Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

STATE INSURANCE CARES-Friends of Lovers Key - A Conservation Success Story

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 15

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Florida's second most visited state park holds a remarkable story of conservation triumph that nearly wasn't. Lovers Key, now a pristine coastal sanctuary, once faced imminent development into a canal-lined McMansion community in the late 1970s. Today, this environmental treasure stands preserved through the tireless efforts of an all-volunteer organization working to protect its unique ecosystems.

Jim Remis, President and Chair of Friends of Lovers Key (FOLK), reveals the inner workings of this citizen support organization that partners directly with state park rangers to maintain and enhance this beloved natural space. While many visitors come solely for the gorgeous beaches, FOLK's mission extends far beyond sand management to comprehensive environmental stewardship. Their work has become especially critical during what Remus describes as "a master class in hurricane recovery" following multiple storms including Hurricane Ian.

The park's remarkable resilience shines through in stories of sea turtle nesting success, with widened beaches providing safer hatching grounds and dedicated volunteers adopting nests. Meanwhile, the Welcome and Discovery Center – built to withstand Category 4 hurricanes – continues operating despite infrastructure challenges. Popular summer camps have returned, introducing a new generation to environmental stewardship across the park's four distinct ecological zones. FOLK's annual gala consistently sells out months in advance, demonstrating the community's passionate support for this conservation success story.

Discover how you can join this vital preservation effort through volunteering, membership, or simply visiting to experience one of Florida's last unspoiled coastal treasures. With no paid staff and complete reliance on community support, Friends of Lovers Key exemplifies grassroots conservation at its finest – ensuring this paradise remains protected for generations to come rather than becoming another development casualty along Florida's coast.

Friends of Lovers Key
Jim Remis -President
8700 Estero Blvd Ft Myers Beach, FL, 33931
contactus@friendsofloverskey.org
friendsofloverskey.org

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to State Insurance USA Cares podcast, where we celebrate the heart of our communities. Each episode, we highlight local charities and nonprofits who are bringing hope, help and healing to those who need it most. Get ready to be inspired by the amazing stories of people making a difference, because together we care.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello, my name is Gail Langner and I am proud to work for State Insurance USA. We also have a foundation called State Insurance Cares and today, because of State Insurance Cares, we have Jim Remis, who is the president and chair of the board of the Friends of Lovers Key, and so, jim, we're so glad to have you on today. I'm pleased to be here. Well, thanks for all you do at Friends of Lovers Key, that's for sure. We know that volunteering is a paycheck of the heart for sure, so we're glad you're here. One of the things that we did with State Insurance Cares is last year we did the Adopt-A-Turtle Nest, and I just have to tell you that we had record numbers. We had over 100 babies. So we were pretty proud parents about that. But now our mama this year she has a lot to hold up to to get that many babies. So we'll see. We're waiting for the hatch. So how are things been going with that? Do you have quite a few sponsors for that?

Speaker 3:

We do, and with the beach being widened so much, you know, there's much more of an opportunity for the turtles to be successful and not have their nests washed away. So that is a great program and the folks who run it four folk are excited about how many people have been participating in this.

Speaker 2:

That's good. Well, once the word gets out, I mean it's. I know we talk about it all the time how excited we are to be turtle parents. For sure I know, though, with the beach being widened, I'm sure that the mamas are really don't have to worry so much about the damage, for sure about the damage for sure.

Speaker 3:

It was interesting how the folks who actually did the widening came back afterwards and did some magic in the sand so that the turtles could actually dig, because once they did it, initially it was too hard, it was too hard.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I wouldn't even think about that.

Speaker 3:

They spent quite a bit of time making the sand available for the turtles oh, that's wonderful. It's a demonstration of what. Making the sand available for the turtles oh, that's wonderful. It's a demonstration of what we're doing here Exactly. It's interesting because the park is the second most visited park in the state. Many people come here solely for the beach, but yet there's so much more. Oh for sure. And you just don't know the fact that there is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there really is. I know that the Friends of Lovers Key is actually and I you know actually, I'll be honest, I had to research it it's actually called a CSO, which is a citizen support organization, right? So you are helping support the state park which is Lovers Key. Tell us a little bit about the kinds of things that you do, jim.

Speaker 3:

So Friends of Lovers Key is a 501c3 charity like every other 501c3. And we sit up of the CSO and we get our authority from the state park service in a contract that we actually have with them, and so we have an integral partnership with the park through the rangers. So there's really three groups. There's Friends of Lovers Key Board, which, by the way, are all volunteers. We have no employees. Then there's the rangers, who are on the state. Most of them are on the state payroll, although there's a lot of creativity and how they get paid, um, but we do not pay them. And then there's the volunteers.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so our mission is really simple it's to protect, preserve and support the park right and, unfortunately, the last three years have been sort of a master class in hurricane recovery, sure, and so one of the things we've been doing actually since Ian is helping the park do a number of things. Most importantly, the state is only reimbursing the park for the things they lost, and the things they lost in many cases were 10, 15, 20 years old. So we did a lot of fundraising to replace equipment and tools and all that other stuff, and it's through that process we recruited volunteers to assist, because the rangers spend most of their time worrying about protecting the park and so forth Right Volunteers, despite quite a bit of their efforts lately doing all kinds of crazy things, from helping maintain equipment to building shelves to raise up the storages and do all kinds of maintenance on our trails and so forth. So, yeah, there's about anything you can think of that our volunteers do. Okay, what about during Ian? What about about anything you can think of that our volunteers?

Speaker 2:

do Okay. What about during Ian? What about the Welcome and Discovery Center? How was that?

Speaker 3:

So you know it was built to withstand a Category 4 hurricane and it did. It was the only building that was not damaged to the point that it had to be, you know, ripped down. But it's also interesting in the fact that we're still running the building, believe it or not, on generators. Really, we don't have power back, not because there's no power back to the park, but we're trying to redo the electrical systems through the state and Florida Power and Light so they don't get washed away again.

Speaker 3:

They would have been tried three times in a row by the three hurricanes, sure, but the building is in perfect shape. The air conditioning works. I was freezing there during a meeting yesterday. The exhibits are open, the public restrooms are there for enjoyment, and it's fine. We had our summer camps this year for kids.

Speaker 2:

I was going to ask you about that. Tell everybody about the summer camps. I was really thrilled to hear that. I was really thrilled to hear that.

Speaker 3:

So it's amazing how many kids in this area, including at the beach, know nothing about the environment or anything Does not surprise me. We go to the beach to swim and that's about it. So our purpose is to try to start the process of creating the next generation of environmentalists, and when I use that term, I don't mean it in the way that, you know, some people look at environmentalists. I'm talking about the fact that our mission is to provide an opportunity for the park to be there forever. And to do that, you know I'm not going to be around forever, ever. And to do that, you know I'm not going to be around forever. So the main purpose of the camps is to introduce the kids to why it's important to understand what we have, to understand the various components of the park. The park is interesting in the fact that it has four different environmental zones, so we introduce them to those and, to the extent that we need to, we actually provide the tuition for them.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's wonderful and that comes obviously from your fundraising efforts. That's correct, right.

Speaker 3:

So it's been very, very good. Unfortunately, we had a great start for Ian and, like everything else, everything's coming back slowly, but I think this year it worked out really, really well. We we just um, we just uh elected a new board member actually yesterday who was going to coordinate our events going forward. Um, and part of our efforts now for the next year is to get back to doing various things in the park to attract locals and others so that we can expose them to what we're trying to accomplish. That's wonderful.

Speaker 2:

Well, I know you have a great board. I mean I know that. I mean I know Kat and Tina and Megan. I mean you know, I know you have a really good and active board. I know one of the things that Kat always talked about was your gala. So I know you probably. I looked it's coming up in February, right, right. So is that your biggest event of the year is your gala? It is, and it sells out right.

Speaker 3:

So two years ago we had the first true gala and it sold out. Yeah, and it's interesting. The logistics of permitting and so forth basically requires that it not be more than about 200 people and it sells out. In fact, I'm concerned that the gala is already sold out.

Speaker 2:

In February. What a horrible problem to have. Let me tell you what, jim. I'm the chair of the board of the Estero Historical Society and I'm thrilled that Future generations are going to learn About Estero history. But to have that be sold out, that's a good problem to have, jim. It is.

Speaker 3:

It's our biggest fundraiser, but it was interesting Because of all of the damage to the beaches, both Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Last year, last February, we didn't have a true gala. We had a waves of appreciation where we invited our donors and our volunteers and the rangers to come at no charge and we had sort of an internal gala where we thanked them for everything they've done.

Speaker 2:

That's really you know, that's really nice, that appreciation piece really. And and you know how hard they worked. I mean, you know how hard you worked. So how, how would you volunteer? If somebody would that's listening today, would want to volunteer, how would they do that?

Speaker 3:

Oh, it's interesting. Every one of us, including our board members, are volunteers that are required to apply to the state and have the state accept us as volunteers. That's interesting Now, unless you're having some really bad problems, you're going to get approved.

Speaker 2:

Bank robber.

Speaker 3:

But what the state wants to know is a couple of things. They want to know what you're going to be doing and they want to make sure you're trained to do it. So we actually have online training that we go through both board and volunteers, and they collect our hours. We record our hours every month because they want to quantify the value that we give to the state. In fact, those numbers just came out and I think, through all the CSOs, it's somewhere in the excess of $5 million.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my gracious.

Speaker 3:

So to apply, you have to apply through the ranger program. The ranger who manages this and his name is Mitch B-e-l-l-o-c-k and he's a ranger at liver's key state park and his email mitchellbellock@ floridadep. gov, okay, and Mitch interviews them. He was interviewing volunteers yesterday and the main effort at that activity is when you meet with Mitch is to make sure you're matched up with what you want to do, with what we need.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's great, that's really great.

Speaker 3:

That's a wonderful program. Yeah, and believe me, there's more things to do in the park than the rangers can do. So we live for our volunteers.

Speaker 2:

Of course, how would you become a member, if you wanted to become a member, of Friends of Lovers Key?

Speaker 3:

So membership is simply a donation to the park at three different levels. A donation to the park at three different levels I believe it's 50 or 80 to be an individual or family member. It's on our one site, the actual application, and there's a life time. You're a life member and one of the values of being a member is, of course, you get all the information on a monthly basis of what we're doing. Like we just opened our bridge, our first major accomplishment, that's great. Mid-island is back out and the pictures in our monthly newsletter that just came out are just wonderful. But the things you get are you get 10 free passes to the park a year. But the things you get are you get 10 free passes to the park a year and you get discounts at the concession stands and the rental stands and those types of things. More importantly, you feel like you're much more a part of what we're doing Because, again, what we're doing is not just maintaining a beach, it's trying to do a whole bunch of other things.

Speaker 2:

Right, that's wonderful.

Speaker 3:

Do you still have as many manatees out there as what you did? Yes and no, I mean, the good news is there were babies this year and you know they'll be back or they are back, I don't know. I actually haven't walked the trails since a couple days ago.

Speaker 2:

That's always such a thrill Really it is. It's walking the trails and being out there and you think you're just so close to the road, but then you're not, and all of a sudden you're in this magical land and that's.

Speaker 3:

Florida. The cleanup crew that was there for two and a half years cleaning up the debris after Ian finished last Wednesday, believe it or not.

Speaker 2:

Did they really?

Speaker 3:

The final thing they did was to grind up all of the vegetation and stuff that they collected and spread it out on the trails and packed it down to make the trails much more know, much more firmer for walking around. Sure, recycling all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

Right, bring it right back. Right, that's wonderful.

Speaker 3:

So one of the things we're trying to do now is do a lot of sustainability projects, looking, you know, for what we can do, going forward to, you know, make things simpler but, more importantly, make it so that the environment is safer.

Speaker 2:

That's great. Well, we're just about to wrap up here, jim, but what is there anything you'd like to get out to the general public that we didn't talk about today, that you really would like to share? Well?

Speaker 3:

I think one of the things that I think is important is how close Lovers Key came to being a McMansion development, which was the canals actually at Lovers Key were dug so that the homes could be put on them and have a water access. How many years ago was that, Jim? That was back in the late 70s and the early 80s. Oh, for heaven's sakes. I would suggest to your viewers that there is a PBS documentary that was done four years ago that follows the history of Lover's Key all the way back to the pirates and the Indians, but all through how it was saved and how the park and folks was created. That video is available on YouTube. If you just search for Friends of Lovers Key or Lovers Key State Park, you'll find that video.

Speaker 2:

I will do that personally.

Speaker 3:

The whole history of how we saved it and what it could have been. I mean, it's one of the few places left in Florida where there's not a whole series of condominiums behind the park, there's just one. It's a lovely place that needs to be protected and that's what you and volunteers and we can do going forward, okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you for all you do, jim on the board and your volunteers and so on. For future generations you will be thanked for that, for being the pioneers in this area. So we do appreciate it. And thanks for being on today, and we're going to be watching for our new mama to see how many babies we get. I've been waiting to hear. So thanks a lot for everything, jim. I appreciate you. Good Thank you. I appreciate what you do.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us on State Insurance USA Cares. We hope today's story uplifted and inspired you. If you'd like to support or learn more about the incredible work happening in your community, visit stateinsuranceusa. com or call 239-567-9992. You can also visit kabowabogimcom or call 239-567-9992. You can also visit CaboWaboJim. com. Until next time, be sure to let your sun shine and keep sharing good and positive vibes wherever the waves take you.