PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The coronavirus has forced county parks to close, but that isn't stopping wildlife officials from staying active and managing public lands.
Officials with the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Protection have launched a video series aimed at educating the public and providing a look at what's going on in county parks while they're closed.
The series is called Natural Areas Now.
"We all are trying to get into this new normal, and so the thought with these videos is really just to provide a little bit of a story where people can see some of the beauty that still is going on around us," Benji Studt said.
Studt is the public outreach supervisor for the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Protection.
"We're trying to tell stories that are interesting to us and hopefully are interesting to some other folks and hopefully they teach something along the way," he said.
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So far, he and his team have posted videos on bird releases and rare plant species such as ground orchids, which he said only bloom one month out of the year.
"It's a beautiful flower and it occurs in this specific zone around wetlands," Studt added.
Studt said plans are also in the works to team up with area school districts and provide virtual field trips for students.
"Getting kids on field trips is kind of difficult when we don't have a place, but what we can do now is go live from the middle of the swamp and talk to these kids virtually, so we're going to try to pick that up next week as well," Studt said.
The video series will be posted two to three times a week on the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Protection Facebook page.