Episode 21: What’s the Plan? How Indian River County Is Addressing Lagoon Issues

KJ Ayres-Guerra:

Have you ever stood on a dock in Indian River County and watched a manatee glide by, or a school of mullet break through the surface? Did you know that beneath that beauty, there are years of pollution, stormwater runoff, and habitat loss that has taken a toll? If you ever wondered what’s being done to bring this incredible ecosystem back to life, from restoring seagrass beds to removing toxic muck, we’ve got the answers. All that and more on today’s One Lagoon – One Voice.

Duane DeFreese:

Hi, I am Duane De Freese, executive director of the IRL Council and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. Welcome to our One Lagoon, One Voice Podcast.rnrnEach week, myself or one of my staff members will host leaders in the community, scientists along the lagoon, people who know a lot about the system to talk about some of the problems. And most importantly, some of the solutions to solve the Indian River Lagoon’s health and make sure it’s great for future generations. rnrnSo let’s get the show started and let’s talk a little lagoon.

KJ:

Welcome to One Lagoon – One Voice. My name is KJ Ayers. I am the GIS/IT Data Scientist for the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program. rnrnIn this episode, we are gonna dive into the Indian River County’s Lagoon Management Plan, a bold and evolving strategy designed to restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon. From battling harmful algal blooms to enhancing habitat resilience, this plan maps out a path towards a healthier and more sustainable future. Today, we’re gonna explore the science, the solutions, and the stories behind the plan. And we have the ideal guest here to discuss that with, Melissa Meisenberg.

Melissa Meissenburg:

Hi, KJ.

KJ:

Hey, Melissa. rnrnAll right, just a little background on Melissa. She is the Senior Environmental Specialist with Indian River County’s Lagoon Division and has been with the county since 2022. She’s a native Floridian and she holds a master’s from Florida Institute of Technology, where she researched stressors impacting queen conch recovery in the Keys. rnrnWith a background in marine ecology, environmental nonprofits, and higher education, she now leads the County’s Lagoon Management Plan. rnrnSo, welcome and thank you for being on the podcast today.

Melissa:

Thank you for having me.

KJ:

So to start off with, can I ask you how you first came to work with Indian River County?

Melissa:

I believe it was in the fall of 2021, I saw the job posting. At the time, I was on sabbatical or leave from another position, and I saw the job posting. This position was created originally, in 2018 and originally staffed in 2019. And the position was back open again.rnrnI applied and was excited because it was an opportunity to make an impact where I live along the Indian River Lagoon. And I really wanted to have an opportunity to bring the knowledge and experience I had from working in the nonprofit world, particularly in management and restoration into the Lagoon Management Plan opportunity here at the county.

KJ:

Very nice. Well, we’re so lucky to have you on board. I know you sit in on our IRL management conference and, you know, I’ve gotten to know you a little bit, but I’ve been hearing about all the cool projects that you’ve been doing lately. rnrnCan you tell us about the Indian River County’s Lagoon Management Plan? What are the priorities for the Lagoon, and then what are some of the issues that you’ve had to tackle?

Melissa:

Yeah. So I would say the Lagoon Management Plan really took several years to get off the ground. You know, of course, the beginning of the development of the plan happened during COVID, which was when a lot of things came to a standstill. And we were lucky to move forward once I came on board here in 2022 and get the plan adopted in September of 2023.rnrnSo now we’re in the implementation phase but one of the key things in the development of the plan was determining what factors are impacting our portion of the Indian River Lagoon. We know it’s 156 miles long, and while the lagoon is all connected and we have similar stressors in each area, there may be things that are different from one region or sub-basin of the lagoon from another. rnrnSo we really wanted to identify those things so we could prioritize our projects because we wanted this to be an ecosystem-based project, not just projects looking at nutrients, but all aspects of the impacts that are happening to our lagoon for whether it’s dealing with shoreline development, sea level rise, derelict vessels. We wanted to include everything that is having an impact on our portion of the lagoon. rnrnSo, many of our priorities are directed by reducing nutrients, obviously, to reduce those harmful algal blooms, which we’ve seen in 2011 and 2016, but also to help to restore areas, to educate the public, and to, just make a more resilient ecosystem.

KJ:

Mm-hmm. So besides educating the public and more of a resilient ecosystem, what are the main goals for the plan?

Melissa:

So I’d say the main goals for the plan are to reduce those stressors. We definitely want to reduce our nutrients loading into the lagoon, which we have done through the development of some stormwater treatment facilities in Indian River County. We have three of those currently online.rnrnSo we definitely wanna reduce our nutrients, reduce harmful algal blooms and reduce our impacts to the ecosystem. We also wanna reduce our fine-grained sediments from entering the lagoon as well as the nutrients adding organic materials adding to potential muck deposits within the lagoon, which can hold on to nutrients as well.rnrnWe wanna be able to remove that nitrogen and phosphorus, but it’s hard to do that. So it’s easier to keep it out before it gets there. So we wanna start by tackling those projects first. and then we want to move into creating healthy habitats within the lagoon, whether that’s restoration-based or an ecosystem-based approach, whether it’s planting seagrass, restoring oyster habitat. rnrnWe also wanna fill in our data gaps. We do feel that we have some data gaps within the county, particularly with our knowledge of where we have muck and legacy loading within our portion of the lagoon. So we are working on that now, filling some of those data gaps. And our next data gap, we hope to fill is looking at boater use activity in our portion of the lagoon so that-

KJ:

Interesting.

Melissa:

…we can help to protect manatees and other marine mammals and sea turtles that are utilizing the lagoon as a nursery habitat or year-round residence. rnrnAnd also so that we can understand the impacts of potential anchoring within the lagoon where people are anchoring, potentially discharging in the lagoon from boat use as well as our, um, where we typically see our derelict vessels or abandoned boats. rnrnWe’re also filling in that data gap with the muck studies, but also we are really interested in understanding where we have historical oyster beds and where we have lost them so that we can start prioritizing some oyster restoration in our portion of the lagoon as well.

KJ:

Very cool. So kind of bouncing off of that, what specifically right now is your department working on?

Melissa:

Yeah, so we have a lot of projects. We’re really excited. We first kicked off a partnership with FIT, Dr. Kelly Hunsucker and Robert Weaver. We began, or expanded their Living Docks program here into Indian River County. So we’ve wrapped about four docks so far. We’re holding public events where people can come out and help build oyster mats.rnrnWe also are partnering with other organizations in the county, like the Environmental Learning Center and other businesses that are allowing us to host events at their facilities so that people who are visiting can help build oyster mats or if they have volunteers that are associated with their organization can come out and help build oyster mats so we can wrap docks. rnrnThe interesting thing about a living dock is that it creates habitat, it provides places for oyster to settle, but it also provides places for tunicates and sponges and other invertebrates and other organisms to settle. So it creates this great habitat that’s not only drawing other things to the dock, but also providing some water quality benefits.

KJ:

Awesome. And just kind of going off that a little bit, for those that are listening in that may not know what a living dock is… you talked about the oyster mats but is there more that goes into those living docks as well?

Melissa:

Yeah. So, it’s an aquaculture grade mat that has oyster shell that is spent, oyster shell. So it’s been collected from a restaurant. It’s set in the sun for six months to kill off any potential bacteria or disease that could be associated with it. And then that oyster shell is attached to the mat. We take the mat and we wrap it around a dock piling.rnrnSo dock pilings are generally just chemically treated wood. Sometimes they have plastic wrapping around them. And what we do is we come out and give a place for oysters to settle with on that piling by wrapping it. So we’ve already wrapped four docks and we’re hosting regular mat building events around the county. rnrnWe can’t do this without volunteers. It takes about 40 minutes to build one oyster mat, and attach all the oyster shells you need. So without volunteers, my staff would not be able to do it (laughs). We would not be able to. We’ve wrapped four docks so far. rnrnSo we’re really excited about the community coming out and getting involved in this project with us.

KJ:

Yeah, for sure. rnrnSo, I’m just curious about this now. Does it take one of those oyster mats to wrap an entire piling, or is it multiple mats to wrap a piling?

Melissa:

So we don’t wrap the entire piling. We just wrap the area just below the water surface. So maybe the top of the mat at low tide is exposed like you would find on a typical oyster reef.

KJ:

Okay.

Melissa:

It often takes… depending on the size of the piling… whether it takes two mats linked together to wrap the piling or one mat… really has to do with the size of the piling itself. rnrnFor most of our docks, we’ve had to use two mats linked together to wrap all the way around a piling just because many of the pilings we’re seeing now on some of the docks are much larger.

KJ:

Every big project has its hurdles. So what are some of the toughest challenges for getting the Indian River Lagoon Plan off the ground in your county? And maybe you can give examples. I’m just trying to figure out, like, what was the hardest part about getting this plan in action?

Melissa:

Yeah, so I’d say one thing that can be challenging is that there are multiple departments within the county that are doing projects that are benefiting the Indian River Lagoon. rnrnIt’s not just my natural resources department that I work in. It’s also our parks, recreation, and conservation lands. It’s utilities. We have multiple divisions, including our stormwater division within our natural resources department, and they all have projects they’re working on. rnrnAnd sometimes it’s difficult to bring those projects together to keep up with what every department is doing, but it is a conjoined effort to benefit the lagoon and therefore falls under the Lagoon Management Plan.rnrnSo I think one of the biggest challenges was getting everyone together to find out what projects they plan on doing, prioritizing projects, how we can work together. That can be very challenging when we’re all tasked in a different area. rnrnSo, utilities are tasked with providing services to the community of water and sewer, but now they’re also tasked with projects like septic to sewer. Most septic to sewer projects benefit the Indian River Lagoon by reducing nutrients through our groundwater into the lagoon. So, keeping up with what everybody’s doing can be quite a challenge as we have all sorts of projects taking place all the time. rnrnI think the biggest challenge for all of us is always going to be funding because there’s such limited funding sources available and many of these projects, particularly large-scale projects, cost quite a bit of money. And so we have to start going after and finding those sources. rnrnBut you have other entities that are also seeking financial sources through grants. So that can be challenging to make sure that your project is designed well, laid out properly, shovel-ready, so that those funds can be acquired and utilized to meet the needs of the county, the citizens, and the lagoon.

KJ:

Yeah. I guess I just didn’t think about, you know, how lands and natural resources may be going in two different directions.

Melissa:

Yeah.

KJ:

I knew utilities because the main goal is removing nutrients, but that’s a lot of people – even just in one organization having to work together. rnrnSo what’s kind of the plan for when prioritizing projects?

Melissa:

Yeah, so it’s, I mean, some of our prioritization is driven by our Basin Management Action Plan to reduce nutrients in the lagoon. Some of that’s also gonna be driven by state statutes that have come through requiring advanced septic systems or septic to sewer conversions. rnrnAnd then projects for my division are really prioritized by habitat improvement. So I think each of our departments, each of our divisions are prioritizing their projects. But coming together within the plan, we were sort of able to make a ranking system of the different types of things that each project would be tackling. rnrnSo how many key factors would this project fall under and tackle within the Lagoon Management Plan? And, you know, prioritizing whether the project is already shovel-ready, is it designed, are permits in hand. Having those things in place help to make decisions about which projects are gonna take place first. rnrnWith each department, though, they’re prioritizing their own projects within that ranking, whereas my division is prioritizing the projects that I would handle, which are really filling data gaps… so research, management, and then restoration.

KJ:

It’s cool to understand how the ranking system works, but also, you know, you have to cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s before you reach out for funding and pick which projects go first.

Melissa:

Absolutely.

KJ:

So I know you were talking about internally in the county. Can you talk about what other partners that you’re working with, maybe other cities or the private sector, maybe environmental groups?

Melissa:

Yeah.

KJ:

What is something, you know, that you would probably tell local residents or businesses about how to get involved within the Lagoon Plan?

Melissa:

Yeah. We had the partnership with FIT for the Living Docks program. And we’re always looking to build more partnerships. rnrnIt’s been very great to have opportunities to go out with some other organizations, including St. John’s River Water Management District. rnrnI’ve gone out in the field and done, assisted with some research projects with, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Aquatic Preserves program as we have two aquatic preserves within Indian River County. rnrnAlso, we have had some projects or partnerships where I’ve assisted with the Brevard Zoo and some of their monitoring of the clams that were released within the Sebastian area of Indian River County. rnrnWe’ve worked with the Environmental Learning Center. They’ve held some volunteer opportunities for us for people to come, particularly their volunteers as well as others in the community to not only come to the ELC for the day, but to help build oyster mats with us. rnrnAnd the city of Vero Beach has been gracious in often giving us space to be able to store materials, which is very important when you’re doing projects.

KJ:

Any restoration work (laughs). Yes.

Melissa:

Yeah. We have an oyster restoration project, that’s right off of Riverside, and we have 640 oyster reef balls, and they’re sitting in their parking lot because otherwise I wouldn’t have a place to store them and that’s the closest point to our restoration site. rnrnIt’s very costly to offload at one place, then transfer to another, and then have to have forklifts. So the City of Vero Beach graciously gave us an opportunity to offload there. We’re always looking for more opportunities to partner with other organizations, particularly in anything that is going to be making an impact in the lagoon. rnrnWithin my division we try to work closely with our community members, particularly our environmental organizations, like the Clean Water Coalition, who has supported us in many of our projects and also offered, in the coming year, to provide financial support. rnrnAnd the Land Trust, the Indian River Land Trust, also purchases conservation lands and has worked closely with our conservation division through the Parks, Rec, and Conservation Lands Department. And they have also coordinated with us. All of these organizations gave vital feedback in the development of the Lagoon Management Plan, but are continuing to work with us to make some of the projects that we want to get off the ground, bring those to fruition because without their backing or support, we might not be able to financially get them off the ground. rnrnBut I know that the Clean Water Coalition is, and the Land Trust are partnering with us, hopefully in the coming year to kick off a new project that is in our upcoming budget that we hope will get approval. And if it does, they have graciously offered to provide us that support so that they can see this benefit the lagoon as well. rnrnWe have great opportunities to partner with others, and I’m hoping that we’ll see more partnerships and our partnerships to expand in the future. So we’re really, really excited. I still feel like the Lagoon Management Plan in its implementation phase is sort of in its infancy. It’s like a toddler now.

KJ:

Mm-hmm.

Melissa:

So it’s just learning to really walk and get its feet. And so we’re really excited to see where this is gonna take us.

KJ:

I kinda lost track of the number of different partners in your network.

Melissa:

Oh, yeah.

KJ:

I think it was over 10 already. But it’s cool how you guys can all work together and, you know, you guys are figuring out ways to kind of partner on all these different projects. rnrnKind of going off of that, so what’s the main thing that you would want residents to take away from the Lagoon Plan?

Melissa:

When the Lagoon Management Plan was being written, one of the goals was to make it readable for everyone. We didn’t want it to be a technical report. We wanted it to be a document that all of our citizens could pick up and take important information from it. rnrnIf you haven’t had a chance to read it… read it. I promise it’s not terrible. I’ve had people tell me they read it and how and how it helped them. rnrnWe can all make changes in our lifestyles, even small changes that end up making a big impact. But reading and understanding what the county’s doing, our projects, how we’re prioritizing those is very important so that citizens know all the things that we are trying to do, our goals for the future, and what we hope to do so that we can all come together and reduce our impacts on the Lagoon. rnrnI think that’s important for our citizens to be aware of. I find that sometimes people don’t utilize or don’t know about the resources that they have around them.

KJ:

Very true.

Melissa:

So if people go onto the county’s website, the Lagoon Management Plan is there. You can download it, you can open it up, and read it. rnrnAnd, anytime if you have questions or comments, always feel free to reach out to me or anyone else within the natural resources department. We’re happy to talk about it. rnrnAnd share ideas. We have citizens come to us with ideas all the time. And sometimes they’re great ideas and sometimes they’re probably harder for us to get off the ground right away but it’s everyday citizens that can really make a difference. And I think there are a lot of people out there that have great ideas about what we could do to help the lagoon.rnrnAnd I think that they just need to share them with us. So anything, anybody who reads it and has a question or a comment and wants to come forward, feel free to reach out. We’re always eager to work with our community members, work with our local organizations and our citizens. rnrnAnd get involved. Get involved by finding out what kind of volunteer opportunities, not just with the county, but with all of the organizations that are within Indian River County. rnrnAnd if you’re listening to this and you’re not within Indian River County, I mean, there’s opportunities in every county along the lagoon with different organizations to get involved. Definitely take that opportunity to do it because the connection of the lagoon, the history of the lagoon is so important. And once you learn more about it, you’ll understand why we’re all sort of here fighting for it.

KJ:

This is more of a personal question, and I think I know what you’re gonna say but is there- I know you mentioned about the oyster mats- but is there another particular project or initiative that really gets you excited? That you’re really excited to go out in the field and just be a part of it? And can you tell us more about it?

Melissa:

Yeah, we have two projects beyond the lagoon, um, the Living Docks program. We have an oyster restoration project that we’re slowly building on putting those oyster reef balls in which I talked about but right now I’m really excited for the seagrass projects. rnrnThis is an opportunity to do something, one, that I’ve never done before. I know about seagrass, you know, these are things I learned in school. I can identify seagrass. I keep up with the literature on what’s taking place with research with seagrass. I’ve never planted seagrass before.rnrnAnd so, you know, we’ve all been in the garden and planted plants, but the challenges with planting seagrass and the (laughs) water is not something I anticipated. And, you know, we’ve gone out a few times now. It’s super exciting. It’s a long day while you’re out there. I have great admiration for the people who are providing the seagrass to us, Sea u0026 Shoreline and their staff, who are out there from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM every day.

KJ:

Wow (laughs).

Melissa:

We’re lucky if we get out there at 9:30, 10 o’clock and we leave by 3:00 and we’re just worn out. And they’re still out there planting long after we’ve left the boat ramp. rnrnSo, I’m really excited. I’m excited to see, one, we have not had a seagrass project of this magnitude within our area of the lagoon. I’m really excited to see how this seagrass takes off. If seagrass restoration is going to be a viable option for us. rnrnWe are seeing seagrass recovery, and in one of our areas, we do have recovery. It’s actually mixed assemblages of Johnson’s, paddle grass, Halodule, and Ruppia all within our planting area. So we’re seeing these… it’s just very… patchy. It’s not sparse, it’s patchy. So there’s a patch and then there’s a lot of bare sand around it, and then another patch, and then more bare sand. rnrnBut it’s a great opportunity when you’re out there and you’re putting in this seagrass and you hit seagrass and you go, u0022I can’t plant my next pot because there’s seagrass right here.u0022rnrnSo it’s really exciting. And I can’t wait till we start monitoring and seeing what the seagrass is doing because I really think it’s going to enhance recovery because we know recovery is slow and we need to give it a little boost and then hopefully as we continue to get those nutrients down, keep ’em down. We’ll see greater recovery and see that seagrass take back off. And it’s exciting because these are historical seagrass areas for our region. And to be able to replenish that seagrass and sort of kickstart it into gear. We’re really excited about it.

KJ:

Can I ask you a few more questions about it?

Melissa:

Absolutely.

KJ:

So for those that are listening in, I know where the spots are, but can you give a general, like, acreage or, you know, how many plants you’re putting in or how big it is? Because I don’t think people realize how big these spots are (laughs).

Melissa:

Well, so, both of these are south of the inlet, north of Wabasso. We actually have two sites. rnrnOne is called Big Slough. It’s just north of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. It is a sandy area, shallow water and it is going to receive… the total area we are planting… so not, obviously, you plant on three foot centers, so you’re not planting every inch or two, but you’re putting every three feet, you’re putting a plant in. We’re looking at 12.8 acres total that will receive planting. rnrnOur second site, which will not get planted until sometime in late June, because that’s how long it’s gonna take to plant the first spot at 12.8 acres, which is a lot of seagrass. rnrnThe next spot is 10 acres and it’s inside Preachers Hole. So there’s a series of islands just north of Wabasso Causeway. One of the islands is referred to as Preachers Island and within it, creates a natural sheltered area and it was a historical seagrass area. And so we’re planting back some of the seagrass that was lost closer into the center area or deeper edge of the area. So that is 10 acres, and it will also take approximately a month to plant.

KJ:

Wow. Yeah, those are big areas because I feel like a lot of the seagrass projects that I’ve seen are, like, less than an acre. And so you’re tackling, you know, an entire magnitude larger.

Melissa:

Yeah.

KJ:

What initiated the project? Because you said that you guys weren’t really doing seagrass in Indian River County. So what was that big push to initiate doing this type of restoration?

Melissa:

We had asked for some proposals for seagrass work in the county. And we were looking for those smaller one to two acre things. Maybe do some test plots, see how it worked out, maybe it would work, wouldn’t work. rnrnBut we asked for full proposals from Sea u0026 Shoreline just to give us an idea about how many acres you could plant here. Give us the whole amount, and then break it down by acre so that we knew exactly what we were looking at. rnrnThey’d given it to us. We had talked about it. We had started talking about potential funding sources for it when the IRLNEP said, u0022We have an opportunity. There’s a grant. But, you know, if we came together and brought our partners together to make this happen, we could really create transformation within the lagoon.”rnrnAnd this Habitat Transformational Grant is… I just got excited about it… this opportunity. We don’t have to stick to one or two acres. Let’s go big. Because nobody’s really done that. They’ve done smaller seagrass plantings. And would we see greater survivorship if we planted a bigger area? Because losing a few isn’t really gonna hit us hard if we have 12.8 acres of seagrass that we’ve planted. rnrnSo, working on the grant, coming together with the other partners, seeing their projects, I brought it to our department and said, u0022What do you guys think? Can we do this?” Got approval and everybody’s just excited about it. And it’s absolutely exciting when, you know, we received the announcement that the IRLNEP had been recommended. Of course we’re all getting really excited. And then, okay, we’ve got the grant. We’re all getting really excited still. rnrnAnd now it just feels like, wow, we’re here. We’re planting.

KJ:

We’re doing it.

Melissa:

It’s actually happening. And this is amazing. And we’re really gonna see what’s successful. I also feel like this is gonna be beneficial for others, like, what’s successful, smaller acreage, larger acreage, and understanding what is needed for better success and seagrass recovery.

KJ:

Yeah. I feel like the whole NOAA Transformational Habitat grant was the reason I kinda got to know you a little bit more-

Melissa:

Yeah (laughs).

KJ:

…and why we’ve (laughs) been involved a little bit more. And that’s why I wanted to interview you and why I asked if you would be on this podcast with us. rnrnI also wanted to ask another personal thing. What keeps you motivated? Just to keep doing the job every single day?

Melissa:

So I think that I really love my job. I think that’s a huge motivator. If you don’t love your job, then when, I’m not gonna say it doesn’t get tough, and I’m not gonna say I don’t have my moments where like, u0022This is just not okay,u0022 or I’m not happy about something but I really do love my job. rnrnI think one of the things that always keeps me motivated is, and it probably sounds cliche, but I’ve always loved the environment.rnrnAnd I always knew that that was something I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to go to school to be a biologist. I knew I wanted to go to school to help reduce impacts on marine ecosystems and organisms. I knew I wanted to do this, and so now I’m doing it. And so I don’t, even though I know it’s not always easy, and it’s tough, and I do wake up at 5:30 every day thinking, u0022Ugh, I have to get up? (laughs) I don’t wanna do this-

KJ:

(laughs).

Melissa:

…not today. rnrnOr when you don’t get the grant and you’re really disappointed that you didn’t get chosen to write the full proposal, or you didn’t get the grant at all. You know, those things can really hit you hard and you think, u0022Well, what am I doing wrong?u0022 but you have to love what you do. But you also have to love where you’re doing it. rnrnI think it was in grad school. You know, I grew up in Florida. I grew up in Jacksonville so I’m familiar with the Intracoastal. It was a normal everyday thing. I was familiar with the St. Johns River. It was a normal thing. I drove over regularly but when I came here for grad school and I took a course, with Dr. Turner, who’s now, I believe is retired from FIT-

KJ:

Mm-hmm.

Melissa:

…I took a course with him about the natural history of the Indian River Lagoon. And it was a very labor-intensive course. You created your own field guide. You went out all day in the field. It was hot ’cause it’s done over the summer. And I mean hot! And you’re not always in the water. rnrnI really connected with the lagoon then.

KJ:

Okay.

Melissa:

And I really saw all the changes that it had gone through historically… where it was, where it is. And just knew, I live along the lagoon. It’s part of my home community. And anything I feel that I do in my job, I’m benefiting myself as well. I’m benefiting my kids’ future. I’m benefiting their opportunities to fish in the lagoon. rnrnAnd I want future generations to have the opportunities that generations before us had where they’d go swimming in the lagoon, they’d go fishing, they’d go kayaking.rnrnI want them to enjoy it too. I want them to see, go out and spot a dolphin or a manatee, see a green sea turtle you know, catch their snook or their tarpon and take that picture and submit it to FWC for their recognition. rnrnI want all those opportunities for our community, and I want them to get connected to the lagoon as well. And I want them to find passion and enjoyment in living in this area. So, it’s a beautiful resource and I hope everybody sees it for its beauty.

KJ:

Well, I’m really glad that you stayed and I’m really glad that you’re part of Indian River County. You are a great connection and a person that’s making a difference. rnrnI don’t know, I think it’s really cool that you can talk about the future generations of what you want your kids and other generations to see because I feel like sometimes that gets lost in the fog sometimes. Everybody’s so focused on what’s happening right now, and keeping that mentality of you’re trying to make it better for the future makes, you know, it’s what motivates me to stay, do my job as well. So it’s kinda cool to hear that you’re saying that.

Melissa:

Yeah, it didn’t get where it is today, overnight.

KJ:

Mm-hmm.

Melissa:

It’s not gonna get where we want it to be overnight either. rnrnI definitely think we have to focus on the future, focus on what we can do now, and then make improvements for the future so that we can get it to where we want it to be again and improve. rnrnEspecially as more and more people move to our areas because let’s face it, Florida’s lovely. It’s warm (laughs). We don’t have snow. We have these beautiful waterways, opportunities for recreation. And so people want to come here, they want to live here. And we want those people who are coming to enjoy it, to love it and have their future generations love it as well.

KJ:

If someone is listening and they wanna help, what is the easiest way for them to get started, even if they don’t know anything about the lagoon?

Melissa:

Yeah. So the easiest way to get started, I mean, if they just wanna do volunteer opportunities, definitely go to the IRLNEP’s newsletter, sign up, come onto the Indian River Counties website. rnrnWe have a lot of resources. One of our new staff that came on, she’s been with us almost a year, Sarah Wappes. She has really built out our Lagoon Division webpage. rnrnWe have lots of resources there now that talks about all our programming, but also provides information for regular citizens to learn about the lagoon, to learn about what types of animals you’ll find there, what types of plants, how they can connect to the lagoon, opportunities in our region, opportunities for people to volunteer with us. We have all that stuff on our website.rnrnSo, definitely check out the indianriver.gov website for the Lagoon Division. We have a lot of resources for people to learn about. And obviously, we have great organizations around here, including the Environmental Learning Center, which provides a lot of education opportunities. A lot of those are for kids, but a great opportunity to visit and learn more about the lagoon as well.rnrnAnd if you just wanna get out on the water and you don’t have a kayak, rent a kayak, go out.

KJ:

(laughs).

Melissa:

Go to a Wabasso Causeway and wade or go fishing along A1A just south of the inlet. There are definitely opportunities to connect to the Indian River Lagoon and view it. rnrnIf you want a deeper read and to get connected more with what’s going on, the Lagoon Management Plan does provide a lot of background and history in this area of the Indian River Lagoon itself as well as current information on the lagoon.

KJ:

I did wanna ask, you mentioned something about being good stewards at home in that email we had. So I wasn’t sure if you wanted to touch on that a little bit too.

Melissa:

Yeah, so I think there’s lots of things we can do at home in our daily lives, like not littering. Many of our canal system within Indian River County drains to the lagoon. And so making sure we keep litter out of those canals is important, but also keeping other things like potential nutrient sources. rnrnSo very simple things like if you’re gonna wash your car, do it at an authorized car wash where they might have some type of treatment facility within the car wash, or at least the water is going to a wastewater treatment facility. rnrnAnother option is wash your car on your grass so that it absorbs the water and any potential phosphates that are in the detergent. Doing little things like that, you know, the little things you were even taught as a kid, like turn the water off when you brush your teeth so it doesn’t run the whole time. Those are all things that we do to benefit the Lagoon every day. So keeping litter out. rnrnAnd obviously if you live along the lagoon and you want to learn more about what you can do as a lagoon front property owner, we have some resources on our website about living shorelines, which are great stabilization. They outperform seawalls, they will outlast a seawall. And then we have some great resources for homeowners to learn more about them. rnrnIf you’re a dock owner and you wanna have your dock wrapped, fill out the application on our website, we’re happy to come and take a visit, a site visit of your dock and wrap your pilings. All great things that we can help to do. rnrnAnd then, of course, if you wanna volunteer with us, anytime, or any of the other organizations… come out. We want everybody to come and volunteer. We want people to get connected and be passionate about the lagoon too.

KJ:

I saw some really great photos of Erin and Heather, when they went out with you guys seagrass planting.

Melissa:

Yes.

KJ:

And they looked like they had so much fun out there (laughs). I’m kinda jealous.

Melissa:

I bet they were probably sore the next day. I know two days in a row of planting that I was quite sore, my shoulders were sore (laughs) ’cause it’s a lot of reaching into the sediment to dig it out and then put the seagrass in and then cover it up. You’re trying to reach and keep your head above water at the same time (laughs).

KJ:

(laughs).

Melissa:

So, because otherwise you, with a snorkel and mask, the water just tends to wash over your snorkel and you can’t use it. So, makes it easier to keep your head above. It was a great time.

KJ:

Before we go, are there any upcoming events or places where people can learn more about what Indian River County Resources is doing and how they can get involved?

Melissa:

Absolutely. So the Indian River County website indianriver.gov has a lagoon page link, and you can go to the lagoon page itself and you’ll see a tab on the left side that is labeled as volunteer. And you can click on it and it’ll list all our volunteer opportunities that we have in the future. rnrnAnd it will also have a link to sign up where we will send out reminder emails as well as all the information you need to have for the volunteer opportunity, like what to wear, what to bring, and the, um, time and our meeting location. We regularly have volunteer opportunities posted there, and we also have them on our natural, uh, resources department Facebook page as well.

KJ:

Melissa, thank you so much for joining with us today. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain about the Lagoon Management Plan in Indian River County, ways that you can get involved, what you love doing, and why you love your job. And I just very much appreciate that you took the time outta your busy schedule to talk with us and kinda share what you’re doing in Indian River County because it’s so important.

Melissa:

Well, thank you for having me.

KJ:

Thank you for everybody who’s listening today. If you’ve enjoyed these discussions about the Indian River Lagoon, please like and subscribe to this podcast. rnrnTo learn more about the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, how you can get involved, and tips on living lagoon-friendly, or how you can purchase One Lagoon merchandise, visit us all at onelagoon.org. rnrnOur newly redesigned Indian River Lagoon license plate is now available at your local tag office. rnrnAnd to stay informed about lagoon news and any upcoming events, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube all at One Lagoon. rnrnThank you, everybody.