Register Now for Our 3rd Annual Management Conference Meeting | |
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Beyond Boundaries:
Watershed Partnerships for Progress
Wednesday, April 3rd from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM CT
Sanders Beach Corrine Jones Resource Center
913 South I St, Pensacola, FL 32502
Please plan to join us for our annual gathering of the Management Conference. Breakout sessions include:
- Project Development Mixer
- Local Policy Recommendations
- Oyster Shell Recycling Focus Group
- Living Shoreline Cost Share Program Focus Group
Registration is free and now open!
Please register by 11:59 PM CT on March 20th to secure your meal.
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Over 50 Participants from Alabama and Florida Convened for Comprehensive Monitoring Workshop | |
At the end of February, partners that conduct monitoring in Alabama and Florida convened to develop a Comprehensive Monitoring Program for our watersheds. Over 50 participants were in attendance from local governments, state and federal agencies, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. | |
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The workshop focused on determining priority monitoring parameters, reviewing current monitoring locations, identifying potential future monitoring locations, addressing data comparability, building capacity, and developing a strategy for long-term funding support.
Thank you to all of the workshop participants for your contributions toward establishing a Comprehensive Monitoring Program for our watersheds!
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Upcoming Restoration Ramble:
Prescribed Fire in Blackwater River State Forest
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Recent prescribed fire in Blackwater River State Forest near Red-cockaded Woodpecker cavities.
Photo by Jacob Barrett, The Longleaf Alliance
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Saturday, March 23rd from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM CT
Join PPBEP and The Longleaf Alliance on a Restoration Ramble to a prescribed fire site in Blackwater River State Forest! You'll learn about The Longleaf Alliance’s fire-based restoration efforts while you visit a recently burned site and immerse yourself in our vital upland ecosystems. Keep your eyes peeled for Red-cockaded Woodpecker nests and get ready to have all your burning questions about prescribed fire answered! All ages are welcome, but the content being discussed on the walking tour is geared for adult learners.
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PPBEP Takes on Tampa for the
Gulf of Mexico Conference
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Over 1,000 coastal scientists, managers, and professionals gathered to learn and collaborate at the Gulf of Mexico Conference in Tampa!
The PPBEP team collaborated with practitioners from across the Gulf and presented The Humble Oyster with Mississippi State University Television Center. The week long conference provided informative sessions and workshops on oyster and seagrass monitoring and restoration, messaging and story telling, art and science collaborations, and many other topics and lessons learned that can be applied in our watersheds.
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Oysters & Pints Fest: The Humble Oyster Screening | |
St. Michaels Brewing Company in Navarre hosted their first ever Oysters & Pints Fest on Saturday, February 10th. Grayson Bay Oyster Company provided fresh local oysters and PPBEP screened our award winning film, The Humble Oyster. Stay tuned for future brewery pop-ins and screenings! | |
Manatees & Meadows Trivia | |
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Manatee enthusiasts went head-to-head to test their manatee and seagrass knowledge at our Manatee and Meadows trivia night at Beardless Brewhaus! The competition was fierce, requiring multiple tiebreakers on manatee knowledge.
Congratulations to Team Oh, the HuManatee! for securing 1st place! Our next Trivia Night will be in May on Hurricane and Disaster Preparedness – stay tuned!
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Community Grant Program Highlight | |
Santa Rosa County School District | |
Students conducting water quality analyses at the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station. | |
Santa Rosa County School District is empowering students to become ocean stewards through service, experiential learning, scientific inquiry, and innovative technologies.
Led by the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station, students from Navarre, Gulf Breeze, and Pace High Schools have been diligently working on a county-wide study of water quality and oyster recruitment. Through PPBEP Community Grant funding, water quality monitoring equipment and supplies are enabling students to collect water quality parameters such total nitrogen, phosphorus, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and bacteria.
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Board of Directors Meeting
March 20, 2024
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CT
City of Orange Beach Council Chambers
4099 Orange Beach Blvd
Orange Beach, AL 3656
The March Board of Directors Meeting Agenda will be posted on our website a week prior to the meeting.
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March is Seagrass Awareness Month! | |
Seagrass species Halodule wrightii (commonly referred to as shoal grass) | |
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Many people often refer to seagrasses as seaweed, or macroalgae, but seagrasses are actually true flowering plants. In fact, seagrasses are the only true flowering plants to grow completely submerged underwater! This means that they produce flowers, fruits, and seeds, along with having roots, leaves, and a vascular system for transporting nutrients. In comparison, macroalgae use a holdfast to anchor themselves to hard surfaces instead of roots that grow underground, and they lack a vascular system and leaves.
Okay, but why are seagrasses so great?
Besides being the only true plant to grow underwater, seagrasses provide habitat for many juvenile critters, from offshore commercially-important fish, to small crustaceans, and even large charismatic megafauna like manatees and sea turtles! On top of that, seagrasses provide ecological services like improving water quality, carbon sequestration, and providing storm protection by stabilizing sediments with their roots.
We benefit when we have healthy seagrass beds in our bays, so it is important to protect them! You can help by:
- Going slow around seagrass beds when boating to prevent scarring or stirring up sediments - be sure to trim up your motor!
- Minimizing fertilizer use on your lawn to reduce excess nutrient run off (too many nutrients in the water can cause algal blooms, which harms our seagrass beds!)
- Educating others on what those "seaweed-looking things" really are!
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Thank You to Our Estuary Advocate Donors | |
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It’s no secret that the business of the Gulf Coast is — the coast!
Whether it’s protecting our community from hurricanes, drawing tourists to our pristine waterfronts, or creating the quality of life that makes this a great place to live, a healthy coast and watershed is the bedrock of our community.
You can help by supporting our efforts financially, and your gift can be matched by state and federal grant programs that restore and protect our waterways.
We are thankful to our Estuary Advocates for helping to fulfill our mission of restoration, education, and monitoring.
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$10,000 Guardian of the Gulf
Estuary Advocates
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$2,500 River Giver
Estuary Advocates
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$1,000 Creek Keeper
Estuary Advocates
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Susan Bastajian, Realtor
Keller Williams
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Please add us to your "safe sender" list to ensure these emails reach your inbox.
Newsletter submissions must be sent to info@ppbep.org by the 1st of the month.
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