Thanks to Lambda Alpha International’s popular global webinar on Coastal Water Quality that aired on February 17th, the advice and successful experiences of some of the Suncoast’s leading experts and stakeholders working on water quality have now reached a world-wide audience. For those of you who may have missed this important event, we are providing [...]
The Healthy Pond Collaborative is delighted to announce the availability of The Healthy Ponds Guide, a homeowners guide to establishing and maintaining healthy stormwater ponds in Southwest Florida. The Guide was written by members of the University of Florida IFAS Sarasota, Manatee and Polk County Extensions, the Sarasota County Public Works, Environmental Stormwater Utility and [...]
START, as a partner in the Suncoast Urban ReForesters (SURF) along with the Florida Veterans for Common Sense and Sarasota Bay Rotary Club, presided over the successful installation of our fifth Microforest at the Heritage Harbour Community in Manatee County on January 18th. SURF is dedicated to planting Microforests throughout the Suncoast to improve coastal [...]
During the month of January Governor Ron DeSantis announced funding for several environmental initiatives. On January 10th the Governor signed Executive Order 23-06 (Even More Now for Florida’s Environment). Key provisions of the order include directing the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to: Secure $3.5 billion over the next four years for Everglades restoration and [...]
The damaging wind, rain and storm surge from hurricanes Ian and Nicole have created an inordinate amount of stormwater filled with excess nutrients that have poured into our coastal waters. This has been a contributing factor to the early arrival of red tide in spots all along the Suncoast. In addition, the costly repairs of [...]
The strong popular response to the growing number of microforest projects in communities from Parrish to Venice continues to present more opportunities for the replacement of inefficient turf grass with high-performance microforests to help improve the quality of our local waterways. Microforests absorb much more stormwater and filter more excess nutrients than turf grass. In [...]
START is helping to coordinate the planting of a 1.5-acre microforest at Colony Cove, a community of manufactured homes on the north shore of the Manatee River, just across from the Ellenton Outlet Mall. This will be the third microforest planted by Suncoast Urban Reforesters (SURF), which is a consortium that includes Florida Veterans for [...]
