An impressive group came together at the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House in Palm Bay on Friday to make yet another attempt to rescue the Indian River Lagoon from ecological collapse.
Organized by the Marine Resources Council and Florida Institute of Technology, the optimistically named Lagoon Action Assembly attracted what looked to be a hundred or more of the top agency, academic and independent lagoon experts along with a number of politicians to hear a series of speakers and then spend two days in problem-solving workshops.
I don’t use the word impressive lightly in referring to the participants. Just at the table where I was sitting were Richard Baker, University of Florida biology professor emeritus and president of Pelican Island Audubon Society; island resident Judy Orcutt, one of the region’s most active and effective advocates for cleaning up the lagoon; Ken Grudens, executive director of the Indian River Land Trust, the group that has done more than any other to preserve ecologically significant land along the lagoon; and Martin S. Smithson, administrator of the Sebastian Inlet District.
And there were 15 or 20 other tables, along with well-filled rows of chairs in the back.
The idea behind the Assembly is that 100 or more high-caliber, deeply committed people should be able to pool their ideas, expertise, networks and initiatives and actually begin to reverse the lagoon’s decline.
Marine Resources Council board member Jim Moir issued an impassioned plea to the group to “propose bold things and take bold action” to save a “badly frayed” lagoon environment.
“The lagoon is the lifeblood and central nervous system of the Treasure Coast,” Moir said. “Our lives are intertwined with it. We are part of it.”
He said success in rescuing what has been called the most biodiverse estuary in the United States from pollution that threatens to turn it into a dead zone depends on” how much we are willing to change our lifestyles and the way we think about each other.”
Other speakers included Florida House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, FIT vice president for research Frank Kinney, and island resident Wayne Mills, a former chairman of the board of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
All the speakers acknowledged the lagoon’s dire condition, as evidenced by the loss of 47,000 acres of seagrass and widespread marine mammal deaths, but all had hopeful things to say as well.
Thurston said he comes from a large family and that “there are a lot of little Thurstons coming along behind” he feels a responsibility to. He pledged to do everything in his power to help restore the estuary and said there was unusual bipartisan support for lagoon projects in the recent legislative session during which more than $170 million was allocated for research and cleanup.
Kinney echoed that observation: “I’ve been around the politics game for a long time I have never seen our politicians of both parties come together around an issue the way they have about the lagoon.”
FIT launched its Indian River Lagoon Research Institute in October, bringing together 23 scientists to collaborate on research to analyze the lagoon’s ills and devise remedies for its problems.
“We are truly committed [to fixing the lagoon],” Kinney said.
Mills talked about lessons learned in the effort to clean up Chesapeake Bay and the success of community collaboration in the Tampa Bay area where 90 percent of seagrass has been restored using policies and programs that may be possible to duplicate in the lagoon.
Following the evening reception, assembly participants met on the FIT campus for two days of targeted workshops, with separate groups focusing on the four main sources of lagoon pollution: septic tanks, canal discharges, agricultural lands and residential lands.
According to the Marine Resources Council, a final document will be forthcoming that includes recommendations and priority actions. It should be well worth reading.