by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
Recently, the Santiva Chronicle put out a call for nominations to highlight the wonderful people we have in our community who make it a better place to live. We received several nominations and are beginning this feature with beloved island character Ranger Toni Westland of the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
Toni Westland is known as the cheerleader for the benefit of wildlife protection and educating islanders and visitors to become stewards for conservation. As her nominator Chelle Walton said, “Toni is a spark-plug who appears throughout the community to spread the mission of J.N. ‘Ding’ Darling National Wildlife Refuge.”
Westland, originally from Wisconsin, started work at the Refuge 22 years ago as an Education Ranger. She teaches children outdoors in a non-formal setting rather than in the classroom. Nevertheless, she taught for eight years in that capacity, reaching hundreds of students.
When the job of Supervisory Refuge Ranger opened up, Westland said it was an easy fit and an easy transition. She now oversees everything from the rangers to signage to the media and even to complaints. And she still teaches. “I told my bosses I will always take time to stay connected to the resources and the kids,” Westland said. The day we talked, she was preparing to read at Colonial Elementary off-island as part of the Read Across America program. After that, she was going to be bicycling with the 7th and 8th graders from the Sanibel School.
“This is what feeds my soul,” Westland exclaimed.
Currently, Westland is very excited about the Refuge’s new mobile visitor center on wheels, a project she designed that was three years in the making and due to make its debut April 1. “I get to do the fun things,” she said, which is why she’s not interested in becoming a manager at the Refuge. If you don’t keep teaching, you can lose touch with the community, Westland explained. As far as a leadership role? “God bless my leadership, but that is not me. You have to make choices. I have been able to stay here, and that’s really important to me.”
Westland said the Refuge is in some ways America’s best kept secret. “People think we’re a national park before they realize we’re federal lands devoted to wildlife,” Westland explained. “We’re everyone’s tax dollars at work. People come to the island because it’s beautiful, for the shells, we get it. But then they get sunburned and stumble on this place for something else to do. Our Visitor Education Center is glorious.”
People from all over the world visit the Refuge, and Westland is a vivacious and energetic ambassador to all. She stressed that the Refuge is for the benefit of the American people and beyond. “People traveling here see how important it is,” she said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship with mutual benefits. We benefit the community, and the community benefits us. It all works together.”
Westland always knew she wanted to be a park ranger but didn’t always know she had a gift for public speaking. “I remember taking speech class, I was so scared. I took it in the summer which was good, because it was a smaller setting. I realized at that moment, standing in front of people, that they were listening to me, really listening.” Westland explained she was a forestry major and climbing trees at the time. But when she took that public speaking class, she knew teaching and communicating was what she wanted to do.
The Refuge is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ian and is still showing a video about Hurricane’s Ian effects, similar to what was shown after Hurricane Charley in 2004. “I can’t wait for the day we don’t have to show it anymore,” Westland said. “But it’s good that people want to know about it.”
Westland said while she loves her job, her goal in her remaining years at the Refuge is to prepare the rangers who are coming up and to set the place up for success. As for what comes next for Westland, she is an artist working with “wearable art.” Fashion is not an environmentally sensitive industry, and Westland said everything she works with has to be repurposed. “Nothing in nature goes to waste,” she said. She takes a piece of clothing or fabric someone gives to her and embellishes it or repurposes it to turn something that maybe wasn’t being worn anymore into a new and unique item. Westland has put her talents to use for the benefit of local charities including the J.N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society, Community Housing & Resources, and more. In fact, she has donated pieces to every nonprofit auction this year.
As her nominator Walton put it, “Toni is the face of the Refuge and its sought-after media representative and has appeared on countless broadcast segments, documentaries, and podcasts locally and worldwide. She is a true island asset.”
Westland has two daughters, both at Cypress Lake High School; Audrina, a freshman age 14; and Sophia, who is 16.
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