The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, at its September 12, 2019, Committee of the Whole, approved forwarding a request for a legislative funding initiative regarding implementation projects for the Pensacola and Perdido Bay Estuary Program. This approval was subject to confirmation that the project would not compete with the legislative funding initiative for the Brownsville Septic to Sewer Project and ratification at the Board’s regularly scheduled October 3, 2019 meeting.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Gulf of Mexico Program awarded a $2 million competitive grant to Escambia County to establish the Pensacola and Perdido Bay Estuary Program (Estuary Program). The Estuary Program will guide the production of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan that will be a fully vetted roadmap for achieving publicly identified outcomes and goals for Pensacola and Perdido Bays. The program is guided by a Policy Board with Florida representation from Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, Okaloosa County, City of Gulf Breeze, City of Milton, City of Pensacola, and Town of Century, and Alabama representation from Baldwin County and City of Orange Beach.
To assist the Estuary Program develop a long-term strategic action plan to prioritize and address water quality projects, improve fishery and listed species habitat, improve commercial and recreational fisheries, a two-pronged funding request is proposed:
- Augment existing water quality programs
- Increase ambient monitoring stations in Pensacola and Perdido Bays to further identify root causes of nutrients and bacteria entering our waterways - $100,000
- Augment Healthy Beaches monitoring program to increase the response time and number of bathing beaches that are monitored for fecal coliform bacteria, Vibrio Vulnificus, red tide, and other algal blooms – $100,000
- Benefits tourism and the public trust in the safety of local waters for recreation
- Recent closure of Casino Beach due to fecal coliform bacteria and green algal bloom in East Bay
- Citizen Science mini-grant program - $300,000 - fund projects where scientific work is undertaken by members of the general public in collaboration with the Estuary Program. Mini-grants are expected to be awarded between $500 - $10,000, selected by the Estuary Program Policy Board, meet one of the goals below, and priority given to projects that provide match or facilitate STEM projects.
- Water Quality
(Examples: environmental landscaping practices; "best management practices" for agriculture; innovative retention/filtering techniques)
- Habitat Restoration and Protection
(Examples: restoration of natural shorelines/enhancement of seawalls; projects addressing seagrasses, mangroves, coastal and freshwater wetlands, and other estuarine habitats; marine debris reduction/recycling initiatives)
- Fish and Wildlife Conservation
(Examples: awareness of threats to wildlife from monofilament line; protection of seagrass beds; education on fish and wildlife habitat)
- Bay Awareness and Education
(Examples: programs for schools, YMCA groups, Scouts or other youth organizations; programs that directly involve youth in solutions to bay problems; programs directed at disadvantaged youth)
- Resilience
(Examples: living shorelines, green infrastructure)
- Invasive Species
(Examples: Eradication of invasive plants or animals; education about harmful aquatic invasive species and how to prevent their spread)
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