Rachelle Coleman Selser goes to work for nature everyday. A native Floridian whose parents also were born in the area, she inherited her passion from her father, late environmentalist Richard Coleman. Now, she applies her considerable knowledge and enthusiasm to preserving our natural environment as natural resources coordinator for the city of Winter Haven. Her greatest passion? In a word, water.
"One of my favorite sayings is, 'It's all connected, we're all connected,' " Selser says. "Water resources truly connect us all. It's good to think of connectivity because many people don't realize that all the lakes in our area, the northern Chain of Lakes, the southern Chain, our independent lakes, all join to form the headwaters of the Peace River. Our lakes, our water quality, the things that we do or don't do in and around our lakes, actually impact not only our lakes but everybody downstream of us throughout the entire Peace River watershed, and eventually Charlotte Harbor and even out into the Gulf of Mexico."
If you've been to a lakes cleanup, a Florida-friendly landscaping workshop or just about any environmental meeting or city function, you've probably seen Selser, who is involved in several community efforts in addition to her work for the city. Her strawberry-blond curls, trademark sunglasses and winning smile are hard to miss. Johnna Martinez, executive director of the nonprofit organization Lakes Education Action Drive (LEAD), says Selser is an asset to the work of LEAD, and as a fellow board member, she's always there to help.
"She's great to bounce ideas off of, and she's had some wonderful ideas and helped design and create some of our projects," Martinez says. "She's a hands-on, active member. She's at many of our events, behind our table or there next to us behind the city table. She's very passionate about water quality, and extremely enthusiastic about the environment."
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Rachelle Coleman Selser has a true passion for the environment, a passion she says she inherited from her father, the late environmentalist Richard Coleman.
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Selser started on her career path at Polk Community College (now Polk State College). She then earned a degree in environmental resource management and resource planning from the University of West Florida, and a master's degree in public administration from Troy State. Every day, she says, she applies much of what she learned.
"I use a lot of what I learned when I got my bachelor's degree in my day-to-day activities," Selser says. "The taxonomy classes and ecology classes come into play every day. For instance, today I have to turn in an annual report to the Florida Communities Trust, which provided funding for the South Lake Howard Nature Park. To complete this report, I had to go out and inventory the types of plants and trees and wildlife I see, and the percentage of canopy coverage."
Selser began working with the city of Winter Haven in Parks and Recreation and worked in that department for five years. While she worked primarily with after-school recreational programs, Selser still saw opportunity to share her love for nature. She started an educational program in December 2000 for children that she calls "mini envirocamps," where children learned about the butterfly life cycle, the Chain of Lakes, native plants, water conservation and other environmental topics.
Now she works for the city's Natural Resources Division, formerly Lakes Management. Her main duties there are educational outreach, grant writing, and monitoring requirements and information. She and Natural Resources Division Director Mike Britt, the only employees in their division, perform a number of duties.
Together, they work with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the state Department of Environmental Protection, as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Their main concern is protecting water quality by implementing stormwater runoff treatment projects, and by educating residents about their role in water quality.
Britt, who is an engineer and complement to Selser's environmental expertise, says she's perfect for the job.
"Natural resource work has been Rachelle's passion for a long time, so this position is a nice fit for her," Britt says. "Passion is a great word for her; she certainly brings a passionate commitment to her work here, and just about everything she involved with. Much of what she does is education and outreach, and she has so much enthusiasm. For example, she was instrumental in starting UPKEEP (Upper Peace Kayak Environmental Education Program). She wrote the grants and acquired 12 kayaks for the city. Since then, we've taken hundreds, if not thousands, of people out on the lakes and Peace River. She helps people experience the lakes first-hand."
Technical aspects of her work also demonstrate her knowledge, Britt says.
"She does a lot of inspection work of things like stormwater ponds and new construction for erosion control. All these affect our environment. She also knows a lot about plant species and landscape design, and is working on a grant for the new Lake Hartridge Nature Park to create an educational facility and demonstration landscaping."
A typical day for Selser, he says, is a busy one, and Selser agrees.
"In addition to serving the public," she says, "I'm working with the various divisions and departments of the city of Winter Haven in order to ensure that we are compliant with any environmental permits or any issues that might arise regarding stormwater runoff, erosion, sedimentation at construction sites and wildlife impact."
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Rachelle Selser, left, city of Winter Haven Natural Resources Division program director, and Mike Britt Natural Resources Division division director, paddle kyaks in the pond at South Lake Howard Nature Park in early January of this year as part of a new program by the city. The program, called Upper Peace Kayak Environmental Education Program or UPKEEP, is a way for residents to try out kayaks and claen trash from area lakes.
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With a wide area of expertise and a number of hats to wear, it's not surprising that Selser thinks of herself as an "information and referral service a lot of the time." She answers phone calls about drainage, boat launches, canals and water quality, as well as permits for shorelines and lakefronts.
"I don't issue the permits, but I can show people what a permit looks like," she says. "I can help them complete a permit, or I can direct them to the agency that actually monitors the permits and that will issue the permit so they can get assistance that way. I can tell them why it's important to have a permit and why shoreline vegetation is important."
She even gets calls about injured wildlife, and although she usually can refer that issue to someone else, she often goes out and helps transport injured wildlife to a wildlife rehabilitator.
"That's kind of exciting when you do that!" Selser says. "You never really think when you're coming to work in the morning that you're going to go out and rescue an injured osprey baby which happens to be 2 feet tall. You don the safety glasses and the big welding gloves and the blanket and just go for it, and do the best that you can, and hope that the animal benefits from your efforts at the end of the day."
Selser works daily to communicate her passion about water and our interconnected natural environment to residents and, with eight boats at home, spends a good portion of her spare time having fun on the lakes and in the Gulf of Mexico. She wants residents to know that individuals really do make an big impact on the water we all enjoy, even when they don't realize it.
"What you do, at your house and outside of your home, has impact on your neighbors and on the wildlife and on the water quality that immediately surrounds your area," she says. "And if you look at a big picture, of how our lakes are all connected, and the water resources are connected throughout the entire watershed, and ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico, down around the tip of Florida, the Florida Bay and out into the Gulf stream, our water resources are truly connected, globally."
