Professional Development for HCRC Staff

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Tom had the opportunity to help with not only turtles, but also iguanas and crocodiles. 

Thomas Pop, Manager of the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center, visited the Cayo District for one week in September to receive training at the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic (BWRC).

BWRC offers free training for governmental and non-governmental partners in wildlife conservation issues, rescue and rehabilitation, wildlife husbandry, emergency response and more. Depending on needs they include some clinical applications as well as basic laboratory methods (with a special focus on parasitology, and fecal analysis which is so often needed in any captive or rescued wildlife species.)

The emphasis of Tom’s training was on microscopy and parasitology

While at the BWRC, Tom was exposed to veterinary techniques that will prove very useful for his work with Hicatee turtles. Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand described Tom as “an enthusiastic learner, with an interest in parasites!”

We are grateful to Dr. Isabelle and her team at the BWRC for hosting Tom and look forward to future opportunities and exchanges. We are also grateful to our partner, the Turtle Survival Alliance, for subsidizing travel costs.

Celebrating Belize’s National Treasure – the Hicatee Turtle

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This October, BFREE, Turtle Survival Alliance, and our partners are observing the second annual Hicatee Awareness Month. Throughout the month, activities and events will celebrate the beloved Central American River Turtle – locally known as the Hicatee. This year’s message encourages national pride of this rare and unique species by seeking to establish the Hicatee as the national reptile of Belize.

As stated in the Belize 2016-2020 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), “Belize harbors a total of 118 globally threatened species (9 critically endangered, 32 endangered and 77 Vulnerable) and a further 62 near threatened / of least concern (IUCN, 2016). Of these, the critically endangered Central American river turtle (“hicatee”) is considered at highest risk of local extinction.”  

The Hicatee’s main predator is man. In effect, this turtle is being eaten to extinction across its limited range. Although it is believed that the Hicatee still exists in very small populations in northern Guatemala and southern Mexico, its stronghold is in Belize. Therefore, the future of the species depends on the actions of those who live in and visit Belize.

As the country’s national reptile, the Hicatee’s public status would be elevated and the stage would be set for national pride of this rare and unique species. Just as the Tapir and Toucan are revered and protected due to their status as the national animal and national bird, the Hicatee would be revered and protected if recognized as the national reptile.

To help prepare teachers for October, BFREE distributed educational packets to 100 preschools and primary schools in Cayo and Belize Districts. These are areas in which Hicatee have historically been found. Packets included classroom resources like activity pages and fact sheets about the Hicatee and other valuable and endangered wildlife found in Belize. “Herbert the Hickatee,” a book written by Ms. Gianni Martinez, a teacher at St. Mary’s School in Belize City, is featured in the packets. Also included is a national competition for students to design the 2019 Hicatee Awareness Month poster.

Camya Robinson, Research Assistant, and Jaren Serano, BFREE Science & Education Fellow and Author of “I am a Hicatee Hero,” posing with hatchlings 

On October 1st, BFREE emailed packets to principals of every school with a valid email address (540+) in Belize. These packet materials are available online for download at https://www.bfreebz.org. Special additions to the online packet include a poem for kids “I am a Hicatee Hero,” by Mr. Jaren Serano, alumnus of Sacred Heart Junior College in Cayo, and the 1 ½ minute video trailer for “Hope for Belize’s Hicatee: Central American River Turtle,” created by wildlife filmmakers, Richard and Carol Foster, of Belmopan.

With the second Hicatee Awareness Month, we are encouraging our Belizean and global partners to unite to help save this species from extinction. By making this our national reptile, future generations and leaders will recognize the important cultural and historic value of the Hicatee turtle – Belize’s National Treasure.

The hicatee is disappearing, but together we can save it.

 

Celebrating Belize’s National Treasure – the Hicatee Turtle

/0 Comments/in , , /by

This October, BFREE, Turtle Survival Alliance, and our partners are observing the second annual Hicatee Awareness Month. Throughout the month, activities and events will celebrate the beloved Central American River Turtle – locally known as the Hicatee. This year’s message encourages national pride of this rare and unique species by seeking to establish the Hicatee as the national reptile of Belize.

As stated in the Belize 2016-2020 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), “Belize harbors a total of 118 globally threatened species (9 critically endangered, 32 endangered and 77 Vulnerable) and a further 62 near threatened / of least concern (IUCN, 2016). Of these, the critically endangered Central American river turtle (“hicatee”) is considered at highest risk of local extinction.”  

The Hicatee’s main predator is man. In effect, this turtle is being eaten to extinction across its limited range. Although it is believed that the Hicatee still exists in very small populations in northern Guatemala and southern Mexico, its stronghold is in Belize. Therefore, the future of the species depends on the actions of those who live in and visit Belize.

As the country’s national reptile, the Hicatee’s public status would be elevated and the stage would be set for national pride of this rare and unique species. Just as the Tapir and Toucan are revered and protected due to their status as the national animal and national bird, the Hicatee would be revered and protected if recognized as the national reptile.

To help prepare teachers for October, BFREE distributed educational packets to 100 preschools and primary schools in Cayo and Belize Districts. These are areas in which Hicatee have historically been found. Packets included classroom resources like activity pages and fact sheets about the Hicatee and other valuable and endangered wildlife found in Belize. “Herbert the Hickatee,” a book written by Ms. Gianni Martinez, a teacher at St. Mary’s School in Belize City, is featured in the packets. Also included is a national competition for students to design the 2019 Hicatee Awareness Month poster.

Camya Robinson, Research Assistant, and Jaren Serano, BFREE Science & Education Fellow and Author of “I am a Hicatee Hero,” posing with hatchlings 

On October 1st, BFREE emailed packets to principals of every school with a valid email address (540+) in Belize. These packet materials are available online for download at https://www.bfreebz.org. Special additions to the online packet include a poem for kids “I am a Hicatee Hero,” by Mr. Jaren Serano, alumnus of Sacred Heart Junior College in Cayo, and the 1 ½ minute video trailer for “Hope for Belize’s Hicatee: Central American River Turtle,” created by wildlife filmmakers, Richard and Carol Foster, of Belmopan.

With the second Hicatee Awareness Month, we are encouraging our Belizean and global partners to unite to help save this species from extinction. By making this our national reptile, future generations and leaders will recognize the important cultural and historic value of the Hicatee turtle – Belize’s National Treasure.

The hicatee is disappearing, but together we can save it.

Professional Development for HCRC Staff

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Tom had the opportunity to help with not only turtles, but also iguanas and crocodiles. 

Thomas Pop, Manager of the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center, visited the Cayo District for one week in September to receive training at the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic (BWRC).

BWRC offers free training for governmental and non-governmental partners in wildlife conservation issues, rescue and rehabilitation, wildlife husbandry, emergency response and more. Depending on needs they include some clinical applications as well as basic laboratory methods (with a special focus on parasitology, and fecal analysis which is so often needed in any captive or rescued wildlife species.)

The emphasis of Tom’s training was on microscopy and parasitology

While at the BWRC, Tom was exposed to veterinary techniques that will prove very useful for his work with Hicatee turtles. Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand described Tom as “an enthusiastic learner, with an interest in parasites!”

We are grateful to Dr. Isabelle and her team at the BWRC for hosting Tom and look forward to future opportunities and exchanges. We are also grateful to our partner, the Turtle Survival Alliance, for subsidizing travel costs.

Hicatee Health Check

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This year’s first Hicatee health check  took place on April 4th and 5th at the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center (HCRC).

The HCRC, a joint effort between BFREE and the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), is a captive-breeding facility for the critically endangered Central American River Turtle (more commonly known as Hicatee). Captive-breeding offers the potential to produce offspring for release and repatriation into areas that have experienced widespread declines or extirpation. Additionally, specimens maintained in captivity provide valuable opportunities for studying aspects of the species’ reproductive biology, diet and behavior that would otherwise be difficult to observe or study in the field.

The April health checks assessed the nearly 100 hicatee turtles in captivity at the HCRC.  First, hatchlings 9 months to 2 years old followed by the 45 adults from each of the two ponds were weighed, measured (plastrons, carapace, tail, and nails), checked for overall physical conditions, and reproductive evaluations were performed.

The team consisted of Dewey Maddox, Veterinary nurse, and Emily Fyfe, Senior Herpetology Keeper, from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Robert Mendyk, Curator of Herpetology at the Audubon Zoo, Dr. Isabel Paquet-Durand, founder and director of the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic, Dr. Raymond Carthy, Nichole Bishop and Dr. Sean Sharp from the University of Florida, Vanessa Kilburn from Toucan Ridge Ecology & Education Society, and Jacob Marlin, Heather Barrett, Tom Pop, Jaren Serano and Tyler Sanville of BFREE, as well as volunteers Will Jones and Tybren Vialdores and Aimee Mitchell.

BFREE aims to complete bi-annual health checks on the turtles housed at the HCRC to help further inform and influence conservation strategies and actions. The next health check is scheduled for September 2018.

Currently, Dermatemys mawii is classified as Critically Endangered (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the near future) by the International Union for Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), listed as endangered under the provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Special note for our friends in the US: If you find yourself near The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, be sure to visit the Emerald Valley Aviary where you can see three hicatee, the only place in the US where this rare and unusual turtle is on exhibit.

 

Soaring with Solar

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After 23 years of BFREE being an off-the-grid solar powered field station, nothing has changed, except now we have a centralized 7.5 kw state of the art solar system which is 7 -10 times more productive and has energy storage capacity more than 20 times what was on-site before. The system also has a backup autofunctioning natural gas generator for times when the sun just isn’t shining.

The system was designed by Rick Groves of Clean Energy Events based in Wilmington, N.C., USA, and Jacob Marlin. Additional design and technical assistance was provided by Wes Gubitz, as well as Marco Valle of Pro Solar Engineering based in Belmopan, Belize.

The installation took place during the first week of March. Pro Solar staff installed the photovoltaic panels, batteries, inverters, and controllers as well as the backup generator while Jacob Marlin, Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr, plus all the staff of BFREE  laid wire and set up breaker boxes at various locations around BFREE. Of course, there were weeks of prep work in advance with BFREE staff digging trenches and pouring cement footings for the installation of panels, a cinder block and cement generator house, and a power house that houses all of the electrical components (the brains of the system).

During the week of installation, everyone around the field station stepped up to help. Even students from Lees-McRae College pitched in during their field course when it was time to pull wire across the garden. After the installation, Pro Solar Engineer, Marco Valle, returned to BFREE to offer an afternoon training session on renewable energy and maintenance of the system for staff. 

In the coming months, power will continue to reach additional buildings around the field station and all visitors will begin to benefit from this important and timely upgrade. This includes more lighting, fans, charging stations, and a multitude of other improvements to the infrastructure of the field station.

BFREE wishes to express much gratitude to Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr for their hard work, and positive attitude to ensure the installation went perfectly! The Pro Solar team was extremely professional and skilled. The resulting system has surpassed our expectations and we are thrilled by the immediate and obvious benefits to all station users. 

Special thanks to Dr. James Rotenberg and students in his Fall 2016 Environmental Studies class at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. They created an initial design for the solar system as part of their semester long project on sustainability.

Soaring with Solar

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After 23 years of BFREE being an off-the-grid solar powered field station, nothing has changed, except now we have a centralized 7.5 kw state of the art solar system which is 7 -10 times more productive and has energy storage capacity more than 20 times what was on-site before. The system also has a backup autofunctioning natural gas generator for times when the sun just isn’t shining.

The system was designed by Rick Groves of Clean Energy Events based in Wilmington, N.C., USA, and Jacob Marlin. Additional design and technical assistance was provided by Wes Gubitz, as well as Marco Valle of Pro Solar Engineering based in Belmopan, Belize.

The installation took place during the first week of March. Pro Solar staff installed the photovoltaic panels, batteries, inverters, and controllers as well as the backup generator while Jacob Marlin, Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr, plus all the staff of BFREE  laid wire and set up breaker boxes at various locations around BFREE. Of course, there were weeks of prep work in advance with BFREE staff digging trenches and pouring cement footings for the installation of panels, a cinder block and cement generator house, and a power house that houses all of the electrical components (the brains of the system).

During the week of installation, everyone around the field station stepped up to help. Even students from Lees-McRae College pitched in during their field course when it was time to pull wire across the garden. After the installation, Pro Solar Engineer, Marco Valle, returned to BFREE to offer an afternoon training session on renewable energy and maintenance of the system for staff. 

In the coming months, power will continue to reach additional buildings around the field station and all visitors will begin to benefit from this important and timely upgrade. This includes more lighting, fans, charging stations, and a multitude of other improvements to the infrastructure of the field station.

BFREE wishes to express much gratitude to Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr for their hard work, and positive attitude to ensure the installation went perfectly! The Pro Solar team was extremely professional and skilled. The resulting system has surpassed our expectations and we are thrilled by the immediate and obvious benefits to all station users. 

Special thanks to Dr. James Rotenberg and students in his Fall 2016 Environmental Studies class at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. They created an initial design for the solar system as part of their semester long project on sustainability.

Hicatee Health Check

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This year’s first Hicatee health check  took place on April 4th and 5th at the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center (HCRC).

The HCRC, a joint effort between BFREE and the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), is a captive-breeding facility for the critically endangered Central American River Turtle (more commonly known as Hicatee). Captive-breeding offers the potential to produce offspring for release and repatriation into areas that have experienced widespread declines or extirpation. Additionally, specimens maintained in captivity provide valuable opportunities for studying aspects of the species’ reproductive biology, diet and behavior that would otherwise be difficult to observe or study in the field.

The April health checks assessed the nearly 100 hicatee turtles in captivity at the HCRC.  First, hatchlings 9 months to 2 years old followed by the 45 adults from each of the two ponds were weighed, measured (plastrons, carapace, tail, and nails), checked for overall physical conditions, and reproductive evaluations were performed.

The team consisted of Dewey Maddox, Veterinary nurse, and Emily Fyfe, Senior Herpetology Keeper, from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Robert Mendyk, Curator of Herpetology at the Audubon Zoo, Dr. Isabel Paquet-Durand, founder and director of the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic, Dr. Raymond Carthy, Nichole Bishop and Dr. Sean Sharp from the University of Florida, Vanessa Kilburn from Toucan Ridge Ecology & Education Society, and Jacob Marlin, Heather Barrett, Tom Pop, Jaren Serano and Tyler Sanville of BFREE, as well as volunteers Will Jones and Tybren Vialdores and Aimee Mitchell.

BFREE aims to complete bi-annual health checks on the turtles housed at the HCRC to help further inform and influence conservation strategies and actions. The next health check is scheduled for September 2018.

Currently, Dermatemys mawii is classified as Critically Endangered (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the near future) by the International Union for Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), listed as endangered under the provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Special note for our friends in the US: If you find yourself near The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, be sure to visit the Emerald Valley Aviary where you can see three hicatee, the only place in the US where this rare and unusual turtle is on exhibit.

Instagram Takeover featuring Justin Brown

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@BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover: Sharing Real Experiences from the People & Wildlife at BFREE

The BFREE Biological Research Station and privately protected area in southern Belize host numerous student study abroad courses, volunteers, researchers and scientist from around the world each year. Our remote location in the rainforest means our visitors must unplug from their devices and aren’t able to instantly share their experiences with the rest of the world. We are excited to announce the launch of  @BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover: Sharing Real Experiences from the People & Wildlife at BFREE. Now our visitors are given a chance to share their stories and photos once they have returned home and bring us along as they reminisce on the good, bad and beautiful! 

Learn about the real experiences, obstacles and adventures had by these visitors through the stories and photos they share directly to our account. Like their photos, ask them questions, follow along! 

 

@BFREEBZ INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER FEATURING JUSTIN BROWN! 

 

Our first participant is Justin Brown from Williamsburg, Kentucky. Justin recently visited Belize on a field course through the biology department at the University of the Cumberlands where he is currently a student. His group spent a week at BFREE where they study rodent populations in the shade-grown cacao agroforest. 

We asked Justin a few questions so we could all get to know him a bit better. Check out what he had to say about his time in Belize below and be sure to follow along on Instagram at @BFREEBZ beginning tomorrow to catch all of his photos until Friday! 

 

  • What was your favorite part about the trip and why?

I honestly don’t know if I could pick a favorite part. I really did enjoy myself quite a bit. I absolutely love nature and wildlife, and I think the amazing diversity of plant and animal life that I saw was just spectacular. Walking through the forest and suddenly hearing a howler monkey, or seeing tapir tracks, or catching a beautiful bird fluttering across your path is one of the things that makes BFREE, for lack of a better word, magical. Another thing I really enjoyed, and I think is overlooked, was “unplugging.” The fact that there was no way I was going to get service or Wi-Fi no matter where I went, was actually kind of relaxing. I wasn’t constantly checking my phone, the news, or my bank account, and I swear my blood pressure was the lowest it’s been in years!

  • What did you learn while you were there and how do you hope to further use that knowledge?

I learned plenty about ecology, conservation, and the difficulty faced by those who are trying to conserve our rainforests and biodiversity. It’s made me want to be a much more active participant in fighting for our natural habitats rather than just an armchair activist. I also learned a lot about the rewards of hard work and persistence. There were many a morning that I didn’t want to get out of bed and start hiking and checking rodent traps, but I did and I never regretted it. I was always rewarded by a novel animal sighting or a beautiful moment like the sunrise hitting the canopy. It was always worth it to keep going.

  • What was your favorite animal?

That’s a really tough question. I think I liked all of them. Hearing the howlers was amazing, and seeing a blue-capped motmot with its tail that looks like something out of Harry Potter was quite awesome too. If I had to pick though, I would have to go with the boat-billed heron. It was like looking at a creature that Dr. Seuss dreamt up; they were something else. They look like a bird with a sunflower seed for a beak, coal for eyes, and like they wear a toupee. Not to mention, the sound they make is kind of comical as well. They were just fun creatures to watch.

  • What was your favorite plant or tree?

Same here. The plants were just beautiful and very much bountiful. I think it would be between the gumbo-limbo tree and the heliconia flowers (or lobster-claws). The gumbo-limbo tree sheds its bark, and it honestly looks like thin, red paper. But I think the heliconia would be my favorite. Besides being beautiful, hanging flowers, it’s a favorite of hummingbirds. So not only do you get to look at a gorgeous set of flowers, if you wait by long enough, you can also watch some hummingbirds.

  • Do you plan on going back?

Oh goodness, if they would have given me some clean clothes, I probably would have stayed another week. I definitely want to go back. I also feel that I would be better prepared with what I know to expect now. I want to go back as soon as I can.

Thanks, Justin! We can’t wait to learn even more about you and your time at BFREE during your @BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover from February 13-16, 2018! 

Want to be our next Instagram Takeover participant, learn more below: 

How it works: Starting on #TakeoverTuesday a selected participant will gain full access to the @BFREEBZ Instagram account. They will share for the rest of the week personal stories along with the photos they took while in Belize. Like their photos, ask them questions, and learn about the people and wildlife that make our special place in the rainforest so unique. 

Want to participate: It’s easy! If you have traveled to BFREE and would like to share with our community your experiences through the photos you took, then send us an email and we will add you to the schedule! Email: contact@bfreebz.org

Instagram Takeover featuring Justin Brown

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@BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover: Sharing Real Experiences from the People & Wildlife at BFREE

The BFREE Biological Research Station and privately protected area in southern Belize host numerous student study abroad courses, volunteers, researchers and scientist from around the world each year. Our remote location in the rainforest means our visitors must unplug from their devices and aren’t able to instantly share their experiences with the rest of the world. We are excited to announce the launch of  @BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover: Sharing Real Experiences from the People & Wildlife at BFREE. Now our visitors are given a chance to share their stories and photos once they have returned home and bring us along as they reminisce on the good, bad and beautiful! 

Learn about the real experiences, obstacles and adventures had by these visitors through the stories and photos they share directly to our account. Like their photos, ask them questions, follow along! 

@BFREEBZ INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER FEATURING JUSTIN BROWN! 

Our first participant is Justin Brown from Williamsburg, Kentucky. Justin recently visited Belize on a field course through the biology department at the University of the Cumberlands where he is currently a student. His group spent a week at BFREE where they study rodent populations in the shade-grown cacao agroforest. 

We asked Justin a few questions so we could all get to know him a bit better. Check out what he had to say about his time in Belize below and be sure to follow along on Instagram at @BFREEBZ beginning tomorrow to catch all of his photos until Friday! 

  • What was your favorite part about the trip and why?

I honestly don’t know if I could pick a favorite part. I really did enjoy myself quite a bit. I absolutely love nature and wildlife, and I think the amazing diversity of plant and animal life that I saw was just spectacular. Walking through the forest and suddenly hearing a howler monkey, or seeing tapir tracks, or catching a beautiful bird fluttering across your path is one of the things that makes BFREE, for lack of a better word, magical. Another thing I really enjoyed, and I think is overlooked, was “unplugging.” The fact that there was no way I was going to get service or Wi-Fi no matter where I went, was actually kind of relaxing. I wasn’t constantly checking my phone, the news, or my bank account, and I swear my blood pressure was the lowest it’s been in years!

  • What did you learn while you were there and how do you hope to further use that knowledge?

I learned plenty about ecology, conservation, and the difficulty faced by those who are trying to conserve our rainforests and biodiversity. It’s made me want to be a much more active participant in fighting for our natural habitats rather than just an armchair activist. I also learned a lot about the rewards of hard work and persistence. There were many a morning that I didn’t want to get out of bed and start hiking and checking rodent traps, but I did and I never regretted it. I was always rewarded by a novel animal sighting or a beautiful moment like the sunrise hitting the canopy. It was always worth it to keep going.

  • What was your favorite animal?

That’s a really tough question. I think I liked all of them. Hearing the howlers was amazing, and seeing a blue-capped motmot with its tail that looks like something out of Harry Potter was quite awesome too. If I had to pick though, I would have to go with the boat-billed heron. It was like looking at a creature that Dr. Seuss dreamt up; they were something else. They look like a bird with a sunflower seed for a beak, coal for eyes, and like they wear a toupee. Not to mention, the sound they make is kind of comical as well. They were just fun creatures to watch.

  • What was your favorite plant or tree?

Same here. The plants were just beautiful and very much bountiful. I think it would be between the gumbo-limbo tree and the heliconia flowers (or lobster-claws). The gumbo-limbo tree sheds its bark, and it honestly looks like thin, red paper. But I think the heliconia would be my favorite. Besides being beautiful, hanging flowers, it’s a favorite of hummingbirds. So not only do you get to look at a gorgeous set of flowers, if you wait by long enough, you can also watch some hummingbirds.

  • Do you plan on going back?

Oh goodness, if they would have given me some clean clothes, I probably would have stayed another week. I definitely want to go back. I also feel that I would be better prepared with what I know to expect now. I want to go back as soon as I can.

Thanks, Justin! We can’t wait to learn even more about you and your time at BFREE during your @BFREEBZ Instagram Takeover from February 13-16, 2018! 

Want to be our next Instagram Takeover participant, learn more below: 

How it works: Starting on #TakeoverTuesday a selected participant will gain full access to the @BFREEBZ Instagram account. They will share for the rest of the week personal stories along with the photos they took while in Belize. Like their photos, ask them questions, and learn about the people and wildlife that make our special place in the rainforest so unique. 

Want to participate: It’s easy! If you have traveled to BFREE and would like to share with our community your experiences through the photos you took, then send us an email and we will add you to the schedule! Email: contact@bfreebz.org