PRESERVING PARADISE Next event in ‘Emerging from Hurricane Ian’ series set

In collaboration with the city of Sanibel, SanCap Citizens for a Resilient Future will host “Lessons

Learned: Emergency Response” on May 22 from 6 to 8 p m at BIG ARTS on Sanibel and livestream it on the city's Facebook page. It is the third event in the community series “Emerging from Hurricane Ian: Stronger & More Resilient ”

The program will feature professionals who led t h e S a n i b e l - C a p t i v a a n d L e e C o u n t y e m e r g e n c y response to Hurricane Ian With the 2023 storm season approaching, they will shed light on the key lessons learned from the September hurricane The program hosts are Sanibel-Captiva Renewable Energy Working Group Co-chair Bob Moore and SanibelCaptiva Conservation Foundation Coastal Resilience Manager Dr Carrie Schuman Sanibel City Manager Dana Souza is the panel moderator.

The panel members include:

∫ Lee County Public Safety Director Benjamin Abes

∫ Sanibel Fire and Rescue District Fire Chief

Kevin Barbot

∫ S a n i b e l P o l i c e D e p a r t m e n t P o l i c e C h i e f

William Dalton

∫ F I S H of Sanibel-Captiva Executive Director

Maria Espinoza

∫ Sanibel Public Works Deputy Director Scott

Krawczuk

∫ Lee County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Sawicki

Attendees will gain insight into the planning and response approaches that were effective in addressing the impacts of the storm, as well as the key learnings that will inform future planning for hurricane response management The panelists will also share the lessons they would like community members to take forward as part of their personal planning for future storms

In addition, the program hosts will provide an update on SanCap Citizens for a Resilient Future They will discuss next steps for community involvement, report back on the results of the community survey taken during the first event in March, gather additional community feedback, and preview the mission and goals of the group going forward

SanCap Citizens for a Resilient Future is an alliance of community organizations and citizens

The goal of the group is to help the community as it r e b u i l d s f r o m I a n a n d t o e x p l o r e l o n g e r - t e r m r e s i l i e n c e m e a s u r e s f o r f u t u r e s t o r m s a n d o t h e r impacts, like sea level rise In addition to community events, it is working on developing workshops, materials, and other resources on a variety of topics related to resilient rebuilding and planning. Additional community participation is invited

Members include the America's Boating Club of Sanibel-Captiva, Captiva Community Panel, Captiva Erosion Prevention District, Children's Education

C e n t e r o f t h e I s l a n d s , c i t y , C l i n i c f o r t h e

Rehabilitation of Wildlife, Committee of the Islands, “ D i n g ” D a r l i n g W i l d l i f e S o c i e t y - F r i e n d s o f t h e

R e f u g e , F I S H , L e e C o u n t y C l i m a t e R

Research seeks to transform HAB management

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported its Marine Lab is leading the field campaign for a water sampling effort that is informing a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence transformer model to better manage t h e w a t e r f l o w f r o m L a k e O k e e c h o b e e t o t h e Caloosahatchee Sample analyses are incorporated into model simulations to help identify the drivers of harmful algal blooms, or HABs, and set targets for needed water quality improvements

The SCCF is collaborating with the University of Florida's Center for Coastal Solutions and other UF researchers to guide water managers in delivering freshwater, while minimizing the negative impacts of nutrient loads from horticultural activities

A distinguishing feature of the model is its ability to pay attention to the most relevant information it has been trained to work with In the project, the team trains the model to learn from years of archived data to forecast variables, such as streamflow, salinity and nitrate concentration

As co-principal investigator, Marine Lab Director Dr Eric Milbrandt is utilizing methods for earlier HAB detection through the River, Estuary and Coastal Observing Network's continuous water quality monitoring stations and a comprehensive, targeted sampling program critical tools in a region where water quality monitoring has largely occurred as a reaction to bloom events

“The modeling used to better predict harmful algal blooms is supported and validated by a field campaign to sample water from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico,” Milbrandt, who leads the sampling effort, said “We collect water quality data and water samples that are delivered to University of Florida researchers Drs Elise Morrison and Ed Phlips Other water samples are run at the SCCF Marine Lab ”

The model learns to read current conditions in the water and a region’s weather forecast, then accurately makes predictions up to 14 days for the area being studied Transformers models’ capacity to extract information from large datasets has led to better performance, compared to previous methods of hydrological modeling, and can model a wider range of variables

Project team members Morrison, an assistant professor at the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, and Phlips, a professor at the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatic Sciences in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, are developing novel water quality sampling methods to identify the specific nutrient sources fueling HABs, their origin and their impact on phytoplankton algae communities

Milbrandt stressed the importance of a concentrated scientific focus on the ecosystem.

“We live and work on a barrier island with limited local expertise, so this project is exciting because of the depth and breadth of new tools and knowledge that will be brought to the region to help tackle water quality declines,” he said. “HABs are causing many negative effects, from fish kills, to large hypoxic (low-oxygen) zones, to blue-green algae blooms that clog up our waterways, all of which negatively affect our tourism-based economy ”

The SCCF reported that the next step is to apply the transformer model in real-time, with data from weather forecasting agencies to automate predictions on a day-today basis

This work is part of a project to integrate lake, watershed and estuarine models to guide water management in mitigating the impact of HABs The project is a partnership between UF, the University of South Florida, North Carolina State University and SCCF, with funding support from the U S Army Corps of Engineers

T h e s t u d y i s a m u l t i - p r o n g e d a p p r o a c h b y U F researchers and their collaborators on a phenomenon that h a s p l a g u e d c o a s t a l e c o s y s t e m s , p a r t i c u l a r l y i n Southwest Florida, with greater frequency

A study conducted by UF and published in 2020 showed that over a 16-year period, there were 28 times when a Florida county experienced a month with 15 or more days of red tide presence All of them occurred in one of six counties Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee or Collier which comprises 200 miles of coastline in Southwest Florida

Center for Coastal Solutions Associate Director Dr David Kaplan and a team of center-affiliated scientists and engineers from UF, the University of South Florida, North Carolina State University and SCCF received $2 3 million from the Army Corps in 2021 to study how water and nutrients flowing from Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River watershed interact with tides, currents and waves at the coast to affect coastal water quality The financial support extends through September 2024

Monitors needed for Beach Bucket Stations

Coastal Watch reported that Beach Bucket Stations will be installed at various access points on Sanibel, and volunteers are needed to help maintain the stations and report any issues Volunteers will check for damaged or missing buckets; report any issues with the stations, such as broken hooks and scales; make sure trash has been removed from buckets; and rinse b u c k e t s , i f n e e d e d T o s i g n u p , v i s i t https://docs google com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJURyjWkcH

Coastal Watch is part of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation family.

COASTAL WATCH

Oyster Recycling Program preparing to star t

Coastal Watch thanked Advisory Committee Members Bob Brooks, Pete Squibb, Carl Smigiel and Dick Bourdow for helping to assemble the oyst e r b i n a t t h e S a n i b e l - C a p t i v a C o n s e r v a t i o n Foundation's headquarters at 3333 Sanibel-Captiva Road, Sanibel It is where volunteers for its Oyster Recycling Program will drop off their collected oyster shells when the program begins Part of the SCCF family, Coastal Watch is still seeking volunteers for the program, which recycles shells from local restaurants back into local waters to build oyster reefs Volunteers pick up five-gallon buckets of oysters from the restaurants and transport them to SCCF's headquarters. They must use their own vehicle and be able to lift 20-25 pounds To sign up, visit https://docs google com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSejaNv cc-gdPKIvhj0DFmuhjCpudILAlX9KVsRlPz0fklN l g/viewform

COASTAL WATCH