From the Senior Times

By Amanda Williamson -

Jim Weimer's office is 21,000 acres. While that may seem like a lot, it is not much considering he shares it with a multitude of reptiles, birds and mammals. Paynes Prairie stretches across Micanopy, its vast and watery fingers covering the terrain and mingling with humanity.

"We are between the human landscape and the natural landscape," Weimer said, admiring the wetland in front of him. The water would soon flow into the Alachua Sink, and eventually into the Floridan aquifer.

As the only park biologist on the preserve, Weimer tries to manage the reality of the converging ecosystems. The effects of humans are easy to see. Even from the middle of the prairie, the Gainesville skyline is visible and the sounds of 441 are a distant, but evident, roar.

Weimer started working at the prairie in 1985, after moving from Indiana with his wife, Susan. In 2003, he won the Resource Manager of the Year, the state's highest environmental honor, for the work he has contributed to the prairie throughout his years.

Weimer feels that it is soon time to retire. He will be leaving the park April 30, 2012.

"Am I going to miss it? Of course," Weimer said. "It occupies a big piece of my imagination. You spend a lot of time thinking about it. That will all, of course, now be empty."

Park Manager David Jowers feels that Weimer has been an integral part in most of the projects, especially the Ecopassage and the Sweetwater Branch project.

"We are going to miss him tremendously," Jowers said. "He's just a huge part of the Paynes Prairie Preserve."

The Ecopassage is a wall barrier along the two-mile stretch of 441, with culverts built underneath at varying lengths. It is designed to reduce animal deaths on the highway.

Weimer works four, 10-hour days during the week, driving an hour every day to and from his house in Alachua. He holds a degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from Purdue University, but he feels like the job he does on the Prairie is not an academic one.

"Nobody's education prepares you to do this work," Weimer said. Weimer believes it takes five years to become fully proficient in managing the prairie.

It takes a lot of skills, he said. His one job requires him to be knowledgeable in various areas: hydrology, prescribed fires, and wildlife identification, especially since the understanding of natural systems is constantly changing.

"A lot of what we do involves a fair amount of art," he said.

Across the prairie, a wide range of species contributes to the ecosystem. To comprehend the landscape, he said one must understand how the wildlife and the environment interact.

Jowers agreed. "It's a huge place, very diverse, and it takes a long time to get a sense for it."

Years ago, Weimer drove past the two-mile strip of prairie on 441. Before he had even relocated to Florida or gained his job as a park biologist, Weimer was moved by the stretch of preserve. He had to pull over.

"I just had to look at the place, and I think I was smitten then," he said. "I just don't think I've ever gotten over it."

Weimer has been all over the eastern United States. After the grant ran out for his work at Indiana University, he took a year and a half break from the career world to ride his bicycle with his wife. It was then that he first visited the prairie and fell in love.

"I was always a child of the outdoors," Weimer said.

As a child, he recalled constantly being in the water splishing and splashing -- much to his mother's chagrin, he said.

According to the Florida State Park Website, Paynes Prairie became Florida's first state preserve in 1971. Even though the Gainesville skyline is visible from the prairie, the land almost seems like a hidden gem tucked into the countryside.

"It's so big it's almost hidden," Weimer said. "We love it. We think it's just the coolest thing in the world," he said.

The prairie is definitely a diverse place. It has been inhabited by people for 12,000 years, and has gone through a variety of changes. In 1871, rains flooded the prairie and created a lake that allowed steam-powered boats to transport goods. It is even home to scrub cattle that were brought over by the early Spanish explorers.

Paynes Prairie has always been Weimer's focus. The human world creates problems for the prairie, such as pollution and animal fatalities. According to the U.S. Geological Survey website, close to 10,000 cars travel the U.S. 441 Paynes Prairie expanse. Prior to the Ecopassage, many animals fell prey to motor vehicle traffic.

Because of such hazards, there are a many different projects that must be accomplished. Since starting, Weimer has been a part of the Ecopassage construction, the removal of dikes and canals, the extermination of the Pine Beetle outbreak, and the Sweetwater Branch Project.

"If there's anything typical about our day, it is that we don't have a typical day," he said. One day, he could be filling out paperwork. The next, he could be bouncing along roads older than the park in search of cultural landmarks hidden in the prairie, such as dip vats used by the cattle ranchers to kill ticks on the cows.

The problems that originate in downtown Gainesville seem to be the most damaging to the park. Nitrogen-rich water is flowing from Main Street Wastewater Reclamation Facility through Sweetwater Branch and into the Alachua Sink that connects directly into the Floridan aquifer.

Weimer is working with Gainesville employees to help remove the nitrogen and phosphorus from the water, and to restore it to its natural sheet flow, instead of diverted it into canals.

"Anything that has to do with water is big," Weimer said, looking out at the tannin-stained water dotted with American lilies and hyacinth from across the rest stop along La Chua trail. "When you stand there and look at the water in Alachua Sink, you know that somebody somewhere is going to get a chance to drink that water."

Around 2003, Weimer was involved in the largest hydrological project ever attempted at the prairie. His team helped remove five miles of canals and dikes within the preserve to restore the sheet flow in that area as well, attempting to bring the open wetland back to its natural state.

The prairie is natural Florida, and the projects Weimer has been involved in are all focused on restoring that environment.

"Sometimes I call it Florida BC - or before condominiums," he joked. But, in all seriousness, his job at the prairie allows people to see the landscape as it was before humans came along and built high-rises, roads and parking lots.

Paynes Prairie
100 Savannah Boulevard
Micanopy, Florida 32667
352-466-3397

The park is open from 8:00 am until sundown, 365 days a year.

Admission:
$6.00 per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle.
$4.00 Single Occupant Vehicle.
$2.00 Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

Picnic Pavilion
$30 plus tax - Picnic pavilion seats 65 people.

Camping Fee:
$18.00 per night, plus tax. Includes water and electricity. Florida residents who are 65 years of age or older or who hold a social security disability award certificate or a 100 percent disability award certificate from the Federal Government are permitted to receive a 50 percent discount on current base campsite fees. Proof of eligibility.

Group Camping:
$4.00 per person, plus tax (minimum of $20.00 per night).

From the Senior Times