Fall 2010 NRLI Newsletter

8/2/2019 Fall 2010 NRLI Newsletter

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Fall 2010

Presidents WelcomeGreetings NRLI Alumni!

As your new NRLI Alumni president, I first want to thank our past president,Deborah Burr for her dedication and service to the NRLI Alumni Association.She deserves a lot of credit for helping to build the Alumni Association to what itis today, and I have some very big shoes to fill. She is still an active member ofthe Associations Board of Directors and has been a big help to me, as I take

over as the new president. Thanks Deborah!

Fall is here and that means we have another NRLI class underway. I hope you willget a chance to participate in one of the remaining sessions ofClass X. As al-ways, the NRLI team put together a great schedule. I highly recommend that youcheck out a session if it is in your neck of the woods. It is always great to havealumni participate, meet current class members, and catch up with the projectteam and other alumni. Also, if you havent already done so, you can also stay in

touch with other alumni by becoming a friend on NRLIs Facebook page.

Hopefully by now you have heard about the Alumni Associations efforts to raisefunds for scholarships for future NRLI fellows. As alumni, there are several waysto contribute. Im proud to announce that the first NRLI Alumni Class Challenge,

which is a friendly Class vs. Class competition running through the end of No-vember is underway (see page 4 for details). Of course, donations are always

welcomed outside the competition as well!! With the majority of our alums ableto participate because of scholarships and insightful generosity from employers,we feel that because of your association with NRLI, we are first asking you, ouralumni, for financial assistance. We suggest a donation of $25, $50, or whateverfeels right. This year, we had one alumni sponsor a partial scholarship with$2000! (If you or your company would like information on underwriting a Fellow,

please contact Bruce Delaney at [email protected] (352) 846-1511.)

In our role as the NRLI Alumni Association, we are continuously working to-ward furthering our mission of fostering effective leadership and professional de-velopment, and enhancing the future of NRLI. Many of the benefits from theNRLI experience can be unexpected and have helped many careers in various

ways from networking to job opportunities. On behalf of the NRLI Alumni Asso-ciation Board of Directors, thank you for your support! Enjoy the eNewsletter!!

Bryan Fluech (Class VIII), NRLI Alumni Association President

The Alumni Association

Mission is to:

foster effectiveleadership and pro-

fessional develop-

ment

provide networking

opportunitiesenhance the NRLI

program, and pro-

mote its long-term

viability.

Inside this issue:

Meet your FNRLI Boardof Directors

2

In Memoriam 3

Class Challenge 4

Welcome Class X 5

NRLI Milestones 6

Winters Native PlantNursery

7

KEA Facilitates PanelDiscussion on Transport

7

Stakeholders and South-west Florida Waterways

8

Trends Analysis for Parks,Recreation and Culture

8

Public Opinion on Flor-ida's Water Quality

9

Restoring IFAS site inSanford

10

The Water Choices 11

Membership Dues 12

Florida Natural ResourcesLeadership Institute Alumni

Newsletter

Volume 2, Issue 2
http://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu/schedule10.shtmlhttp://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu/schedule10.shtmlhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gainesville-FL/Florida-Natural-Resources-Leadership-Institute/105293026174791?ref=tshttp://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gainesville-FL/Florida-Natural-Resources-Leadership-Institute/105293026174791?ref=tsmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gainesville-FL/Florida-Natural-Resources-Leadership-Institute/105293026174791?ref=tshttp://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu/schedule10.shtml


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Hank Vinson (Class VII)works for the FloridaCommunities Trust. FCT administers two landacquisition grant programs that assist localcommunities in meeting outdoor recreation andopen space needs as well as preserving Floridas

commercial fishing industries.Stan Bronson (Class II) is the executive di-rector of Florida Earth Foundation, a public-private partnership whose mission is to bring

people together through education, outreachand facilitation to ensure Floridas environ-

mental integrity and quality of life.

Ed Wright (Class VII) serves as a USDALiaison to Floridas 5 Water Management

Districts. He is a certified total quality man-agement facilitator, and has over 20 years of

experience in meeting and small group

facilitation.

Pat Gostel (Class II)is retired but has con-tinued to support the South Florida Water

Management District as a volunteer. Pat sup-ports SFWMD outreach activities in theTreasure Coast Region and the Lake WorthLagoon in Palm Beach County. Pat recentlycompleted the Coastal Module of the IFAS

Master Naturalist Program.Paul Monaghan (Class IX) is an AssistantProfessor with the University of Floridas De-

partment of Agricultural Education and Com-munications and his expertise is in community-

based social marketing.

Dr. Burl Long, Alumni Advisor

Burl is just awesome. What else is there to say?

The NRLI Alumni Association Board of Directors

Bryan Fluech, President (Class VIII) worksfor the University of Florida Extension Serviceas a Sea Grant Extension Agent in CollierCounty. His extension work focuses on marinefisheries, resource stewardship, and marine

education.

Teresa Watkins, Vice President (ClassVII) is an environmental landscaping consult-ant, and a horticultural specialist with the St.

Johns River Water Management District's

Florida Water Star program.

Dianne Hughes, Treasurer(Class VIII)is anEnvironmental Consultant for the Florida De-partment of Environmental Protection. Since1999, she has been working on the Comprehen-sive Everglades Restoration Plan and other South

Florida restoration issues.

Ed Dunne, Secretary (Class VI) Is a supervis-ing environmental scientist with the St JohnsRiver Water Management District. Ed has

worked with the district for three years andworks in the Lake Apopka Basin Program. His

activities focus on wetland and lake management.

Tom Ostertag, Annual Meeting Coordina-

tor(Class IX) works for the Florida Fish and

Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Deborah Burr, Past President (Class IV)

works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser-vation Commission as the Gopher Tortoise Man-agement Plan Coordinator. She is responsible forimplementing the Gopher Tortoise ManagementPlan to restore and maintain viable populations ofgopher tortoises throughout their range in

Florida.

Page 2 Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute Alumni Newsletter
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IN MEMORIAM

It did not take long to come under the influence of Bob Tietz, Class Vl alum and former member of FNRLIBoard of Directors who lost his battle with cancer this summer. Bob was the county biologist for PascoCounty and leaves a lasting legacy for his work in environmental lands acquisitions and many other contribu-tions to Pasco Countys environment. For those who knew Bob, we could never forget his charm, wit, thesparkle in his eye and his genuine love for people and nature. Bob epitomized everything that NRLI is about.He was a consummate conservationist who fought to save a part of nature in the face of development. No

session of NRLI passed without the entire group being impressed with Bobs infectious laughter and stories,his knowledge and his wisdom which he joyfully shared.

He made us all better and always happier for being around him. The family has maintained a website,http.bobtietz.com, which contains a marvelous collection of images, stories and memories of Bobs life. I urgeyou to take a look at this, which includes some memories from other NRLIs. In addition to his love of natureand family, Bob was a sailor and talented musician who loved to entertain and share with his friends. At NRLIsessions Bob always played his 12 string guitar and entertained us. Several years ago Bob wrote a song calledFanfare Florida. We adopted it as our NRLI theme song. If you do nothing else, please click onto this at thewebsite. For those in Class VI it will bring pleasant memories and for those who did not know Bob, it willinspire you and tell you why Bob was so in tune with and supportive of NRLI. Pasco Wildlife is establishing a

memorial to Bob and the FNRLI Alumni Association has made a contribution to it.


FNRLI Loses a Remarkable Alumnus, Bob Tietz, Class VI,Burl Long, FNRLI Emeritus Director
http://bobtietz.com/http://bobtietz.com/http://bobtietz.com/http://bobtietz.com/


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Page 4Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute Alumni Newsletter

The NRLI Class Challenge is a unique opportunity for NRLI alumni to give back to a program thathas provided each of us with so many valuable skills and learning experiences, so that other natural re-source professionals may benefit from the program in the future. The Challenge is a Class versus Classcompetition where each of the nine NRLI classes competes against one another, to raise money for fu-

ture NRLI fellow scholarships.

Each class has always thought their class has been the best; heres your opportunity to prove it!

Challenge Rules:The competition starts September 1st and ends November 30th, 2010.Alumni can donate money themselves or have sponsors (organizations and/or other individuals) donatemoney on behalf of their class as often as they would like.

**All donations are tax deductable**

Donate now online!https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735

(Please write down what class you are representing in the comment field)

Donations by check can also be mailed to:Florida Natural Resource Leadership InstituteAttn: Candace KaswinkelP.O. Box 110240Gainesville, FL, 32611-0240Please make checks payable to: University of Florida Foundation or UFF. Include NRLI Class #inthe memo line.

The NRLI class that collectively donates the most by 5PM on November 30th, 2010 will be declared thewinner of the NRLI Class Challenge.

The winning class will be featured on the NRLI Alumni Association website, and will get first choice tothe block of free hotel rooms designated for NRLI alumni during the Class X graduation the week-endof April 14-16, 2011. They will also be presented with a special award during the NRLI Class X gradua-tion ceremony. The class that has the greatest percentage of its fellows participate in the competitionwill also receive an award.

Donate now online!
https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735http://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspxhttp://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspxhttps://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735http://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspxhttps://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013735


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Welcome FNRLI Class X! Bruce Delaney NRLI Executive Director


Greetings from the NRLI Project Team!

We would like to update the NRLI Alumni Network on thestatus of the NRLI Program.

Class X commenced with an excellent session in Cedar Key onAugust 12th, 13th, and 14th. The session was a success both as abonding experience for the new class and as a vital issue of themoment. While the focus of the session was Water Qualityand Clam farming, the concerns raised by the Deepwater Hori-zon blowout were on everyones mind and were raised and

discussed throughout the three-day session.

The planning and implementation of the session were greatlyaided by our Cedar Key Alumni, Sue Colson and Leslie Sturmer

of Class V and Greg Lang of Class IX. Their efforts, combinedwith their contacts and knowledge of local issues, led to a verysuccessful introductory session for Class X. Ginger Adair and

Joy Hazell, of Class IX, helped the Project Team conduct the

session and their help is appreciated as well.

The new class is composed of eighteen Fellows, eight men andten women, who have quickly jelled as a class and are on top of

their Practicum planning and other assignments.

As always, we encourage alumni to take a look at our schedulefor the current class and consider attending one of the remain-

ing sessions.

It is early in Class X but we encourage you to start thinkingnow about who, in your organization, would benefit from

becoming a NRLI Fellow and start talking to them about itnow. If you will forward their name and contact information

to us, we will initiate contact with them as well.

Thank you for your continued interest in the success of the

NRLI Program.

An oldie, but afavorite Steps to

NRLI!

Fellows prepare fora boat trip out tothe waters of Cedar

Key

Panelists discusswater quality and

clam farming issues


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Gregory Golgowski, Class III

Appointed to Florida Greenwaysand Trails Council

Gregory Golgowski of NRLI class III has been appointed to aseat on the Florida Greenways and Trails Council by Gover-nor Charlie Crist. The Council serves to advise the FloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection on greenway andtrail related issues, promote partnerships for developingFlorida's greenways and trails sys-tem, recommend priorities forcritical links in the system and pro-vide funding recommendations fordeveloping and managing the sys-tem. Greg is currently employed

as Conservation Director for theHarmony Development Co.

Bob Adair, Class I Receives

State Citrus AwardsBob Adair, Executive Direc-tor of the Florida ResearchCenter for Agricultural Sus-tainability in Vero Beach, isthe 2010 recipient of theFlorida State HorticulturalSocietys Best Paper Award

for Citrus.

This award is presented tothe authors of the best andmost meritorious paper in

the citrus section. This same paper entitledDemonstration of a Sustainable Approach to Citriculture

within a National Wildlife Refuge in the Indian RiverArea was also selected for the Presidents Industry

Award as the best single citrus paper by an industry au-thor. Both awards were presented to Bob and his coau-thors, Ms. Beverly Norquist and Mr.Gregory Ross, whowork at the center, at the Societys Annual Meeting in

Crystal River on June 8th. The Florida State HorticulturalSociety is the oldest, active horticultural society in the

United States.

Bob is the Executive Director of the Florida ResearchCenter and serves as Chairman of the Indian RiverCounty Agriculture Advisory Committee of the Countys

Promotion? New Business Venture?

Award?


NRLI Alumni want to know! Wewould love to include a mention ofyour achievement in the upcoming

eNewsletter. Please send yourmilestone to:

[email protected]

and Vice Chairman of the Countys Soil & Water ConservationDistrict. The Florida Research Center conducts research on sus-tainable agriculture practices and bio-rational pesticides. Bob wasa fellow in the Charter Class of NRLI, where he served as Presi-dent from 1999 to 2002. He is also a graduate of the Florida Lead-ership Program for Agriculture & Natural Resources Alumni Asso-

ciation where he served as Treasurer 2000 to 2002.

Are You a Friend of FNRLI on Facebook?Become a Friend! The Flor-ida NRLI Facebook Page

is up and running. It pro-vides you with general pro-

gram updates, NRLI sessionschedules and photos, andallows you to catch up with

other NRLI alumni!
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected].


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Green Winters Native Plant Nursery Jennifer Winters, Class VIII

KEA Group Facilitates Multi-Disciplinary Panel Discussion on

Logical Termini Evaluation in Georgia Bruce Hart, Class I

On April 30, 2010 atthe 35th Annual Na-tional Association ofEnvironmental Profes-sionals Conference inAtlanta, Georgia, aninterdisciplinary teamcomprised of represen-tatives from the Geor-gia Department ofTransportation(GDOT), Federal High-

way Administration (FHWA) -- Georgia Division, Atlanta Re-gional Commission, and Kennedy Engineering & AssociatesGroup (KEA Group) presented a panel discussion on FHWAs

logical termini evaluation of road construction projects in

Georgia.

The FHWA logical termini regulations outline three generalquestions at 23 CFR 771.111(f) that are to be evaluated intransportation decision-making: is the project of sufficientlength to address environmental matters on a broad scope?;does the project have independent utility?; and does the projectrestrict the consideration of alternatives for other reasonablyforeseeable transportation improvements outside of the pro-

jects limits? The issue of logical termini fits into the transpor-

tation decision-making process in several places - establishing aprojects Need and Purpose, implications to project traffic

analysis, and potential consequences to project scope, sched-ule, and budget. On a broader scale, logical termini evalua-tions to individual transportation projects can impact regionaland/or statewide transportation planning, budget allocations,

and regional air quality conformity modeling.

The initial notion of assembling this panel was conceived byKEA Group due to the number of projects that we have en-countered which have extensive logical termini evaluations.Dale Youngkin, Bruce Hart, and Laura Dawood of KEAGroup assembled the panelists, which consisted of Katy Al-len, FHWA; Michael Murdoch, GDOT Office of Environ-mental Services; Matthew Fowler, GDOT Office of Planning;David Haynes, Atlanta Regional Commission; and DaleYoungkin, Kennedy Engineering & Associates Group, withBruce Hart of Kennedy Engineering & Associates Groupserving as moderator. Each panelist presented to the session

audience their own personal and agency perspective to theissue. After the 1.5 hour panel presentation, numerous con-clusions could be made about the current state of the logicaltermini process. One clear conclusion is that the logical ter-mini issue is highly woven through the transportation deci-sion-making process, from the initial identification of a pro-

ject (and associated allocation of funding) to the implicationsthat logical termini has within project-level National Environ-mental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation. The forum was anexcellent opportunity to exchange ideas and provide an op-

portunity for dialog among all the participants.


Green Winters Native Plant Nursery is close to its one-year anniver-sary! Class VIII graduate, Jennifer Winters, and her husband have man-aged to bring a dream to life, while also bringing native plants and sup-

plies for organic gardening to their community.

The nursery is located in Ormond Beach, FL in the location of a for-mer garden center that was an established business for over 50 years.Using previously established relationships and making new ones alongthe way, the business not only has a retail organic gardening shop andover 150 varieties of plants, but it has now expanded to include beekeeping supplies, locally made art and furniture, and will be hosting

their first organic gardening class this October.

NRLI really helped opened some doors for this to becoming a reality.We were able to use suggestions from class members to help us getstarted and many contact suggestions were made and utilized as thenursery came to life. We continue to cross paths with friends of NRLI

friends. One of my favorite things that happened was after visiting anorganic farm at Class IX graduation was that Green Winters formed a

partnership with a local organic food club. The nursery is now a distribution location for club members one day each week.

Please check out our website and if you are visiting this part of the state, stop by and say hi! www.greenwinters.com
http://www.greenwinters.com/http://www.greenwinters.com/http://www.greenwinters.com/


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A couple of years ago, as part of my assignment working toward ac-creditation for our Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs Department(through the National Recreation & Parks Association), I was asked todescribe our Trends Analysis Process. That could have been easy todo, since, in common with many agencies like ours, we have no such

process. Nor could I find one to serve as a boilerplate.

So, working with interns from the University, I began the process ofcreating such a process for the City. Even though our accreditationactivities have been put on temporary hold due to budget constraints,

the value of having such a process seems critical.

After many false starts and looking at what trends analysis products wecould locate, we identified the parameters we felt we should track,how often we should track them, and what we should do with the datawe collect. Among the tools we decided to use were Alachua County& City of Gainesville demographics; State of Florida demographics; Cityof Gainesvilles Report of Norms, FINAL; Recreation use survey re-

sults; the Evaluation and Appraisal process for the Citys Comprehen-

sive Plan, as required by Florida Statutes; Florida Forever Benchmarks,

a progress report prepared by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory for

(continued on page 9)

NRLI Alumni bring together Boating and Waterways Stakeholders

for a Strategizing Session Betty Staugler, Class VI and Joy Hazell, Class IX

A team of Southwest Florida Sea Grant Agents which

included NRLI alumni Betty Staugler (workshop chair),Bryan Fluech and Joy Hazell held a two day SouthwestFlorida Regional Boating and Waterways Workshop inPunta Gorda in September, 2010. The Regional Work-shop examined innovative strategies to balance eco-nomic vitality with ecologically sound management prac-tices along southwest Florida's waterways. The partici-pants included a mix of managers, planners, policymak-ers, lawyers, and industry people from state, local and

regional levels (both private and public sectors).

The first day of the workshop consisted of presenta-tions by local and state experts. The presentationswere grouped by subject matters including comprehen-

sive planning tools; funds, permits and legal considera-tions and dealing with derelict vessels. Each series ofpresentations was followed by a panel question and an-swer session that was moderated by a Florida Sea GrantAgent. The presentations were very informative andwere followed by lively discussions that included inquir-ies about methods to make boating and waterways plan-

ning easier, more useful to stakeholders and quantifiable.

The second day of the workshop was a session facili-tated by Joy Hazell and designed to allow participants toconduct strategic planning for boating and waterways inSouthwest Florida based on participants expertise and

information gathered from the previous days presenta-

tions. The process for strategic planning wasborrowed from NRLI Fellow Ed Wright (Class VI) and

used by our own fearless NRLI project team leadersBruce Delaney and Jon Dain in a session that was held in2006 at the Statewide Boating and Waterways confer-

ence.

The exercises objectives were to:

Prioritize waterways issues

Discuss strategies to address prioritized issues

Form action networks

Participants were presented a summary of the subjectmatters and key points from presentations and questionand answer sessions. Their next task was to writedown on a large sticky note their most pressing boatingand waterways issue. The issues were stuck to the walland read aloud to the group to ensure understanding,then came the fun part. Participants were instructed tostand up and group the issues how they saw fit. Aftermuch discussion and switching of issues, the participantswere asked to stand by the group of issues they deemedmost important. This process led to nine groups of

issues with as few as two and

as many as nine participantswho were now the team for

that issue group. The teamswere then asked to strategizehow the issues could be ad-dressed and identify existingor potential networks to carryout the strategy. Finally theissue teams were asked toreport back on their brain-storming session and the par-ticipants were invited to pro-

vide feedback.

The workshop organizers are now in the process of compiling theissues, strategies and action networks to present back to the partici-pants. Subsequent steps will be setting measurable goals and follow-

ing up with networks to determine if those goals were met.


Developing and Applying a TrendsAnalysis Process for the Parks,

Recreation & Cultural Affairs

Department City of Gainesville,Gary Paul, Class V
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Trends Analysis Continued from page 8

the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; the Na-tional Citizen Survey completed by the City of Gainesville inApril 2008; The Latest on Trends in Nature-Based OutdoorRecreation, a paper by H. Ken Cordell for the Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences and reprinted in Forest NewsToday in Spring, 2008; Responses To Current nationwideTrends in the Municipal Park and Recreation Setting by Steven F.Illum & Joshua Jackman, Spring 2008; Ten Trends Re-ShapingFlorida Recreation & Park Services, Geoffrey Godbey, Ph.D.,Penn State University; and Tough Choices 2008, a report from

the LeRoy Collins Institute.

From historical State, County and City demographic data, as wellas data from several years of our own departments facilities and

programs use surveys, a baseline for comparison will be created.Yearly, a designated department professional (probably me), willglean the most recent data and also attempt to obtain any up-dates to the reports and papers listed above as well as look for

new work. From this information, data mining software will beused to identify trends and from this, not only short and mediumterm Goals and Objectives can be formulated, but there may beimplications for periodic revisions of the Citys Comprehensive

Plan as well.

I am excited about learning more about this process and beingable to play a key role in developing an application for our City.Its clear to me that diligent attention to ongoing trends analyses

is becoming critical to the success of service providers, not onlyfor Parks and Recreation agencies, but for most other natural

resource-based organizations as well.


Public Opinion about Surface and Ground Water Quality in Florida

Dr. Tatiana Borisova, Class VIII

As part of a nation-wide study, a mail survey about water resource issueswas conducted in Florida in 2008 - 2009. The purpose of the survey was toexamine Florida residents' awareness and attitudes about water quality andquantity issues and the strategies to protect water resources. The surveywas designed by researchers at the University of Idaho, University of Flor-ida, Florida A&M University, and other cooperating institutions within theUnited States Department of Agriculture's Southern Regional Water Pro-gram. The survey was mailed to 1,154 randomly selected Florida house-holds in the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009; 523 households completed and

returned the survey (45.5% response rate).

About half of the respondents believed that the quality of surface andground water wasgood(specifically,good or excellent,good and improving, or

good but deteriorating) (Fig. 1 and 2). However, half of those respondentsthought that quality wasgood but deteriorating. Hence, Florida's state andregional agencies should continue focusing on protecting state water re-sources. We also found that the percentage of respondents who did notknow/ had no opinion about the quality of surface and ground water washigher among those who reported moving to Florida less than five years

ago. Hence, effectively targeted programming may (continued page 10)

Figure 1. Per-ceived qualityof groundwa-ter (percent of

responses)

Figure 2.Perceivedquality ofsurfacewater(percent of

responses)
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NRLI ALUMNI COLLABORATE TO RESTORE FORMER IFAS SITEMark Flomerfelt, Class VI

The University ofFloridas Institute of

Food and Agricul-tural Sciences (IFAS),

Central Florida Re-search and EducationCenter (CFREC)was located in San-ford, Florida adjacentto Lake Monroe.The CFREC facility

was established in 1933 on approximately 65 acres of landdevoted to field crop experimentation. Research activitiesincluded plant nutrition studies, pest management and studiesof control measures for plant disease, insects, weeds andnematodes. Other programs dealt with reclamation of waste-water, biomass production using aquatic plants and manage-ment of aquatic insect pests. The facility went through a se-

ries of expansions in the 1940s, 1950s and 1970s.

In early 1999 Mark Flomerfelt, NRLI Alumni Class VI, wasworking for Seminole County Stormwater Division when hemet with an adjacent property owner to the IFAS facility.They discussed flooding problems and ditch maintenance.Since the operations at the IFAS site were closing, the prop-erty owner asked if the county could partner with IFAS tomove the ditch off his property. IFAS representatives said thefacility was to be abandoned and could be leased to the

County from the State of Florida.

The county was partnering on other projects in the area withFDEP and St. Johns River Water Management District

(SJRWMD). Mark met with the SJRWMD Project Manager,Regina Lovings-Morse, NRLI Alumni Class VII and noted thatthe site had potential for a flood control and water qualityimprovement project. Over the next year they worked on

concepts for a Regional Storm water Facility.

The biggest concern was contamination of the site due to pes-ticide and hazardous-chemical handling, storage and disposal ofmaterials at the facility. Initial assessments identified elevatedconcentrations of Toxaphene, Arsenic, Copper, DDT, andDieldrin that exceeded Florida Department of EnvironmentalProtection (FDEP) threshold limits. Over the next severalyears FDEP developed a clean-up plan. Once complete the site

could be safely transferred to the County. In 2005 FDEP coor-dinated the removal of several buildings and removal of 9,741cubic yards of contaminated soils. The area was backfilled withcertified clean soil until the stormwater facility could be built.Hundreds of soil samples were analyzed during and after theremoval phases to ensure the site met the current allowablelimits for contaminates. Groundwater sampling continued forthe next several years. As the site was under cleanup by FDEP,

the team collaborated on final design plans.

(continued page 11)


Ground Water continued from page 9

be needed to educate recent residents about Florida water re-sources. When asked about pollutants affecting surface andground water quality, about one-half of the respondents know/suspect that the surface or ground water quality in their areas is

affected by fertilizers (phosphorus and/or nitrogen) and pesti-

cides (Figure 3).

When asked about the three causes most responsible for pollu-tion problems in the rivers and lakes in Florida, new suburbandevelopment, agriculture (crops), and stormwater runoff werementioned most frequently (Figure 4). However, each of thesecategories was mentioned as a cause of pollution problems by

less than half of the respondents.

Survey respondents differed in their demographic characteristicsfrom the Florida population as a whole: they were older, moreeducated, and more frequently male. This difference may have

influenced the results of the survey. Specifically, we believe thatthe number of people who had no opinion on ground and surface

water quality is higher than is indicated by the survey results.

Figure 3.

Perceivedpollutantsaffecting sur-

face or groundwater (percentof respon-

dents)

Figure 4.Perceivedpollutionsources af-fecting riversand lakes inFlorida(percent of
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Dont Forget to Visit theFNRLI Alumni Association Online at:

http://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspx

FNRLI Alumni Association Membership Dues

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$Have you paid your FNRLI Alumni Association Membership dues?

Your dues help support the Associations efforts to promote alumni interaction

with FNRLI such as the annual graduation ceremony and the Alumni Associa-tion website. The dues structure are:

$25 a year

$125 for a life-time membership.

Please send check to:FNRLI alumni Association

c/o Dianne Hughes

1065 NE RIO Pine Lance

Jensen Beach, FL 34857.

Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute Alumni NewsletterPage 12
http://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspxhttp://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspxhttp://fnrli-alumni.org/default.aspx

Documents

Fall 2010 NRLI Newsletter