Thank you to our 2025 Florida Resilience Conference Sponsors!

Notice of Proposed Bylaws Amendments & Annual Business Meeting

The 2025 Annual Business Meeting of the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 12:10 p.m., during the Florida Resilience Conference at the Sunseeker Resort, Charlotte Harbor. All members are invited and encouraged to attend.

The meeting agenda will include:

• Approval of the minutes from the 2024 Annual Business Meeting
• A financial update
• Approval of the 2025 Slate of Officers and Directors
• Consideration of proposed amendments to the association’s bylaws

**NOTICE: This serves as formal notification of proposed revisions to the bylaws, as required.

The last updates to FSBPA’s bylaws were approved by the general membership on September 25, 2015. At the February 5, 2025, board meeting, Chair Janet Zimmerman requested a staff-led, periodic review of the bylaws. Following the review, several suggested revisions were discussed by the board at its June 16, 2025, meeting and formally approved in July for membership consideration.

Summary of Proposed Amendments:

1. Conflict of Interest Language: New provisions define what constitutes a conflict of interest for board members and establish expectations for compliance as a condition of board service.

2. Clarification of Board Member Removal Procedures: Language has been added to outline specific causes, grounds, and procedures for removal of a director from the board.

3. Definition of Executive Committee Role: Clarifies the responsibilities of the Executive Committee between full board meetings.

4. Meeting Formats and Voting Procedures: Updates reflect current and practical meeting formats (e.g., virtual participation), proper notice requirements, and acceptable voting methods, including electronic voting.

The board of directors has approved these proposed amendments and authorized their inclusion in this newsletter to meet the notice requirement. The amendments will be presented for a formal vote of the general membership at the 2025 Annual Business Meeting.

Annual Business Meeting

Thursday, September 18, 2025

12:10 p.m.

Sunseeker Resort, Charlotte Harbor

A full copy of the proposed amendments to the bylaws is available HERE

If you have questions about the proposed changes, please call the FSBPA office or email us at mail@fsbpa.com.

FSBPA 2026 Tech Conference Call for Abstracts is Open!

We are excited to announce that the Call for Presentations is now open for the 2026 National Conference on Beach Preservation Technology!

We welcome abstract submissions from professionals involved in coastal engineering, environmental science, coastal management, and related fields. This is an excellent opportunity to share your work, research, and innovations with peers from across the country.

Primary Topics:  

• Shore Protection Projects and Coastal Management  
• Coastal Research and Environmental Science  

Additional Topics:  

• Sea Level Rise and Coastal Resilience 
• Beach and Nearshore Hydrographic Surveying Technology 
• Dredging Technology 
• Living Shorelines 
• Environmental Resource Protection and Mitigation Projects 
• Construction of Coastal Piers and Other Structures 
• Beach Operations and Maintenance 
• Red Tide and Other Harmful Algal Blooms 
• Storm Surge Modeling 

Who Should Submit?  

• Public and Private Sector Engineers 
• Environmental Scientists 
• Coastal Geologists 
• Marine Scientists and Biologists 
• Academic Researchers 
• Coastal Surveyors 
• Dredging Industry Professionals 
• Coastal Managers and Local Government Representatives 

🔹 Submission Deadline: October 13, 2025 

🔹 Location: Embassy Suites, St. Augustine, FL 

🔹 Conference Dates: February 4–6, 2026 

For full details on abstract topics and submission guidelines, please visit here or contact us at mail@fsbpa.com. 

We look forward to your participation! 

Article Spotlight - FDEP Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection August 2025 Updates

Anastasia Island Beach Mice Surveys:

Alice Bard, a beach mice expert, has been surveying beach mice since 1993. Her expert surveys take place quarterly in the same locations, marked with pink tape. She uses seasonal traps baited with black oil sunflower seeds, a snack that the mice love and won’t attract ants — a discovery made years ago by a student of hers.

On the mornings of June 18 and 19, staff from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Beaches, Inlets and Ports Program (BIPP) and Division of Recreation and Parks, joined Bard on her Anastasia Island Beach Mice surveys, alongside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Over the two days, staff visited 40 different stations, with two traps at each station. For every mouse captured and released, staff recorded their sex, checked for a tag or tagged them with an individually numbered ear tag, noted reproductive status, estimated age and recorded their weight. After data collection, all mice were released at the site of capture. Staff caught eight mice on the first day and 10 on the second.

The field work assisted the BIPP team to gain a better understanding of the beach mouse habitat within the state park and at Cresent Beach, located just outside the park. Recent storm activity, including nor’easters in 2021 and Hurricane Nicole in 2022, significantly impacted Cresent Beach’s dune system. Due to this documented habitat loss, Crescent Beach will soon be designated as critically eroded by DEP (2025). This critical erosion designation will establish criteria to identify the erosive influences and strategies to mitigate this erosion, such as dune restoration and planting or beach nourishment. Additionally, activities carried out by local governments that are consistent with these strategies then become eligible for cost share through grants administered by the Beaches Funding Assistance Program in DEP.

Time spent at Anastasia State Park remains as magical as ever. However, it is an important reminder that Anastasia Island is one of the few remaining places where the endangered beach mice are endemic. Alongside natural threats, coastal development and human-related activities — such as walking and biking through dune areas, introducing cats and removing native vegetation — have further degraded their habitat. DEP safeguards these areas by enforcing regulations that limit coastal development in sensitive areas, protects native vegetation and educates the public on how to minimize disturbances to wildlife. These combined efforts help maintain the delicate balance necessary for the endangered beach mouse and other species to thrive.

Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 Local Government Funding Requests (LGFR) Review Schedule:

Staff will be reviewing the FY 2026-27 LGFR submittals adhering to the following schedule:

• Draft project assessments released: Sept. 5, 2025
• Local sponsor comments due: Sept. 26, 2025
• Signed Resolution due: Sept. 26, 2025
• Final project assessments released: Oct. 10, 2025
• Draft LGFR released for external review team: Oct. 24, 2025
• External review team comments due: Nov. 7, 2025

For questions related to the LGFR review period or process, contact John Irving, Environmental Administrator of the Beaches Funding Assistance Program at John.Irving@FloridaDEP.gov

Hurricane Restoration Reimbursement Grant (HRRG) Funds

In record time, the remaining HRRG funds, which was $6.5 million, were allocated to the Town of Longboat Key, St. Lucie County, and Lee County for local government beach projects.

New Faces in Beaches, Inlets and Ports

Dakota Molewicz and Emily Daehler joined the permitting and compliance teams.

Molewicz holds a master’s degree in natural resources from Virginia Tech and five years of supervisory experience in the U.S. Navy. He has also volunteered on several habitat restorations, sea turtle protection, and community awareness campaigns.

Daehler earned a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University in marine biology and is a certified diver. She has volunteer experience in designing aquariums for the Auburn Museum of Natural History and has conducted fieldwork and laboratory research at Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Welcome, Dakota and Emily!

PO Box 13146, Tallahassee FL 32317

Phone: (850) 906-9227 • mail@fsbpa.com