from tcpalm.com: Sea grasses in the Indian River Lagoon are showing encouraging signs of recovery. After an onslaught of lake discharges, extreme cold snaps, excessive nitrogen loading caused by fertilizer use, septic tank seepage and runoff, we are seeing signs of a healthier lagoon.
Yet research and, in particular, funding to address sea grass recovery have until now been as patchy as the recovering grasses themselves. What’s needed is a comprehensive lagoon-wide initiative, led by an organization free from political turf wars.
The newly formed Indian River Lagoon Council should serve as that body. Its membership is made up of representatives from four counties, two water management districts, the state Department of Environmental Protection and several individual municipalities. Each member contributes funding.
The board was created in February as a new way to implement the goals of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, the local arm of a federal initiative to protect estuaries of national significance. These are early days — the council has yet to hire an executive director — but, as with the sea grasses, progress so far has been encouraging.
Chairman Ed Fielding of Martin County noted the council anticipates having at least $2 million by October from its members to sponsor research and restoration projects in the lagoon.
The council also will be able to access grants from state and federal governments — something that could be crucial if, for example, expensive septic tank removal is deemed necessary in certain areas.
A consistent, persistent and transparent approach to recovery is badly needed for the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon. Existing studies and projects have been limited in scope and sometimes subject to local political pressures.
For Fielding, the council cannot begin acting too soon.
“I believe we are very close to a dangerous precipice,” he noted, “beyond which we may not be able to recover.”
Tampa Bay offers an instructive example for us to emulate.
Since the 1990s, the Tampa Bay National Estuary Program and its associated Nitrogen Management Consortium have been able to restore bay grasses to levels of health not seen since the 1950s.
Tampa Bay offers a great example of how positive changes might be achieved in the lagoon by working together — but we may not have 20 years to fix what is ailing our waterway.
Time is of the essence in restoring the Indian River Lagoon to a healthy state. Better methods are needed for tracking and improving sea grass health.
The Indian River Lagoon Council should lead those efforts. This Editorial Board will be watching to ensure it carries out that mission.