(lighthearted music) (whistling)
(clacking)
(whistling)
(jazzy music)
- [Penny] Today, Ryan and I are at Biscayne National Park.
One of four national parks in South Florida.
Ryan and I are here today
to teach children how to explore--
(chiming)
learn-- (chiming)
and protect-- (chiming)
our national park treasures.
Ryan and I are going to become junior park rangers.
- Hi Penny, hi Ryan. - Hi.
- Welcome to Biscayne National Park.
My name is Liz, I'm one of the rangers that work here.
In order to become junior rangers,
there are four activities that you have to complete.
Here is the junior ranger book.
- Thank you.
- And it's filled with fun activities that will help you
to learn and explore Biscayne National Park.
We can do that by starting the map activity
on the first page, and we can figure out where we are.
- [Penny] We're right there, right before the Florida Keys.
- [Liz] And just south of Miami.
The park is 95% covered in water,
so the best way to explore the park,
and to become junior rangers, is to get out on the water.
And if you'd like, we can go out on a boat,
and take a closer look at Biscayne National Park.
- [Both] Yes!
- [Liz] Awesome, let's get going.
- [Penny] What a great ride across Biscayne Bay.
- Welcome to Boca Chita Key, and this is where
we are going to start learning and exploring,
so we can protect Biscayne National Park
and everything that's in it.
Here are some tools to help you get started on your journey.
- Wow, what do we have?
- [Liz] Well, Penny we have some binoculars.
- [Penny] Ah, that's good, right?
- And the binoculars are to help you
see things that are far away.
And here's a magnifying glass
that will help you see things that are close up.
And we also have a special glass-bottomed bucket
that will help you see things that are in the water.
- [Ryan] Hi.
- Hi. (laughs)
Okay, I think we're ready, we have our three activities.
We're going to do our scavenger hunt,
we're gonna explore the mangroves,
and then we'll go on a magical trip to the coral reef.
Okay, Ryan?
- Cool.
- Yeah, let's get started.
Where should we start first?
- Well, the top of the lighthouse has some fantastic views
to see everything all around Biscayne National Park.
- [Penny] We can use our binoculars.
- [Ryan] Yeah!
- [Liz] Shall we go?
- [Penny] Yeah, let's go.
- [Liz] Hey, Ryan do you see under the water there?
It looks like grass.
- [Ryan] Yeah.
- [Liz] It's a little bit different
from the grass at your house.
It's special grass that can live in the saltwater,
and it's a really good place for
different kinds of marine organisms to live.
And all of Biscayne Bay, out as far as we can see,
is covered in sea grass.
Biscayne Bay is a nursing area for marine organisms.
Ryan, we're looking for a sea grape tree.
It's got really big, thick leaves.
Do you see anything like that?
- Over there. - (mumbles)
- Awesome, should we go take a look at it?
- [Penny] Could you tell us something
about the sea grape leaves?
- [Liz] I sure can.
They're really special leaves,
if you want to take a close look at it and feel it.
Early pioneers, who lived in Biscayne National Park
before it became a national park,
would use sea grape leaves as paper.
- Paper?
- Shall we keep explorin'?
- [Penny] Yes.
That's crazy.
He's walking with us.
We are finding so many things.
- [Liz] You're doing great.
- [Penny] This is exciting.
(gasps) Look!
Look at all those fish.
We can definitely mark fish off, we have found a lot.
- Wow, look at all the mangroves around us.
Do you have red mangroves on your scavenger hunt?
- [Both] Yes.
- Awesome.
You can identify the red mangrove
by the walking roots.
It looks like the roots are walking out into the water.
The roots are great, it tangles all up,
and makes it almost like a net.
So it helps to protect the land from the sea,
but also the sea from the land.
They're very, very special trees
that like to live in hot environments
like here in south Florida.
- [Penny] Hey, what else do you see down there, Ryan?
- [Ryan] Ooh, a crab. (laughs)
- [Liz] Very cool, good eye.
- [Penny] We get to mark that off our list.
We are getting somewhere, we're almost done.
- No!
- [Liz] Actually, mosquitoes are
really important-- - Look.
- In the food chain,
and I know a lot of people think they're--
- They're all over you. - A pest.
- I think they are.
- But there are so many animals--
- [Penny] Do you see?
- That actually eat mosquitoes,
and so if we got rid of all the mosquitoes
then there'd be a lot of animals that didn't have any food.
- [Penny] Let's walk over to the water
for our next activity.
We need to have our life jackets on.
It's time for our Mangrove Feeding Frenzy.
Let's find out about the mangroves
before we actually go investigate them.
- [Liz] So we have mangroves all along
the coastline of Biscayne National Park.
- [Penny] Look there's your black mangroves,
they grow from the bottom up, and there's the red mangroves.
See the difference?
- [Ryan] Yeah.
- [Liz] Hermit crabs don't have their own shell,
they have to borrow shells,
they have to go looking for new shells.
- [Penny] It's the same thing as the book says.
He lives at the bottom of the mangroves.
I want to look at him closely.
- [Liz] Ryan, the things that live here
have to be super hardy,
because sometimes they're covered in water,
and sometimes they're totally exposed.
So they have to be ready to adapt to any kind of environment
- Ooh, another crab!
- [Liz] Very good, good eyes.
Let's go find him deeper water.
- Let's be careful-- - There's another crab.
- Not to walk on the sponges,
'cause they're keeping the water clean.
- [Liz] Very good eyes.
Tulip snail.
(dreamy music)
- [Penny] And let's take a magic trip
today to the coral reef,
and find all the wonderful things that live there.
Biscayne National Park protects the northern part
of the third largest coral reef in the world.
Corals are made from small animals,
that are about the size of a pencil eraser,
called coral polyps.
The coral polyps make a limestone cup which they sit in
they eat tiny plants and tiny animals
that stick to their stinging tentacles.
(jazzy music)
Thank you for a great day!
Now we are ready to head back
to be sworn in as official junior park rangers.
- I.
- [Both] I.
- Say your name.
- Ryan.
- And Penny.
- Promise.
- [Both] Promise.
- To protect and preserve.
- [Both] To protect and preserve.
- The plants, animals, and history.
- [Both] The plants, animals, and history.
- Of Biscayne National Park.
- [Both] Of Biscayne National Park.
- And will continue to explore.
- [Both] And will continue to explore.
- [Liz] These national treasures.
- [Both] These national treasures.
- Congratulations.
- [Penny] You too can become a junior ranger
when you visit Biscayne National Park, or any national park,
ask the park ranger about the special activities
that will help you become a junior ranger.
Go online to www.nps.gov
to learn more about a national park in your area.
- As you can see Biscayne National Park
is a pretty good place.
It is so great that it has been set aside for us.
Now it is our turn to protect and preserve Biscayne,
so others can experience it.
(whistling)
(clacking) (lighthearted music)