Collier County Waterkeeper

We all love those beautiful pictures that celebrate the waters that define our home.

But the work to protect and preserve them largely takes place in settings like this, a conference room at Collier County’s Heritage Bay Government Center.

This is where a public meeting for the Corkscrew Watershed Initiative is happening today. Local government officials are coming together with staff members from the South Florida Water Management District, stakeholders, and interested members of the public to begin a four-year planning effort to protect an area feeling the impact of development around its edges.

The study area involves Collier, Lee, and Hendry counties. The affected systems include Corkscrew Swamp with its remaining virgin cypress trees, the Estero and Imperial River watersheds that provide fresh water to Estero Bay, and the Gordon River watershed and Naples Bay.

The planning process should lead to identifying, planning, and putting into motion projects that will allow environmental protection to co-exist with development pressure. That means dealing with flooding while maintaining the dry-season and wet-season hydrological regimes necessary to protect native plants and wildlife.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/05/30/sea-level-rise-makes-florida-beach-renourishment-projects-more-frequent-and-expensive/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3sGfKmffh4W6WqcM_54J0kITs0AZhrfaZlSGaG7k3hAhcxm0RtPelUgy0_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

Sea level rise makes Florida 'beach renourishment' projects more frequent and expensive • Florida Phoenix When my kids were little, they loved visiting the beach. They’d splash around, build sandcastles, and collect seashells. But one afternoon, one of my boys let out a scream that brought me on the run. He’d picked up an impressive lightning whelk shell to add to his collection, but that turned out...