrutiny, and this quick graphic pushed me to investigate the reality of forest decline in the U.S. under the Trump administration.

The action, titled "Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production" went live on March 1. It begins with:

The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers.  Our inability to fully exploit our domestic timber supply has impeded the creation of jobs and prosperity, contributed to wildfire disasters, degraded fish and wildlife habitats, increased the cost of construction and energy, and threatened our economic security. 

Certainly, this can't be true. We have endless timber? Surplus trees? And these "extra" forests, they're causing wildfires and killing habitats? When did tree limbs grow thumbs and start swinging axes? “Hotter temperatures caused by climate change, in turn, create dry forest conditions that are more susceptible to fire,” said a spokesperson for Earthjustice. In addition, the debris often left behind by the logging industry, including needles and leaves, “essentially acts as tinder,” they added. So...lack of land management may be a shortcoming, but adding more logs to the fire isn't going to stop the smoke.

The order continues:

Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Secretary of Commerce, through the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, shall complete a strategy on USFS and BLM forest management projects under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1536) to improve the speed of approving forestry projects.

Yes, let's endanger more species faster! Who doesn't love streamlined extinction? The order calls for the overall expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands. Scientists, environmentalists, and other experts all point out the massive flaws and deadly consequences of this plan. 

It's not entirely clear if the forests Trump is referring to are mostly dead brush, therefore aiming the order more toward actual land management than total deforestation, but I may have to trust scientists over comment trolls here. More clarity on exactly what the logging practices will be is needed from the industry.

The order also prioritizes "self-reliance" and accompanied a 25% tariff on Canadian lumber, which supplies 23.6% of the lumber consumed in the US. The economic undertones of the order have lumber industry professionals praising the move toward homegrown profits, but the dying industry produces more carbon dioxide and puts 400 threatened species at increased risk. 

Despite Trump's (obvious) motives, there are some safeguards in place. The Endangered Species Act, for one, will help stall the immediate increase of logging in national forests. Kristen Boyles, managing attorney of the Northwest Regional Office of Earthjustice in Seattle claims:

Any effort to cut protected areas — especially by working around the Endangered Species Act, as the order suggests — would be challenged in court, Boyles said. The nation’s forests are, under multiple federal laws, to be managed for multiple uses — species protection, recreation, clean water and air — not just timber production.

So it's not the END of the world, but you don't know it's the end until it is. Catching late-stage cancer is ineffective. We are watching the tumors grow, spending our time arguing about whether or not they will remain benign - mere threats - or become vicious killers. We are in the early stage, caring instead of doing.

I thought about this as I hacked away privet on Thursday. Knees in the dried out dirt, toes poking cacti, arms burning from the effort of relieving this singular tree from the constraints of its invader. For those two hours, I did what I could for the trees. 

There is no more Lorax to speak for the trees.

It's a childish notion, if you ask me.

No magical creature will voice his concerns

For the safety of flora or fauna, or ferns.

So we must be the Lorax, in our own small ways

In how we make choices in each of our days.

So we help just one tree? Whatever, who cares?

But if we all help just one, we can cover hectares.

FWNC Social Media Strategy

My authority to suggest social strategies for the Fort Worth Nature Center lies almost entirely in my addiction to Instagram Reels, but perhaps also in my multiple years of experience working in marketing and PR for TCU, Rally Department, and Sun Public Relations - take your pick.

Active and engaging online presence is critical to any organization's success. Social media is how you draw people in with relevant content that hopefully spirals into a subset of brand loyalty, in this case consistent visitation to the FWNC. While there are endless approaches to social media management (and in truth, the "right" approach is constantly changing as the platform is dictated by audience whims) I suggest the following ideas to begin enhancing the FWNC social accounts in a way that is manageable and sustainable for the existing team:

1. Creating and Highlighting an Event Calendar

The program calendar is hidden on the FWNC website, and is admittedly a thorough (yet sketchy) PDF. I suggest we create a graphic for each month of programming that can be posted on socials and pinned to the top of the feed so visitors can see the next few weeks of events at a glance. 

There are so many amazing, affordable events happening! They need to be advertised. Additionally, content capture at these programs is crucial for recap posts and continued promotion.

Here is an example that one TCU organization - Her Campus - has:

2. Invest in a Linktree

A linktree is a convenient way to add all the links you want consumers to have access to into your social media bios without overcrowding it. It's simple to make, and can be easily updated to include new links as needed. See the Her Campus template again below.

Examples we could include in the linktree are:

• Direct access to purchasing entry tickets
• A Google Maps directions link
• Current month's programs
• Any recent news features or stories
• YouTube and X accounts
• Contact Information

(Pasting links into comment sections is ineffective and people never click on them because they physically can't. People are used to being directed to the "link in bio.")

3. Get Trendy

Part of impactful social media is capitalizing on trending sounds and video ideas. These vary by platform and of course must be tone adjusted to be appropriate for the nature center, but ultimately, getting on people's "for you" pages requires sticking with the times. 

Some current trending videos (that will probably be old news in a few weeks, thanks to the nature of the internet) include:

• Somebody's watching me, it's my anxiety
• Frozen song
• Flipped perspective pic
• Sports Car by Tate McRae
• Kendrick Lamar halftime performance

It takes a little creativity to work these into the FWNC messaging, but it's entirely possible!

Other strategy suggestions might include:

1. Capitalizing on local media spots and getting intentional about PR and earned media
1. Reach out to local news outlets
2. Create a reporter pitch list
3. Send story pitch emails to media lists to land features
2. Vary long and short form content
1. Utilize Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and even LinkedIn
3. Plan a content calendar
1. Schedule posts/ideas in advance to make posting seamless and simple
4. Curate a content library
1. Generate photos and videos regularly to create a backlog of resources
5. Make "Day in the Life" and interview style content
1. Approachable AND informative

The key to social media is just consistency. Once we establish a messaging and branding plan, curating content will come more naturally. 

Here's to the second half of the semester!