Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation to welcome Everglades Coalition Conference
Efforts to educate the public about water quality issues and the importance of the Everglades will kick off the new year.
The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation will host the 32nd Annual Everglades Coalition Conference Jan.5 8 at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort.
This year’s four-day conference theme is “Three Estuaries, One Solution.” Each day, guest speakers and break-out sessions will focus on issues with Florida’s three main estuaries (Caloosahatchee, St. Lucie and Florida Bay), what is being done to address these problems and what action is needed in the future to continue cleaning up the state’s water quality.
The days are split into plenary speakers and breakout panel discussions. Four breakouts will be held concurrently.
Rae Ann Wessel, the natural resources policy director with the SCCF, said the plenary talks would introduce a big-picture idea, and the breakouts honed in on specific issues within that idea.
“It’s a big picture on that the problem is, why it’s a problem, and what the solutions are,” she said.
New this year is a special session on Saturday, “Red Herrings: here to distract you.” This session focuses on the reasons projects have be roadblocked and how to move forward.
“By the end of the conference, people will have attended a variety of sessions and have things bubbling around in their heads,” she said. “During (special session) we hope to call out the reasons people are saying we can or can’t do this or that, what it means, why this thing shouldn’t be an objection.”
Multiple local, state and national organizations will lead and moderate each session’s discussion, including the National Parks Conversation Association, the Everglades Foundation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Audubon Florida, and many others.
A full schedule can be found online at evergladescoalition.org/conference, but topics will include “Send the Water South,” water quality and human health, how to restore the estuaries in developing areas, and effects on the local ecology.
Michael Baldwin, the state co-chair of the Everglades Coalition and also the vice president at the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society, said that if someone can only go for a day, he would recommend attending Friday’s agenda.
Friday’s schedule includes a round table discussion about sending the water south as well as what the federal and state congress priorities should be in relation to the Everglades.
“There will be different opinions registered,” he said.
The Plenary talks are delivered by one person; however the break-out sessions are all panel discussions with three to four people to a panel. Each has a time for questions, he said, so there will be ample time for interactivity for those attending.
Since the breakout sessions happen concurrently, information from each will be available online once the conference is over for those who had to chose between sessions, Baldwin said.
On Sunday, conference attendees can go on local “field trips,” including a guided tour of J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge; a marine life cruise in the Caloosahatchee Estuary highlighting oyster reef restoration; or the Caloosahatchee Oxbow and Riverlore Cruise focusing on the history of the river and associated folklore.
Registration for the conference is $190 for all four days or $120 for a single day. Meal tickets must be purchased separately.
For more information, a full conference agenda or to register, visit evergladescoalition.org