Florida / Southeast US Wetland Plant Identification Training

Wetland / Upland Boundary Plants

Students will learn to identify the dominant plants in common habitat types in the Gulf Coastal Plain, which covers most of Florida and the southern half of Alabama, Mississippi, Lousiana and Georgia. Emphasis will be on wetland/non-wetland interface plants that commonly occur in a variety of wetland types in the Tampa Bay region. Students will learn general plant identification principles for flowering and non-flowering plants based on simple diagnostic field characteristics. This field-based class will enable students to distinguish between species with similar characteristics. Each student will be provided with a notebook and Florida field guide.

This course will be taught by two local wetland botanists:

Christina M. Uranowski, MS Botany
Ms. Uranowski has over 14 years experience working in Florida’s wetlands that includes wetland regulation, wetland delineation, functional assessment, wetland plant identification, and plant physiology. She has worked as a researcher, consultant, and trainer for academia, private industry, and government agencies. Much of Ms. Uranowski’s research is published in several peer reviewed scientific journals. She was principal investigator and first author of a national document on Florida riverine wetland modeling published by the Army Engineers Waterways Experiment Station. Ms. Uranowski was certified during the Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Certification Program demonstration phase and passed the written and field portions of the certification examinations.

Diane Willis, MS Botany
Ms. Willis has 19 years experience in conducting threatened and endangered plant surveys, wetland jurisdictional delineations, and environmental permitting for private consulting firms in Florida, and 7 years experience conducting workshops on tree, fern, sedge and grass identification in conjunction with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Florida Native Plant Society. Ms. Willis was certified during the Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Certification Program demonstration phase and passed the written and field portions of the certification examinations.

Logistics

This course is two days long. Courses start at 8:00 am and end at 5:00 pm daily, with an hour-long lunch and (2) 15-minute breaks. The instructor will be available from 7:30 - 8:00 am daily for questions.
You will be confirmed within 2 days of registering by telephone, email, or fax.
Your cancelled check or credit card statement is generally accepted by the IRS; however, we give you a receipt at the end of a course. if you need a receipt from RCET before the course, please let us know and we will mail, email, or fax you a receipt before the course.
Your workbook will be provided on the first day of class. You only need to bring pens, although they are often provided by the hotel.
Lunch is on your own; on field trip days, we will stop at a mutually-agreeable location for a sit-down lunch.
Dress appropriately for the weather. For hot weather, we recommend full skin covering (i.e., long sleeves and long pants), and leather Gore-Tex® or rubber mid-calf (preferably white) boots. Snake chaps or snake boots are generally not necessary. All persons should carry drinking water and a snack, and, if appropriate, sunscreen and / or insect repellant.
The instructor will have a cellular telephone for emergencies.
If you are allergic or may be allergic to bee or wasp stings or ant bites, contact your physician and the instructor before the field trip.

Now, a note from out legal counsel: Because of the field nature of this course, there are hazards that we cannot foresee (including, but not limited to, slips; trips; and falls, sharp objects, uneven terrain, venomous snakes, bees; wasps; and ants, cold and heat stress, lyme disease, chiggers, large dangerous mammals, large reptiles, alligators, & poison ivy).

That said, the field trip portion of this course carries no more health and safety risk than what the typical wetland scientist would expect in a day's assignment! And after 400+ field trips, we have never experienced anything more severe than athlete's feet!