CHRIS MEINDL is a geography professor and the director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus, where he has worked since 2003. A native Floridian, Meindl has spent much time in the state’s public lands, including Ocala National Forest and Juniper Springs. After teaching high school and earning master’s degrees in history from San Diego State University and geography from the University of North Dakota, he returned home to Florida where he met his wife Kathleen and worked on a Ph.D., studying the historical geography of the Everglades. His latest book is Florida Springs: From Geography to Politics and Restoration (University Press of Florida).