Senior volunteers were sad, angry over COVID restrictions at Lox Refuge. Then this happened


Pedestrians enjoy cool sunny weather while strolling along a perimeter levee at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

Pedestrians enjoy cool sunny weather while strolling along a perimeter levee at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge opened its visitor center on Dec. 3 for the first time since March 2020 but without a key component of its operation.

Senior volunteers 65 years of age and older were barred from working the center’s front desk and from leading outdoor tours because they are considered in a high-risk category for contracting COVID 19.

The decision sent shockwaves through a volunteering community 100-members strong who are overwhelmingly 65-plus. Feelings were bruised, expectations dashed, and it raised the ire of a former Friends of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge board member who questioned if it was a form of age discrimination.

Unruly birds: Bird migration has started with chattering starlings thanks to Shakespeare fan

Amazing discovery in Palm Beach County: Giant manta ray babies and a study that could save a threatened species

Elinor Williams, who does not speak for the not-for-profit Friends organization, said it’s hard to overestimate how much seniors can bring to such volunteering efforts, but also, how much those volunteering jobs mean to seniors.

“They have been waiting a very long time to come back, and were excited to hear of the reopening, only to be told, basically, that they’re too old,” said Williams, 67. “We’ve put our lives on hold now for going on two years and for some, this is their life. Some would say it’s what’s kept them alive.”

Cyclists ride along a perimeter levee at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

Cyclists ride along a perimeter levee at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

It also turned out to be a temporary prohibition.

Updated protocol did not mention ban on 65+ volunteers

By Wednesday, the refuge sent an updated reopening protocol that did not mention a ban on 65-plus volunteers, a likely sign that managers were responding to the tumult that began in November when volunteers first learned of the 65-plus ban. A Wednesday email said “our safety office has updated their Job Hazard Analysis for Tours and Visitor Center operations.”

“This allows us to bring back all of our volunteers both Refuge and Friends,” wrote refuge Project Leader Rolf Olson, referring to volunteers who work for the refuge and those who work for the not-for-profit Friends group.

For now, the visitor center is open Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 20 people allowed inside at a time.

How quickly visitor center days and tours expand depends on “what the virus is doing” and how well visitors follow rules, Olson in a November email to Williams. Olson said he wanted to open the refuge in a “cautious and deliberate manner.”

In case you missed it: FWC cracks down on smugglers as Florida turtles sell for up to $10,000 in Asia

Related: Florida struggles to relocate gopher tortoises amid rampant development

“While I’m happy this unjustifiable and unsustainable policy has been changed, I’m still angry that it hurt and angered so many good volunteers, to the point of resignation or almost-resignation,” Williams said.

She sent an email blitz after learning of the initial declaration, including to the Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates and the National Wildlife Refuge Association opposing the 65-plus rule.

Sherry McCay, co-founder of Volunteers of the Palm Beaches, said she’s only come across one other volunteering job that has put COVID-related restrictions on people, but she understands why organizations would do it to protect themselves and their volunteers.

She also knows how attached senior volunteers can get to their jobs.

“They really do look forward to this and it really means a lot to them,” McCay said. “The seniors tend to get more out of it and in general feel good about it.”

Messages left for refuge managers were referred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Individual wildlife refuges have some leeway in making rules about reopening, but the Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement that appropriate safety procedures must be followed including “preventing potential exposures for employees and volunteers who meet the CDC guideline criteria for high risk.”

Visitors watch an alligator at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

Visitors watch an alligator at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach Saturday November 27, 2021. The refuge is 143,954 acres of northern Everglades wetlands including wet prairies, sawgrass ridges, sloughs, tree islands, cattail communities, and a 400 acre cypress swamp.

The Centers for Disease Control says more than 81% of COVID-19 deaths are people over age 65. The number of deaths among people 65 and older is 80 times higher than the number of deaths among people aged 18-29. People 85 and older are the most likely to get very sick.

Williams, who is vaccinated and received a booster shot, said there’s been no mention about allowing vaccinated volunteers to return.

And: Why a 3-footed fawn named Lily is running around at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

‘Like a thumbs-up from Mother Nature’: Why four nesting shorebirds had Palm Beach County officials jumping for joy

Saltwater invasion: Can $460 million plan restore Loxahatchee River?

The most recent data from the Florida Health Department released Friday shows 89% of people statewide who are 65 years old or older are vaccinated. New positivity rates for those age 65 or older are 1.8% compared to a high of 3.2% in adolescents and teens 12 to 19 years old.

In Palm Beach County, 72% of people age 5 and up are vaccinated.

That includes 99-year-old Harvey Eisen, who said he began volunteering at the refuge in 1993 and was still going in on Fridays to manage the gift shop before the pandemic.

“I love the refuge and I love the fact that I can contribute and teach people when they come off the street what it’s all about and what the Everglades are about,” said Eisen, who managed a necktie factory in Long Island City, N.Y. before moving permanently to Florida in 1989. “I’m terribly disappointed about how this was handled.”

Eisen said he wasn’t contacted about the store reopening but has decided not to go back to the refuge. That doesn’t mean his volunteering days are over.

“I think I’m going to try Gumbo Limbo (Nature Center),” he said.

Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers weather, climate and the environment and has a certificate in Weather Forecasting from Penn State. Contact Kim at kmiller@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Loxahatchee refuge cancels COVID-related age restrictions on volunteers

Source