Gulf winds blow through canopy roads all the way to Thomasville.

native names written on the land echo through the red clay hills.

Where the scent of longleaf Florida Pine reach up on past that Georgia line.

Stroll through Tallahassee or southern Apalachee bound, take the local routes and journey down the roads we call our home.

Take the local routes and journey down the roads we call our home.

Welcome to Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith with WFSU Public Media.

And today, we have a fun update on a story we first brought you in 2017 Back then WFSU's Mike Plummer introduced us to a woman who was building a retirement home for elephants in South Georgia.

Well, fast forward to today and those pachyderms have now arrived.

So Mike headed out there to meet them.

But first, let's go back to the beginning and meet Carol Buckley and see what it takes to build a refuge for elephants.

So this cutting machine is here to clear the undergrowth around these trees that has just invaded this wooded area.

It opens it up not only for the trees, but it also creates an environment where grasses can grow.

And so when the elephants come in during the heat of the day, they can seek the shelter from the trees and also be grazing at the same time right along the lake.

That is Carol Buckley.

And you heard her right.

She said elephants as in that big animal with a long trunk elephant.

Carol has been dealing with elephants for more than 40 years.

And she was kind enough to indulge my curiosity and spend a day showing me around what will soon be Elephant Refuge North America.

Well, here at Elephant Refuge North America, we are focusing on Asian; female Asian.

Now, we're not going to be a breeding facility.

We are probably going to receive elephants that are post breeding age anyway.

But we want them to be really comfortable and relaxed.

So we're not going to introduce a male into the habitat.

It wouldn't be normal in a small confined area like this to do that.

So we're just doing female Asians and we're going to limit the number of elephants that we receive according to what's going to be constitute a healthy herd.

A healthy size herd is expected to be between seven and ten of the emancipated pachyderms, which have spent their lives confined in circuses and zoos.

There are four, over 400 elephants that are currently living in America in zoos and circuses, and they deserve to be in an environment which really focuses on their needs, first and foremost.

This is a long lived mammal They live 70 to 80 years.

We want to make sure that they're healthy during that time.

So you give them you start with a vast space.

You enclose it so that it's safe, so that they're not exiting and there isn't anybody coming inside that they have to be concerned about.

That's the first thing.

Then inside of that, you make sure that there is pasture.

There are trees.

There's creeks, there's streams.

There's wallows.

There are ravines where in the winter time, when a bad storm comes through, you don't want the elephants to run back to the barn.

You also don't want to contain them in a barn.

You want them to listen to their natural wisdom.

And what you'll see is when a storm comes through, when us humans are getting these warnings, tornado, tornado, an elephant will go down into a ditch or in a low lying area, and they'll just hang out there until the storm passes over.

And then we'll come back out and they'll continue grazing We're calling this elephant lake because we know the elephants are going to prefer this one is it's really private There's no activity going on.

There's a gentle slope almost all the way around the lake, a gentle slope leading into the water, which we're going to have some, you know, older geriatric elephants.

And so we want them to have access to the water and not have it be a struggle for them.

So we needed to repair the dam and to do that, we needed some dirt.

So it worked out perfectly because I wanted to create Elephant Beach.

And that's that area, that grassy area over there.

We call that Elephant Beach.

And what we did is we took the dirt from that area so we could make a very gentle slope.

So this is interspersed pasture with woods, with a pond, with the creek, and then pastures and woods so that when elephants are migrating, they are continually going through different habitats.

So 850 acres.

Our goal is to fence in the entire 850 acres and give that entire lie to the elephants 850 acres.

When she started talking about fencing for 850 acres.

I had a little trouble getting my head around that scale.

I mean, that is a lot of fence.

The first fence is going up.

So this is the perimeter fence security fence.

The fence that keeps people out shows the boundary of the property.

It's flexible enough that if some wildlife run into it, it gives so, you know, they don't break their neck.

So it really is just a security fence interior to that.

Later, we'll be building the elephant fence, which is different.

That interior, different elephant fence, I am told, will be quite a bit more substantial than this galvanized wire fence.

And Carol assures me that it will be up to the task of elephant containment.

The elephant fence is not going to be as high, elephant fence is seven foot high because you want the top of the fence to be at eye level.

Okay.

All right.

So it doesn't need to be any taller than that.

Well, it's just their perspective.

If they're walking up to it and they see that this this fence is here doesn't need to be any higher, it actually could be lower.

It could be six foot.

But we do seven.

They won't say what's on the other side.

They're well, you know what?

They have no interest in the other side because what's inside is so engaging.

I will defer to Carol's 40 plus years of dealing with elephants and their fences but once they got past the idea of fencing on a large scale, I started to recognize other challenges of scale over generations.

The property for elephant refuge North America has been used for farming, ranching and hunting.

That means a couple or few hundred years of people and their stuff being introduced to the land.

We see a lot of this on this property is they'll just be a pile of debris, metal debris.

So like here we've got some key posts.

That's an old piece of an axle.

This is a part of a hoe.

But all these metal pieces, this is a something I don't know what this is some kind of brace.

Okay.

So all of this stuff, all this debris has to be cleaned up because the elephants can hurt themselves on this.

Imagine an elephant stepping on that.

So this is what we do with volunteer days.

People want to come out.

They want to be a part of you know, they want to be involved.

So you just get, you know, 20 volunteers and we slowly walk along, pick up the dirt, find a pile the stuff, we find it, dig it all up, collect it and get rid of it.

They are a social animal.

Highly social animal, especially the females who live in extended family groups for their entire life in a wild state.

But they're still hardwired for that, even though they're in captivity.

So we want to reproduce.

We want to create an environment that feels natural to them, because if it feels natural, then they are going to be less stressed, more relaxed, meaning they're going to be more healthy.

And that relaxed, healthy environment will also be off limits to the general public.

Elephant Refuge.

North America will be for the elephants, not the people on 850 acres of soon to be elephant sanctuary near edible guest, Georgia for WFSU, I'm Mike Plummer.

so how does Carol's original vision for the refuge mesh with today's reality?

Mike headed out to the Elephant Refuge North America to meet their first residents Bo and Tara Five years ago, we took a short trip to Attapulgus Georgia to see the birth of Elephant Refuge North America.

It was the vision of Carol Buckley to build this place for elephants who had been used in circuses and sideshows to have a place to live and roam like elephants again.

Now after five years and a lot of hard work, the first two elephants have moved in.

Both of these elephants are Asian.

They come from probably different areas Now he is captive born.

We know who his parents are, but we don't know where they came from.

They were wild caught, but he looks very Indian.

And Tara is definitely from Burma.

And you tell by her color, her shape, her eyes.

So they're from different regions, you know, of Southeast Asia.

The elephants are named Bo and Tara.

Bo was the first to arrive.

He's a 35 year old male and is the larger of the two.

So Bo was captive born.

He was bred at a breeding facility in Florida.

And he was born into a group of elephants, which was really good for him because that gives him a good, healthy social situation.

But when he was one year old, he was sold to a private individual who used animals in studio work, TV and movies and things.

And so his life changed drastically at that point.

And after about four years, he had become quite unruly.

He's a little boy, you know.

So he was sold again.

And this time he was sold to George Carden, who had several elephants and lots of elephant experience and actually owned his own circus.

So Bo then once again was back in a social situation that was really healthy for him, and he did well.

Tara is a forty seven year old female.

She came from another elephant refuge in Tennessee and has a long history with Carol.

In Tara's case, coming to Addapugus, was a happy reunion.

But Tara came to us middle of November, and she and I've known each other for 47 years.

So that was, you know, that was like a reunion.

It was great.

And when she got here, it was late at night.

So elephants can see, you know, basically in the dark.

They can see.

So she, she could see what was going on.

And she walked right into the outside corral and started chirping and chattering.

That's fun and happy.

And then I said, Hey, there's another elephant over here.

You should come see this elephant.

And Bo standing along a common fence line with his head over the fence in his trunk, over the fence, saying you know, who is this?

The Tara came over there and she was chattering and talkative.

She went right along the fence line.

He reached over and touched all over her.

They talked back and forth.

That was it.

It was like, Okay, I'm home.

They're really doing well.

They're spending a lot of time together, which I hoped.

Tara's not real sociable with elephants.

She loves dogs and she loves people.

She's not really sure on all of the proper etiquette you know, of interacting with elephants.

But Bo is a gift because Bo is easy.

He's not pushy with her.

And because he grew up with elephants, he learned from his aunties, you know, and his half sisters how you're supposed to act.

So he's real calm around her, which makes her feel safe and comfortable.

So she spends a lot of time with him.

It seems that the two elephants have also developed a friendship with a stray rescue dog named Mala.

She's an energetic hound who makes friends easily.

Elephant Refuge North America is 850 acres divided into two habitat areas.

Tara and Bo are currently on a 100 acre section and can roam within that anywhere they please, whenever they please.

They do have a barn to use, but prefer to stay outside, usually both night and day.

Well, this Elephant Barn took us almost a year to get this built.

It it was a well-thought out design, not only for elephants, but for keeper staff.

So it's three stalls interconnected.

The gates and doors are all operated electrically from the caregiver area so that a caregiver never needs to go inside a stall to open or close.

There are exhaust fans on the on the walls to, you know, change out the air.

It's heated with infrared heat, which is an object heater.

Instead, of a air heating so that when you turn the infrared heater on, the elephant chooses if they want to be warm, what part of their body they want to be warm and how warm they want to be.

And it doesn't circulate through the air.

And the biggest feature in this barn is its sand floor.

So there is no concrete in the bottom of the stalls.

It's four foot deep sand.

And we do that because elephants are so prone to arthritis.

And yes, it's easier to clean if it's concrete, but it's just deadly for elephants.

These are highly evolved animals.

And they in the wild migrate, you know, 50 miles a day through different areas.

They have migratory paths, but they're going to different areas all the time.

They are designed by nature to just go with the flow of something new and different.

So if they've not been frightened about a situation in the past, about a move in the past, they're fine.

They come in, they look around, they see where the doors are, they see where their access is, and they go, okay, that's that's fine.

The reason we're not open to the public is because we're a true sanctuary, which means we are a retirement home.

For elephants, elephants that have been performing and on exhibit their whole life.

They now get to be retired and no longer have to be on exhibit.

So that's the main reason.

And if you look at who benefits from the elephants being on exhibit, it's not the elephants So since we put the elephants first, then we're not open to the public.

It took it took a lot of time, effort, a lot of support.

And now we have two elephants here at Elephant Refuge, North America.

For WFSU Public Media, I'm Mike Plummer.

Next we head out to a place just on the edge of Tallahassee, but it feels much more remote.

WSU ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas takes us to Lower Lake Lafayette Leon County's water quality report for this Lake States.

Although pockets of open water are scattered throughout Lower Lake Lafayette, the lake functions more like a wetland for Tallahassee and looking for a swampy place to kayak closer to home.

Look no further I think many of us are more familiar with Piney Z Lake than Lower Lake Lafayette until the mid 20th century, they were both part of the same larger Lake Lafayette This was one of the first places I took my son Max kayaking when he was four.

It's an easy, scenic lake, but it's also small.

If you want to continue your fun, you can paddle up to the earthen dam that separates the lakes and take your kayak across for something a little more adventurous.

We're here at the peak of the fall wildflower season.

Monarchs are migrating through I'm starting to see migratory birds like this Eastern theme, as well as Year-Round residents.

a lot of the trail is easy going but there are grassy places where it gets tight That sound is me using the paddle to push off of the grass.

If you don't mind the possibility of getting a little lost, we're having to work a little extra once or twice.

This six mile trail might be for you For WFSU, I'm Rob Diaz De Villegas.

For more on Lake Lafayette, Lake Jackson Lake Miccosukee and all of Tallahassee's Lakes, visit WFSU Ecology Blog.

While Rob heads up our ecology blog these days, he's been getting some extra help from a new contributor, Dani Davis.

Here's a little more about her and her focus on the blog.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Dani and I am a master's student at Florida State University, where I am studying the effects of seaweed on Barrier Island plant communities and how the seaweed may be super critical for forming the dunes that protect our coastlines.

But I can tell you about that at another time.

But before I came down to Florida State and before I started my graduate degree, I worked as an outdoor educator and a naturalist at a small nature center where I had the opportunity to work with people of a variety of different ages and backgrounds to bring them science, education, ecology in art through guided hikes through guided art programs, through bird walks, through photography tours, and really uncovered this passion that I have for connecting local human communities with their nearby natural communities.

Since being at Florida State through the last year, I've continued in this by making short eco videos for undergraduates to introduce them to the local ecology and then I've also been working with the National Association of Science Writers by doing a workshop to help improve my science writing skills.

And so with all of that, I am so excited to say that I will be contributing to the WFSU Ecology Blog and hopefully bringing you all some really interesting stories about the plants and animals that live nearby us, bringing you some cutting edge ecology and evolution research going on at Florida State and hopefully showing you some really amazing natural history stories and environmental stories, bringing you environmental news.

And then also just amazing ecology because we do live in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots there is a plethora of plant and animal species out there to bring to the forefront, to bring to light.

So I am so excited to be contributing and hopefully bringing you some really interesting stories about the local ecology.

And so I'm looking forward to that.

And I will see you all hopefully in the field.

Dani has already started posting stories on the blog.

Here's an excerpt from one she's done about counting plants in the St George Island annual census.

These habitats change a lot, and so both seasonally in the spring and fall and winter, there are really different plants growing there, but also just in different years, different species of plants can dominate in different years.

And so we started thinking, what are the, what are the drivers of that?

What causes those patterns?

Is it just the hurricanes?

Is it summer storms?

What is it?

And so we decided to set up some study plants to show that.

So we set up some large grids of stakes that are ten meters apart.

We have 441 of them.

Some of our in the air and some of them are behind the four dams and the wet area where the water goes when the dunes get broken through by storms.

And some of them are in the much older parts of the islands where you have these old or more eroded dunes or much more stable.

So we can capture those three habitats for dunes introduced in dunes.

And again, we have four or 41 states or a third of them in the sort of in the back dune.

And every year we've gone out and quantified the vegetation around those stakes.

And there are a number of reasons to do that.

The one reason I gave was simply that it allows us to kind of start figuring out what causes changes in the vegetation.

But another critical reason for doing it is that we have very little background information particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, about natural ecosystems.

We often go out and study them once, but we don't follow them through time.

And so then when you have things like an oil spill occur or you have a major drought occur, or you have climate change much slower going phenomenon, you don't know what's changing.

You don't know how it's what its effect really is.

So worldwide, we have a massive decline in diversity.

Well, sometimes we don't really know that's going on because we don't have the baseline data for it.

So this Long-Term Survey allows us to get that sort of baseline data as well.

So every year we come out in the fall because that's one of the grasses that are flowering, makes it better to identify.

We bring a big group of mostly grad students.

Some undergraduates come back to FSU and it takes us about three days to survey all these plots.

And then we collect data every year and look for changes in the dunes.

So because I've been coming out here so long, I've actually seen for a while the first one to be Hurricane Opal I think in 1995, which actually destroyed almost all the roads out here and then completely got rid of dunes.

It seems they move where the seashore was in about 100 feet more since then we had Ivan and Dennis in 94 95, which is probably one of the more destructive hurricanes we've had in this area in the last 50 years, in part because it just coincided with tides.

So, so we got about a 16 foot storm surge right now I'm at about wow.

Six feet above sea level probably.

So you can imagine the water is a good ten feet up above still where I am when the hurricane hit.

Well recently we've had Michael was probably the most damaging hurricane we had and that long for doing that runs down the front of I was probably about a third of that was completely wiped out by Michael.

And it's interesting to look at aerial photographs because storms like Michael simply take that for you to just shove it all back like a sand pile in front of you, just shoves it back and spreads it out over a larger area, which is really pretty amazing.

So, for example, right here, this dune used to be more continuous all the way down, but Michael wiped out part of that dude and just shoved that sand all inland was important then as it you did, you have this interaction with the plants.

And so in some areas like this is doing is maybe more stable because plants there had deep roots now pulled it in but more importantly, after you do get dunes destroyed like this, the plants will come in and help start to reform dunes by stopping that blowing sand and creating dunes again.

You can see the full video in her blog post at WFSU.org/Ecology Blog Calling All Girls Interested in science.

WFSU and the Mag Lab is gearing up for the return of an in-person SCI girls camp this summer.

Here's a preview.

I would say Sci Girls is a camp where you get to explore different sciences and do different things with different people.

A lot of times people will say, like, girls should not be doing science or math or things like that.

So it's really important that we introduce young girls and young ladies to science It doesn't seem like your learning, it's more like you're having fun.

It's definitely like a really inspiring experience, you know, you get to see all these people that put 100% to their childhood and have worked really hard for it.

Well, it's full of science and full of amazing, cool stuff.

Sci Girls Summer Camp Applications are now available.

Learn more at WFSU.org/Scigirls Here's what's coming next week to WFSU Public Media's Local Routes, Woah!

join WFSU's Mike Plummer as he takes on a virtual reality roller coaster so the writers are mining astronauts, and they work for this space mining company.

And so their particular spaceship is shuttle number 39.

So that's why the title is called Shuttle 39.

And the Riders, before going into the ride, they have to pick their role where they can be the pilot or the collector.

The pilot controls the rotation of the ship during the ride and points the ship towards the alien artifacts that they're finding along the way.

The collector controls the cannons of the ship to shoot at these artifacts to collect them.

And you have to navigate this asteroid where there's alien life around in the form of vegetation and animals.

And so they're trying to avoid them, avoid hitting them while trying to collect as many of the artifacts as possible.

That's Thursday, April 7th at 8 p.m. on Local Routes.

That's it for this episode of Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith.

You can see these stories and more on our website, WFSU.org/localroutes.

And while you're online, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Plus, sign up for our community calendar newsletter delivered weekly to your email.

It's a great way to stay on top of events happening in-person and in the virtual world.

For everyone at WFSU Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Have a great week, everyone.

Magnolia trees greet The Southern breeze In the land were rivers wind.

Seeds That spring up from the past.

Leave us treasures yet to find.

Where our children play along the land our fathers built with honest hands.

Take a moment.

Now look around the paradise we have found.

Take the local routes and journey down the road.

We call our home