Tampa Bay’s Aquatic Preserves Get New ‘Friends’ By Nano Riley
TERRY FORTNER
Dignitaries and environmentalists gathered at Millennium Park on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay to celebrate the state’s 14th aquatic citizen support organization.
According to Politifact, nearly 1,000 people move to Florida every day – and have been moving to the state in droves for decades. All this human activity leaves an oversized environmental footprint. Nearly fifty percent of these folks choose to live near the coast, directly impacting our coastal waters and amplifying the need for their protection. The new Friends of Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserves, Inc., aims to do just that. Currently Tampa Bay has four
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aquatic preserves: Boca Ciega Bay Aquatic Preserve was the first, formed in 1969; followed by Pinellas Aquatic Preserve, in 1972; and later, Terra Ceia in Manatee County; and Hillsborough’s Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve. Now advocates for these sanctuaries will operate in unison as the Friends of Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserves, Inc, the state’s latest citizen support organization (CSO). The newly formed CSO celebrated its beginning in December as
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dignitaries and environmentalists gathered at Millennium Park on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay to celebrate the state’s 14th aquatic CSO. “This new CSO is founded according to DEP standards and meets all guidelines,” said Terry Fortner, who has been working on the new CSO since 2019 when the idea emerged to combine the existing preserves. “It offers a lot of valuable opportunities and entitles us to money from the DEP’s aquatic preserve funds,” she said. According to DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein, citizen support organizations are instrumental in helping the department preserve Florida’s natural landscape by maintaining natural resources and engaging residents in local conservation activities, such as beach cleanups and seagrass planting. The newest in the DEP’s panoply of CSOs, the idea for the fledgling group first emerged in September 2019, when the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
theGabber.com | January 21, 2021 - January 27, 2021
