Florida Master Naturalist Program: Past, Present, and Future with Dr. Marty Main

This episode of Streaming Science explores the Florida Master Naturalist Program—past, present, and future—through a conversation with its founder, Dr. Martin “Marty” Main. 

Hosted by FMNP Program Coordinator Caitlin Robison, the episode examines why the program was created, how it was structured, and how decades of fieldwork, research, and extension experience shaped its development. 

Dr. Main shares stories from his career in ecology and conservation while reflecting on the importance of community, collaboration, and accessibility in environmental education.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Caitlin Robison

Welcome back to Streaming Science, a student-driven project that brings science and scientists directly to you. This episode is part of our Boundless Science series, where natural resources, agriculture, and science connect beyond boundaries. My name's Caitlin Robison, and I'm a PhD student in Agricultural Education and Communication at the University of Florida. The topic for this episode is the Florida Master Naturalist Program, Past, Present, and Future. To help us explore, I'm joined by Dr. Martin Main, program founder and leader of the Florida Master Naturalist Program. We'll call that FMNP from now on. And Dr. Main is also a professor at the University of Florida and a black belt in karate. His work has ranged widely from ecology field work to extension program development to administration leadership in IFAS. Dr. Main offers insight into how science shapes our environment, communities, and daily lives. In this episode, we talk about the decisions behind the way the FMMP is structured. We'll talk about some stories from Marty's time in the field and We'll learn about Marty's perspective on the role of community and collaboration, especially in extension programming, and why these topics matter to understand the challenges and opportunities facing science today. So don't hit pause because today we're streaming science. Let's get started. 

Caitlin Robison

And before we get any further, who exactly are you? Who am I talking to today?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, how formal. So, I’m Martin Main.

Caitlin Robison

Okay, Dr. Martin Main.

Dr. Marty Main

A professor at the University of Florida, otherwise known as Marty.

Caitlin Robison

Marty Main.

Dr. Marty Main

Marty Main.

Caitlin Robison

The guy in the videos.

Dr. Marty Main

The guy in the videos. That's right. The videos are kind of been interesting. When I did them, it was specifically to expose people to have a test that they wouldn't necessarily get to visit. A virtual field trip with Marty and his friends. But it turned out to be something, I think, in some ways more important in that it put a face to the Master Naturalist Program. And people, I think they look for leadership, right? And it helps to have someone there, a person, and that was that person, for better or worse.

Caitlin Robison

Okay. And the videos, for what exactly? What are these videos? Are they a part of a? school class or are they part of what are they part of?

Dr. Marty Main

So in developing the Florida Master Naturalist Program, I knew I needed to have multiple components, obviously field trips, and everybody wants to do field trips and field trips are important. And but they convey a limited amount of information and it's all very localized. And you can do field trips pretty much with any group anywhere. They're all doing field trips. So I had to have additional components. classroom learning, of course, and then the field trips, I mean, the videos were designed to provide a statewide perspective on the ecology and conservation issues of Florida based on either the coastal freshwater or upland systems.

Caitlin Robison

And I'm sure that was a experience traveling across the state? Because as you said, you wanted to provide a statewide perspective in a class that may otherwise be pretty localized. So what was the experience like of filming those videos?

Dr. Marty Main

That was actually, it was really great. It was difficult, you know, because it was very time consuming. It was expensive. It wasn't particularly easy. The university, there's a lot of expectations and traveling around the state doing videos takes up a lot of time. And so then suddenly all those expectations are still there piling up. However, driving around the state, often for quite a bit of it, I took my daughter with me. And she was, you know, between the ages of about 8 and 12 by the time we finished, I think. So she and I would be traveling across the state, going to all these really cool places. I'm talking to people about, the particular habitat type we were in, in beta wetland, upland system or coastal. And so that was very rewarding for so many different reasons, right? I mean, I got to spend time with my daughter. I got to spend time with people who were really interesting and fun to be around and visit some really cool places and put together something that nobody else had put together that was new. And the video guys were like, I'm not sure how to do this. So we just did it. And I remember when we first got started, we started in the Panther Refuge, which I'd been working on various projects, fire, deer, and other things. And so I felt very comfortable there. But when we went up to the panhandle, the kind of the next trip that I'm gonna, we pull up to some place in the middle of a forest and Escambia County and I know there were pitcher plants down there and they're all sitting up. They said, okay, what are we going to do? And Bruce said, I drove to no time for panic care. So I said, I'm going to start up the hill and I'm going to walk down towards the pitcher plants when I start walking and talking.

Caitlin Robison

Hit record.

Dr. Marty Main

And that's, yeah, and that's how we did pretty much everything.

Caitlin Robison

You obviously had to have some experience being in the field at that time. What years were the videos recorded?

Dr. Marty Main

So the Freshwater Systems, which we called Freshwater Wetlands at the time, I started promoting the idea in 1998. And in 1999, I generated, you know, I had some scoping meetings with a bunch of educators and scientists and all sorts of different ideas about how to put together the Master Naturalist Program. And I wrote some grants and I got funding to get going, which we needed for the videos for sure.

Caitlin Robison

Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

So We, that happened in 1999. I did the proposal, did the program, and put it together in 2000 and released it in 2001. So it didn't happen fast. It was a grind. Because I had other things to do too.

Caitlin Robison

Right. You were still a faculty member, right? A professor at UF.

Dr. Marty Main

I had graduate students and I had a couple of different research projects. And so we fit it in. You know, sometimes people think this is all I do. This is technically less than half of what I do.

Caitlin Robison

Did you, when you first started, obviously this wasn't part of your job package, right? This wasn't a program that you were stepping into to take over. Would you have expected when you first started, you had a lot of research experience and field time, but in terms of developing a program, how did you get there?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, so the position I got was at one of the research centers in South Florida, Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, just north of Big Cypress and the Panther Ridge. In Imokalee. And I live in Fort Myers. And so anyway, the position was 60% extension and 40% research. Well, I understood exactly what to do with research. I had no idea what to do with extension. Nobody teaches you that when you're a grad student. There's no focus on that at all. And my only experience with extension was watching people trap and kill things for other people pretty extreme. I'm like, I'm not doing that. And you hire, hire somebody to do that. There's professionals that do that.

Caitlin Robison

Sure.

Dr. Marty Main

I'm an educator. And so, ostensibly, I was supposed to work with the ranchers and the citrus growers and other agricultural folks to help them, you know, do a better job of conservation on their land. Their focus is growing product, either cows or, you know, tomatoes or citrus. And so, I did some work with them, especially at the ranchers, but there wasn't a lot of need for me. they were managing their farms really professionally, and they weren't really interested in somebody from Oregon telling them, Well, you should, you know, convert this into a wetland. That wasn't really their primary objective. And so I went to essentially a watchable wildlife conference.

Caitlin Robison

Watchable wildlife conference?

Dr. Marty Main

Called the Eco Heritage Conference, and it was about eco-tourism and environmental education, getting people out to watch wildlife. And all the speakers were talking about the demand for educational programs and their inability to meet that demand because they didn't have enough people, they couldn't find trained volunteers, they didn't have time to train people, they couldn't hire college graduates to do, you know, what they really needed. part-time people to do or volunteers to do. And so that was, I thought, wow, I'm going to develop a program to build a workforce to help these folks. And then it became much more than that, fast. And so my first idea, because I have a Master's in oceanography, I had a PhD in wildlife science, and I've done, I got my Master's in Florida, I felt comfortable operating in different ecosystems, if you will. And also, I've always been a naturalist. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to develop this thing. And that was the idea. And then we just took off it.

Caitlin Robison

You described yourself as two things, an educator and a naturalist. I think those are things that you know from a very early stage in life that you are. There's a sense of identity that's attached to both of those terms. So can you talk a little bit about how your identity has been shaped by being an educator and naturalist?

Dr. Marty Main

That's interesting. Yeah. So I've always been very interested, I really have always cared a lot about nature. And I think I got a lot of that from, when I was a young boy in Wisconsin, there was a big stream that ran behind our house. And I was in that pretty much every day, all day. Except for when I was on my grandfather's farm, which I spent a lot of time that. And he was very interested in nature and he took care of his, dairy cows and his livestock and stuff. But he was also very interested in the habitat he had on his property, pheasants and deer and stuff like that. And so from an early age, tigers, salamanders, whatever it might be, he was very interested in protecting the wildlife on his property. So that happened from early age. And even when I was like a teenager in Ohio, we lived in an area we'd moved and It was very rural, beach maple and oak hickory forest and fields and streams and ponds and all the other teenagers who are listening to music, you know, to albums. And I was in the woods, you know, hiking or catching fish or hunting. And so I was always kind of in nature as much as I could be. And then that just kind of led to ultimately, I think, my career.

Caitlin Robison

The first step in your professional side, I would say, of environmental education or conservation, what was that first step? Was it in, did you go into college knowing that you wanted to do ecology stuff?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, so yeah, I did. I knew that. I went to Central Michigan University as an undergraduate, which is, you know, lots of hunting and fishing opportunities up there. But really most of my interest as a younger person, When I was first getting started, I was a very avid hunter and that kind of thing. And in a lot of ways, that was also how Aldo Leopold got started. Talks about if you've read A Sand County Almanac, which is a rather famous book published in 1949. He talks about as a young man how he had shot a wolf and he watched this fierce green fire die in his eyes. And he knew right then, hunting wasn't really his, the most important thing to him. He, in fact, he regretted shooting that wolf and that he saw, had this call to conserve nature as well. I'm not saying that hunting is bad. Hunting is an important management tool as well. And many hunters are very avid conservationists. But it's not just hunting, you know? I mean, there's more to it than that. It's protecting nature so that there are opportunities for that kind of recreation as well as other types of recreation. So that's how I first got started. I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist. So I ultimately got into grad school. It was a struggle. 

Caitlin Robison

Really? 

Dr. Marty Main

Oh, yeah. I think I majored in rugby as an undergraduate.

Caitlin Robison

I've never heard you say that before. That's funny.

Dr. Marty Main

So, I mean, I was a pretty good student. I had like a 3.1 or something, right? But that's not my outstanding. And so when I graduated, I didn't get into graduate school immediately. I posted billboards at Detroit and worked on my GREs, kept applying. And then when I did get in, I ended up doing very well because I was very focused. Still played rugby. I'm quite excited to pretty focused on my grades. and my research, and I did quite well. And it opened a lot of opportunities for me, right? I mean, I had the opportunity to study in Sweden. I ended up getting a congressional fellowship, went to DC and all that.

Caitlin Robison

With NOAA, right?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, the Sea Grant Knaus Marine Policy Fellowship. And I worked for the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife and Conservation. The Democrats were in power at that time when we reauthorized the Endangered Species Act. 

Caitlin Robison

Thank you.

Dr. Marty Main

I had a very confined role in that, but I was involved and that was exciting. And so I learned also a lot about how conservation operates at that level. And that was interesting as well. But after about three years in DC, I knew I wanted to go back to school and I decided to change fields and went into wildlife sciences and studied mule deer in the mountains of eastern Oregon and then went down to South Texas and studied whitetails to compare behavior questions that I was addressing.

Caitlin Robison

One of those stories that I think shows a lot about the hunter meets conservation, meets bigger questions is your time on Aldabra. So can you tell us about that?

Dr. Marty Main

Sure. When I was a PhD student, I had the opportunity to, well, I mean, partly this was largely due to my hunting skills, my major advisor. had to sometimes collect animals from the wild for autopsies and various things associated with wildlife courses, techniques courses. So whenever he needed a deer shot, he would take me, he would spot my, and I would shoot some deer from a distance, right?

Caitlin Robison

Oh my gosh.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah.

Caitlin Robison

It's very different than my PhD.

Dr. Marty Main

I always kind of feel bad about shooting deer, but you know, I mean, so anyway, although I did shoot a lot of deer at the freezer back in those days. And so he knew I was a very good shot. And there was an opportunity to go to an island called Aldabra, which is one of the largest atolls in the world. And it's just north of Madagascar, about 400 miles, about the same distance from Africa, from the East Coast. So it's in the Indian Ocean. And Aldabra has giant tortoises, about 150,000 giant tortoises. There were goats released on the island by villagers that had lived there at one point, or traders or pirates, they all used to dump goats on islands and then they'd come back and harvest the goats. And so the goats were essentially eating the island. And the Royal Society and the Smithsonian Institution funded a project to eradicate the goats. And so I was hired a gun. And I was very good at it. It was sometimes sad, but you know, conservation is sometimes sad.

Caitlin Robison

And you were on an island in the middle of the ocean. In the middle of the Indian Ocean. As an island usually is. An uninhabited island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Marty Main

For 3 months, yeah.

Caitlin Robison

For 3 months.

Dr. Marty Main

Yes. I got quite a tan.

Caitlin Robison

You have a mouse pad with a picture of you from that, don't you?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, I do. My advisor gave you that, yeah. I'm holding up a wahoo that's about four feet long.

Caitlin Robison

Lots of fishing.

Dr. Marty Main

Lots of fishing, yeah. Lots of sharks. So the atoll is right on the equator. And so the tortoise was the major herbivore... until the goats. And the goats were destroying, killing trees that the tortoises relied on for shade. And that was causing a lot of mortality. Aldabra, besides the Galapagos, which has about 5,000 giant tortoises, Aldabra is the only other island with a wild population of giant tortoises. And if you go to the Washington National Zoo or Busch Gardens, Those are tortoises from Aldabra that you're looking at.

Caitlin Robison

Wow.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah.

Caitlin Robison

So we have you to thank in part for that as well.

Dr. Marty Main

That was a very small part. But yes, so it was quite an adventure, especially for somebody 28 years old, you know?

Caitlin Robison

28. Wow, I'm not going to Aldabra next year, but we'll see. We'll see what I can get into. So you went from coastal, very, very, I mean, hyper-coastal, only coastal, and then you moved. Your next stage of your research was in Oregon, right?

Dr. Marty Main

To DC.

Caitlin Robison

To DC, right. Okay. And then?

Dr. Marty Main

I worked for a while, but that was mostly database analysis with coastal water quality type stuff.

Caitlin Robison

Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

You know, an important thing, but not really my cup of tea, to be honest.

Caitlin Robison

Wasn't active enough in the field or what was it?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah. In fact, I had shared an office with two other guys. It was a pretty big office. And they said, man, it's like being in here with a big cat. So you should go somewhere. You should go do something else. And they knew I couldn't do that forever.

Caitlin Robison

You can't be tamed.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, I had to do field work. And so at Hart Mountain, which is in Eastern Oregon, where I did most of my PhD, I did 4 field seasons there, I'd go in May and stay until September. Camp and pack and...

Caitlin Robison

With your wife? No? How did Ellen feel about that?

Dr. Marty Main

She would come and visit me for a week, and I would go back and visit her for a couple of days, typically. But mostly we were separated. She was glad to have me back.

Caitlin Robison

To Florida from Oregon.

Dr. Marty Main

So let's see. We would then go to South Texas, right? For a year.

And we stayed in the Welder Wildlife Foundation property, which is a great big ranch. Near Corpus Christi, considerably different country than the high desert. Eastern Oregon, sagebrush country, the coastal plain of Texas. And I studied white-tailed deer there. And I was looking at sex differences in the behavior and ecology, hooved animals and deer.

Caitlin Robison

Ungulates.

Dr. Marty Main

Ungulates, that's right. Usually people don't understand what they're talking about. When I say ungulate, yeah, an ungulate is a hooved animal. Okay. And so they have interesting behaviors in that they segregate by sex. And there's lots of questions and hypotheses of why they do that during the non-breeding periods and what it means for management conservation. So I did some groundbreaking work really on that and was invited to Cambridge for a year based on that work.

Caitlin Robison

You've been bouncing around, to say the least, but not since you've started the Master Naturalist program. So that's obviously changed your direction and your motivation and kind of your I guess your MO, like we said earlier, it's changed a little bit from you haven't, you're not gnawing at the bit to get out into the Amazon anymore necessarily.

Dr. Marty Main

Well, actually, you know, I- 

Caitlin Robison

Are you? 

Dr. Martin Main

Yeah, so I was in the field. So yeah, so I went to Cambridge in 2007 for a year on a sabbatical, but so I did field research projects all the time while I was doing my, doing the Master Naturalist Program. Stuffin the Panther Refuge, researching Guatemala with Jaguars and Puma. research in Brazil in the Amazon with jaguars. We finished that up in around, I’d say, 2012.

Caitlin Robison

Wow. Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

I did work with Florida panther depredation at South Florida during that time. So, all the time I did the Master Naturalist Program, I still had research projects going wading birds, all sorts of stuff.

Caitlin Robison

Wow.

Dr. Marty Main

So.

Caitlin Robison

That's really neat. I don't think people realize that when they look at you as, again, in the videos and they see you or they say, this is the Master Naturalist guy, but it's a part of your grander scheme.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah. Because I had to research for appointment, right?

Caitlin Robison

Okay, right.

Dr. Marty Main

You got to need you to do something. That's right.

Caitlin Robison

Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

A lot of something.

Caitlin Robison

Yeah.

Dr. Marty Main

So, you know, to do that, you, know, recruit graduate students and that kind of thing as well. So. Yes, it's been very rewarding. I've enjoyed working with graduate students.

Caitlin Robison

Not to say anything negative about your other half of your job or more than half of your job, but I have heard you say that the Master Naturalist Program has been the most fulfilling part of your career.

Dr. Marty Main

It was. It has been, yes.

Caitlin Robison

Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

You know, and I've done a couple of different things too. So, you know, I mean, I did the, you know, for seven years I was a dean. So I was the Associate Dean and Program Leader for Natural Resources for Extension. I was the Associate Director for Sea Grant, the Marine Program and I was the Program Leader for the Florida Master Naturalist program.

Caitlin Robison

At the same time.

Dr. Marty Main

At the same time, yeah. I did that for seven years and I was, I'm so glad I'm back as a Professor.

Caitlin Robison

I am too. I was, I started with the program while you were in your deanship and in the administration side of things and working with you on the level that we do now is a big reason of why I enjoy my job so much. So I'm very grateful to have you back in the role as well.

Dr. Marty Main

But yeah, I enjoy working with you as well. It's been a great partnership.

Caitlin Robison

Absolutely. And we're in a great time of the program right now. It's our 25th year. Ya know, you and I.. We were doing very different things than in 1999. You were creating a statewide environmental education program. I was weaning off of breastfeeding.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, it's hard to me to remember that, you know. I mean, I look at you as a, you know, a partner, you know, I don't look at you as somebody that could have been my daughter.

Caitlin Robison

Yeah, of course.

Dr. Marty Main

So, although sometimes I do feel like that. So, I mean, I do feel kind of paternal.

Caitlin Robison

I appreciate that.

Dr. Marty Main

Thank you. A nice way, not a condescending way.

Caitlin Robison

No, never condescending.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, so it's been great. And we've done some big things, in the last few years. We've updated the core courses in a very big way. Oh my goodness, we've come so far.

Caitlin Robison

Say more.

Dr. Marty Main

When the program was first started, it was really kind of a panic show in a lot of ways. I was trying to finish something that nobody had done, you know?

Caitlin Robison

Yeah.

Dr. Marty Main

And I wasn't sure how to do it. I had some ideas, but it wasn't like I can follow a map. And everybody had a different idea of what I should do and how I should do it. And there was a lot of criticism. So of course, my dad gave me some good advice. He said, do the best you can and then start revising it right away. Get it out to finish what you have to do. Because I had a deadline. I had a grant. And so when it first came out, you know, we did the best we could. And then I just continued to update and improve it over time, and now I think we've got a really good product. 

When the next person comes in, they may do something entirely different, and I'm anticipating they'll do a lot of different things. There's a lot of stuff available now that didn't exist back then, right? iNaturalist, there were no apps at all. I mean, when I first started, there would, you know, There weren't even car phones for a couple of years until then you had to plug it into your car. There were no cell phones. Something went wrong in the field, which often happened, you know, like when I was doing my PhD work, you were walking and nobody coming to get you. I had to walk 27 miles went by. At Hart mountain, yeah, it would break down and just, and it took me, I don't know, a solid day and change.

Caitlin Robison

Oh my goodness.

Dr. Marty Main

In Texas, I had to walk, I know. Four hours at night...This is when you, when that happens, you’re walking. Of course, Ellen's always biting her nails. I don't tell her about most of the stuff.

Caitlin Robison

Well, you know this is being recorded, right?

Dr. Marty Main

It usually come out at parties and things.

Caitlin Robison

Okay.

Dr. Marty Main

Stories about... you know, having a boat flip or whatever.

Caitlin Robison

She said, *gestures whipping head around*

Dr. Marty Main

I can see the ears go like that *gestures ears perking up*

Caitlin Robison

So we've talked a lot about the how we got here, right? And I think that the numbers speak for themselves in terms of the fact that people still take our courses. You know, there's always new instructor teams that are joining and different areas of Florida that we're reaching. I think our outreach has grown significantly in the past few years of just having the bandwidth and the understanding of where to reach out to and the tabling events, that kind of thing. I've had a lot of fun getting new groups of people. 

I share this metric a lot that last year, a majority of our participants were taking our classes for professional reasons as opposed to personal reasons. Our demographics are getting a little younger. They're getting, like I said, more professional. So where do you see, again, with different demographics and different technologies, a new program leader coming in following your retirement? What are your hopes for your base as he grows up and graduates and, you know, moves on?

Dr. Marty Main

I hope that we have somebody who's energetic and enthusiastic about, you know, the program and that they make the program about the graduates, you know. You mentioned that the program has grown and many people have taken multiple courses. Some people have taken every single course we had. We had 11 courses, right? We've issued over 31,000 graduate certificates. I mean, that's bona fide. You know, we've had a very good run of 25 years and no one can argue with this kind of success we've had. 

I mean, and the way I like the way that it was set up to, as you mentioned, assist people in professional development, whether they be an eco-tour guide or a middle school teacher or an environmental consultant or a natural resource manager or a naturalist at a nature center. There's so many different ways that that's been important, but it's also been important. Most of our people, of course, have taken it because they want to learn more about nature. We have sort of dual audiences here, and other programs have popped up around the country, and a lot of them have taken on sort of a master gardener approach where there are multiple courses, and the whole idea is to get the people to do volunteer service. And I think that's important, but I think it only addresses one side of that coin. We're addressing both sides of that coin. And I think that that's really valuable. 

As far as the future goes, I don't have any expectations that the person does things the same way I do. In fact, I don't expect that they will. I mean, it's, times are changing, right? There's so many new opportunities with apps and such. I can't envision what exactly they'll want to do. I just hope that whatever they do, you know, meets the needs of the audiences. And that it's really important, I think, that they maintain really strong, positive relationships with the instructors who, you know, we couldn't have done any of this without all the partnerships we formed. And in the beginning, that was very difficult. Boy, people didn't want to partner at all. And in fact, a lot of people were very antagonistic against this whole idea.

Caitlin Robison

Any good idea, I think, is met with opposition. And again, you've been venturing into uncharted territory most of your career, and this is not an exception to that. I think I value and also share the value of critique and the reason of, well, that's just the way it's always been done is the easiest way to send me off the deep end. That is never an excuse. That is how we've perpetuated generations of all the things, right? So I'm sure it was discouraging at times.

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah, I was told by some of the power brokers that had influence over my career, you're not doing it right. I said, I don't understand what you're saying. And you're not doing it right, you know? Well, I'm just going to do it and we'll see what happens, you know? But these people want to deliver it and it's going to benefit them and benefit, you know, the citizens of Florida. So we're doing it. Anyway, but Chris Wadill actually turned out, she was a Dean of Extension, she turned out to be a huge supporter and really valuable. And I really appreciated that. And they allowed me to take this in this new direction. And I told them, I said, you know, we have partners delivering the University of Florida extension program, the UF IFAS extension program. I said that means that they are our partners and they are celebrating their partnership with us. How could it be better?

Caitlin Robison

Right. If you could sum up your sales pitch potentially for someone who's heard of the program, the Florida Master Naturalist Program, and may not think it's for them. Before I started, I had never heard of the program. I'd been a graduate student at UF. I had been in Florida my whole life, but I'd never heard of it. And I don't know if even if I had, if it would have resonated with me as something that was meaningful. So if there is something that, a clip that we could take to show anyone that was curious, how would you tell them?

Dr. Marty Main

Some people are intimidated by the way it sounds. Oh, you know, because it's a considerable investment of time and energy, right? The Florida Master Naturalist Program isn't about making you an expert. It's about exposing you to a whole bunch of things and some of which you may find very interesting. You know, in the end, it's not about who knows the most. It's about beginning to appreciate nature, finding areas of interest, and also meeting people who are like-minded. There's a huge social component to this. And many people have created lifelong friends and lifelong partners in a couple of examples I can think of. And so it's an adventure that you should jump into and see if it's right for you. And then if you decide to only take one course, you will learn things that you will find that you enjoy talking to other people about. And that is such an important component of this. There are so many programs or so many efforts, conservation efforts, they're all important. You know, send us your money and we'll, you know... protect the redwoods or donate your land and we'll put it in conservation or come to this in an event and I'll tell you everything I know because I'm knowledgeable about this or take you on a one-hour walk or a bio blitz and you get to take pictures of animals and find out what they are. This is different. This makes you our partner, our emissary for conservation is how I like to put it, to educate others, to expose other people to nature, the ones we'll never reach. your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your HOA, and to start making a difference in conservation in Florida so that these natural resources we have that are so amazing are here for the next 100 years so that other people can enjoy them as well.

Caitlin Robison

I couldn't have said it better myself. I have a few questions to wrap us up with today. Listeners, I did not let Marty see these ahead of time, I promise. They're true and false. It's a speed round. Okay. Don't think too much. First thing that comes to your mind is true false. They are all related to things that you should know about. But maybe I did catch you in a few.

Dr. Marty Main

Okay.

Caitlin Robison

So we'll see how this goes. If you have any issues with the facts, I will provide the sites after the sites. You can bring it up with UNESCO.

Dr. Marty Main

This can be edited later.

Caitlin Robison

Yes, exactly. Yeah. So we'll have 10. True, false.

Dr. Marty Main

Okay.

Caitlin Robison

All right. You ready?

Dr. Marty Main

Yeah.

Caitlin Robison

Let's get it. Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge was established in 1965.

Dr. Marty Main

True.

Caitlin Robison

False, 1936.

Dr. Marty Main

That I don't.

Caitlin Robison

Aldabra is located west of the continent of Africa.

Dr. Marty Main

That is false.

Caitlin Robison

Where is it?

Dr. Marty Main

It's located. Ding.

Caitlin Robison

Ding, ding. All right. Aldabra is home to the world's largest population of giant tortoises, over 150,000.

Dr. Marty Main

That is true.

Caitlin Robison

We learned that today. That is true. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve is the largest state park in Florida.

Dr. Marty Main

Oh, that's a tough one because it's about 80,000 acres. It's the largest cypress strand in The world. I know that. I'm going to say yes.

Caitlin Robison

He's right! And an extra fun fact. Oregon State's mascot is Barry Beaver.

Dr. Marty Main

It's the Beavers.

Caitlin Robison

Okay. Is it Barry Beaver?

Dr. Marty Main

Barry Beaver. It's Bernie Beaver.

Caitlin Robison

Is your answer false?

Dr. Marty Main

False.

Caitlin Robison

It's Benny. Benny. But it's false. So you're still correct. Good job. Central Michigan University is in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Dr. Marty Main

That is true.

Caitlin Robison

All right. The springboard chop is an event at the Lumberjack World Championships.

Dr. Marty Main

That is true.

Caitlin Robison

Yes, it is. The biggest specimen of an Eastern Tiger salamander recorded was 13 inches long.

Dr. Marty Main

Oh no, I don't, yes, true.

Caitlin Robison

You're doing great. The first generation Mazda MX-5 Miata was produced beginning in 1985.

Dr. Marty Main

Oh gosh, mine's a 1996. I'm gonna say true.

Caitlin Robison

It's false, 1989. A little bit later on. And karate originated in Okinawa, Japan.

Dr. Marty Main

That's true.

Caitlin Robison

That is true. Congratulations, Dr. Main. You did it. Good job. So with that, it's a high note we'll end on. I really appreciate not only taking some time out of your very busy schedule to do this, but also the work you've done to establish one of the best programs that I've ever been a part of, definitely the best program I've ever been a part of. This is different, as you've said a few times. You can feel the passion and the critique and the interest and all of it from you. It stems from you. So thank you. And we'll see where we go the next 25 years, right?

Dr. Marty Main

That's right.

Caitlin Robison

All right.

Dr. Marty Main

Sounds great.

Caitlin Robison

Thank you so much to Dr. Marty Main for joining us and sharing insights about the Florida Master Naturalist program, his history in the field, and some fun facts. Your perspective adds an important voice to the conversations we're having about environmental education, the role of community, and where the Florida Master Naturalist Program will go from here, and how science connects to our everyday lives. And thank you for listening to Streaming Science, Boundless Science. I'm Caitlin Robison, and we're grateful you spent part of your day with us. In today's episode, we explored why Marty made the decisions and with whom he made the decisions behind the way the FMNP is structured. We have a deep dive into the stories behind recording the FMP videos. We hear some highlight reels from Dr. Main's time in the field, and we raise larger questions about the role of environmental education and conservation. We learned that Dr. Main has always been a naturalist at heart and that his years of broad and deep field experience have informed the FMMP. We also learned that he majored in rugby. As you go about the rest of your day, we invite you to reflect on your role in our shared environment and how you may mobilize towards conservation in your daily life. Maybe that starts with taking an FMMP course this year. They're statewide and year round, so jump into any that feel right. And consider how science influences the environments and communities you're part of. To learn more about our topic, see our show notes and stay connected with us on social media Visit streamingscience.com to explore additional episodes from the Boundless Science series. Thanks again for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.