START is pleased to introduce the following guest article by Charles Reith, President, Florida House Board of Directors and Science Advisor, Southface Institute, about the exciting new Microforest project at Nathan Benderson Park. Following the great public interest in the Microforest that was planted at the Celery Fields last October by the Sarasota Urban ReForesters, [...]
For 36 years scientists have monitored the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone or hypoxic zone, which forms every spring. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists are forecasting this summer’s hypoxic area or “dead zone” — an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life — [...]
After a month of monitoring since the Cover Story in our May edition, experts from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science declared at a press conference on May 24th that the release of nutrient-laden wastewater from the Piney Point stack has largely dispersed. Their research shows that the concentration of nutrients in [...]
START is pleased to report the story of Rivendell, an environmentally responsible community, that has embarked on a comprehensive pond maintenance program to help reduce the erosion of their pond’s banks and to decrease the release of excess nutrients into the waterways downstream. Rivendell was established in the late 1990s in Osprey with 498 homes [...]
For 35 years scientists have monitored the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone or hypoxic zone, which forms every spring. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists are forecasting this summer’s hypoxic area or “dead zone” to be approximately 6,700 square miles, larger than the long-term average measured size of 5,387 square miles [...]
Following the impressive success of the biochar material shown above in a pilot test of filtering out 73% of the nitrogen and 87% of the phosphorus in reclaimed water at Lakewood Ranch, START is announcing a plan to bring this effective process to Sarasota’s developing Bay Park to help reduce the nutrients in stormwater from [...]
With the growing concern about the high level of excess nutrients in our waterways, START is launching the Neighborhood Nutrient Watch (NNW) Program. The initial effort was inaugurated on Saturday, November 2nd via a partnership with Sarasota County’s Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) and the initiative of the Las Palmas neighborhood. Looking to help restore [...]
