Coastal Water Quality: Challenges, Solutions, and Economic Impact

Global Initiatives Committee

Event details:

Start
1:00pm EST on Friday, February 17, 2023
End
2:30pm EST on Friday, February 17, 2023
Schedule

This event qualifies for APA Certification Maintenance Credits. 

Location:
Watch the Recording on LAI TV
Click the link above to watch the recording.
,
Prices

Advanced registration required to join the FREE webinar.

Attendees
This event is open to All LAI members globally and non-members.

Second program in our series
about water and land economics around the globe.

Coastal Water Quality: Challenges, Solutions, and Economic Impact

LAI At-Large Members from Florida’s Central Gulf Coast share on global-coastal-water challenges along with the economic impact to the local and regional communities. With a well-orchestrated plan, via the Water Playbook, community organizations execute programs designed to prevent water contamination from land use and to cleanse contaminates in the water. The Sarasota Bay Report Card documents achievements and remaining challenging scenarios. Teamwork is required for success with funding support provided by local, state, and federal governments as well as the community (foundations and taxpayers.) Learn how Sarasota’s successful plan serves as a template for replication.

Dave Tomasko

Dave Tomasko, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) Executive Director - the SBEP operates as a consortium of local stakeholders with the shared goal of protecting and/or restoring the ecological health of Sarasota Bay for current and future generations. Dave is a highly respected water-quality expert.

 

 

Jon Thaxton

Gulf Coast Community Foundation SVP for Community Investment, announced the publication of the Community Playbook for Healthy Waterways, a comprehensive online manual of recommended activities to reduce and remove manmade nutrient pollution in the region’s waterways and sustain those improvements in the future. While the Playbook focuses on Sarasota County, the proposed activities can be adapted, transferred, and customized to other coastal communities. Jon chaired the Playbook initiative.
 

Christine Johnson

Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast President – among the Conservation Foundation’s many water-quality-focused initiatives are Rewilding the Quads, returning a 33-acre tract of land adjacent to Sarasota County watershed area to its original wetlands, and the Bobby Jones Golf Course, via a conservation easement, restoring the historic 300-acres golf course within the City of Sarasota limits to a natural habitat available for public access; waterways within the golf course are connected to the same watershed district as the Quads.
 

Sandy Gilbert

Sandy Gilbert, START Chair (Solutions to Avoid Red Tide) – the Healthy Ponds Collaborative, spearheaded by Sandy and funded by the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, is a three-year initiative to enhance water quality in Sarasota County. The Collaborative includes UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County, START, the Sarasota County Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) Program, and the Science and Environment Council of Southwest Florida. The 09-30-21 KeyNotes Post, Solutions to Avoid Red Tide (START) Launches Regional Healthy Ponds Collaborative, announces the Collaborative’s impressive $250K grant.