Use the state and county maps for the following activities:
- Locate important waterways such as major rivers and bays that are used by manatees. Label them on the map.
 Identify manatee refuges in Florida (see the Public Awareness page for a listing of sanctuaries).
- Designate between winter and summer ranges by coloring or shading with green for summer and blue for winter.
- Use the map to plan a trip. Pretend you are a manatee and decide where you are going and why - to escape cold? to find better food? to visit your cousin? How many miles will you travel? Depending on when you leave, write a story entitled "My Summer (or Winter) Vacation as a Manatee."
- Establish a class manatee sighting and mapping program where all manatee sightings are plotted on a county map with color coded push pins for different months or keyed to different months or keyed to different types of manatee information such as numbers or manatees included in the sighting, approximate age, size, etc.
- Find the latitude and longitude of several manatee refuge areas in Florida. On a world map locate latitude and longitude for related species (see Other Sirenian Species page) in different parts of the world. How do they compare?
- Find Florida's major wetland areas (e.g. Kissimmee River / Lake Okeechobee / Everglades ecosystem / Ste. John's River headwaters, etc.) Have students collect newspaper articles dealing with these water systems. What are the issues affecting these wetlands?
- Locate the five water management districts in Florida and their boundaries (see More Manatee Information page). What are some of the rivers and wetlands protected by these programs? Are any of them important manatee areas? Designate them on the map.
- Have students pick a particular part of the state where water is an important issue - perhaps your own county. Have them research the water issues in your area. Write to water management districts, local governments, chambers of commerce, newspapers, etc. to obtain information. Have they experienced any droughts in recent years? Floods? Forest fires? Discuss these issues in a report to the class. What influences do water issues have on wildlife in the area?
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