Ground breaking ceremony
The ground breaking ceremony was held on April 22, and construction of our new Discovery Center and Aquarium is scheduled to begin in May.
Donna Dietrich
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Mangrove Boardwalk Re Opens
We are happy to announce that this stunning boardwalk trail through one of nature’s marvels – mangroves, all 1,537 feet of it, is now open and ready to explore.
After many months of reconstruction, involving 100 foot cranes, 2 built on site work barges, many truckloads of building materials, and a dedicated work crew, it is now complete.
“Mangroves are one of the largest and most important ecosystems we protect and now visitors can experience them up close in a whole new way”, said Park Manager Shane Zigler. “I’m excited about the interpretive opportunities this boardwalk will bring and the simple joy of walking it throughout the year. It’s another way we can connect people to resource based recreation while showcasing the natural beauty and ecological importance of these mangroves”, he continued.
The Mangrove boardwalk was a pet project of John Pennekamp Jr., son of our namesake. Three of his adult children were on hand to dedicate the opening in early December.
Aquarium Additions
Keith Young, RocknReefs VP of corporate projects, has fond memories of the Keys from childhood dives at the reef, and Coast Guard duty in Key West later in life. So, when he and business partner Jared Richter decided to “give back” and donate some of their products to a park. Pennekamp was their choice. RocknReefs had crafts custom aquarium inserts for nature centers, public aquariums and private installations.
Meanwhile, Pennekamp Aquarist Siarra Means was brainstorming how to add some micro habitats for the smaller fish in the aquarium. RocknReefs stepped up and donated some pieces.
Early one June morning. Young arrived with s inserts – a coral display, a lobster trap, and some sea grass. He purposely added the tall sea grass because: “movement in an aquarium is important.”
To the delight of visitors on hand when the installation began, a ranger above the tank lowered the pieces by rope, one by one, to Ranger Nathan Hayes snorkeling below. Nathan positioned the coral piece and mounded sand around the base to make it seem that it has grown there. He positioned the sea grass so it would sway in the current and placed the lobster trap as a point of interest in another area.
Thanks to RocknReefs the Pennekamp aquarium has some beautiful new enhancements, the smaller fish have new homes, and a successful corporate-park partnership has begun.
Workboat is Launched and Working
At long last the new C Hawk 25 workboat is in the water, and on the job. A pet project for our organization, it took a year for Friends to raise the money, and many months to have it built. Once it was launched, the buoy team of Pennekamp rangers wasted no time in putting it right to its intended task.
Many thanks go out to the Batchelor Foundation, the Fleming Family Foundation, the Filburn Grant, the Ocean Reef Conservation Association, the Sea Turtle Foundation, and individual donors for granting us the funds to purchase the much needed workboat for the park.
John Pennekamp and Dagny Johnson get a new Manager
Shane Zigler is no stranger to the Florida Keys. Years ago, he worked here as a dive instructor and boat captain, but the open seas were calling.
That led to a career in Ocean Exploration, which took him around the world for months at a time. When his daughter was born, he started to feel that all the travel made him miss out on her development. So, a land-based career was decided.
He started working for the park service in 2019 at Bill Boggs State Park just weeks before COVID shut it down, but he stayed on, alone, to monitor turtle nesting.
Shane wanted to oversee his own park and soon took the job of Manager at Ft. Lauderdale’ s Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. He admitted during the interview for that job that he would most love to run John Pennekamp.
Now he has the park job of his dreams! Shane hopes to reinvigorate Pennekamp, bring in more excitement and charm. He also wants to work with the concessionaire to bring back dive classes and help make Pennekamp THE stop for diving in the Keys. A partnership with Mote Marine to put in a coral nursery is also in talks.
Shane Zigler is ready to oversee a “massive facelift” of Pennekamp over the next 3 years – new Visitors Center, restrooms and concessions will start construction in the coming year.
“Big, positive changes will bring new life” to the parks, he said, and he is up for the challenge.