Episode 30: Seeds of Recovery: A Hidden Seed Bank Bringing Seagrass Back to the Indian River Lagoon

Kathy Hill:

Hi there everybody, and welcome to One Lagoon One Voice, the podcast of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, where we talk all things Lagoon with smart people doing great work to help restore the lagoon. I’m Kathy Hill, deputy director of the IRLNEP, and today’s host. Seagrass is often called the lifeblood of the Indian River Lagoon. And one of the clearest measures of the lagoons health. In this episode we sit down with one of the leading experts in lagoon seagrasses to explore the unexpected recovery happening right now in the IRL.

Just how much seagrass has returned to the lagoon? Think football fields. Thousands of them. And the key to bringing it all back may be something remarkably simple…seeds. From surprising breakthroughs to the science giving new hope to the lagoon, this conversation reveals why the future of the Indian River Lagoon might be brighter than many people realize. So stay tuned and lets get started.

Kathy Hill:

My guest today is Lauren Hall from the St. John’s River Water Management District. Welcome back, Lauren. It’s good to see you.

Lauren Hall:

Hey, Kathy. It’s really great to be back.

Kathy Hill:

Um, for the folks that don’t know you, tell us a little bit about who you are and what your role is with the district.

Lauren Hall:

Sure. Um, well, again, my name is Lauren Hall and I’ve been working for the St. John’s River Water Management District for a little over 30 years now. I work in the coastal section, so we focus a lot on the entire coast of, uh, Florida, especially for my part, the Indian River Lagoon. I spend a lot of time monitoring seagrasses in the lagoon, macroalgae, water quality, and putting it all together.

Kathy Hill:

And you are our go-to person on all things seagrass. So I’m excited to talk to you today and hear about some of the new work that’s going on.

Lauren Hall:

Yeah, I’m really excited to share our most recent, uh, seagrass map information.

Kathy Hill:

Yeah, let’s get into that. So the district just released their 2025 results. Well, the results from the 2025 aerial survey and some of the in-water monitoring that you all do. Why don’t you tell us about that?

Lauren Hall:

Sure. Well, just a, a little bit of background on how we’ve been monitoring seagrasses at the Water Management District. We’ve been monitoring since the 1990s and we use a two-tiered approach. So the mapping from the aerial photography that you mentioned, that’s our large-scale tier one part of the project. And that gives us a really big picture view of what’s going on with the seagrass throughout the entire lagoon, lagoon-wide maps.

We can get a really good overview on where we’re seeing the really big changes, whether those be increases or decreases, and then we can evaluate what’s working really well. And then if there’s things that aren’t working really well, what do we need to do to modify? so in 2023, we had, um, our aerial photography produce the lagoon-wide maps and we were down to just under 25,000 acres lagoon-wide. In the most recent released maps, which were done in 2025, we saw a, a really large increase.

We saw a 72% increase from 2023, and we’re now, um, just over 42,000 acres. So that increase in just those two years of the 17,000 acres is the equivalent of 13,000 football fields. So we’re not talking about a few patches here or there. We’re talking about a really substantial increase in seagrass.

Kathy Hill:

Yeah, that, that was pretty amazing to see. It was unbelievably good news for everybody who knows and loves the lagoon. That was a great thing. talk a little bit about the in-water monitoring and what that tells you versus what the mapping tells you.

Lauren Hall:

Yeah. So the in-water monitoring is also something that we’ve been doing since the ’90s. So I, I talked about that two-tiered approach. So this is the tier two, that finer scale in water transect monitoring. We do that monitoring twice a year in summer and winter. So that gives us an idea of, of what sort of density we have out there. So we know the footprint from the aerial mapping and then with the transect monitoring, we know how much grass is present within that footprint.

It could also give us other information about what the different species of seagrass are doing, um, whether or not we have macroalgae present, what sort of epiphyte coverage we have, which is that really fine algae that’s growing on the seagrass blades. Um, and so we find out a lot more detail from the in-water transect monitoring. We do that at 100 locations throughout the lagoon. So as you can imagine, this takes some effort and we’re really, really fortunate to have the help of so many agencies. It’s a really huge collaborative effort that relies on those partnerships.

To do those sites, we run a line out from shore to the deep edge of the seagrass beds and then every five to 50 meters along that line, we’ll put down a square meter quadrat and take a bunch of different data in that quadrat. And the length of that transect can vary, but we always take that to the deep edge of the seagrass bed so we can get a really good idea of the expansions and contractions of the grass bed.

Kathy Hill:

Neat. And that, that also tells you about the density as well. So-

Lauren Hall:

Absolutely.

Kathy Hill:

… we know now that not only is seagrass expanding in the lagoon, but it’s also increasing in density. So that’s a doubly good picture, right?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah, exactly. So we’re seeing that, again, that increase in acreage that I mentioned earlier, but we’re also seeing an increase in percent cover. So back before we had those persistent blooms that started in 2011, our, our average percent cover throughout the lagoon was around 20%. That’s average. So that’s taking the entire transect of all 100 sites.

But in 2021, we had really gotten down pretty low for percent cover. We were down to only, uh, less than 2% cover. But now in 2025, our most recent data that we just released, um, we’re back up to 11% cover. So we’re moving in the right direction, um, you know, but we have a long way to go before we get back to what we had in 2009 and 2010.

Kathy Hill:

Let’s clarify also, is, that’s the overall seagrass picture that we’re talking about here. Um, the results aren’t uniform, Why don’t you talk a little bit about that?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah, no, that’s a good point. So that increase that we saw in our seagrass extent in the, the aerial photography mapping, um, we saw the increase in five out of six sublagoons. So the Central Indian River Lagoon, that area between Cocoa and, and Melbourne, Grant area, we really have not seen any recovery in that area, but the other five out of six sublagoons has seen that recovery.

So it does matter where you are in the lagoon. And same thing goes for that percent cover that we get from the in-water monitoring. We’re seeing very little recovery in the central IRL, whereas we’re seeing a lot of increase in density in the other areas.

Kathy Hill:

And why do you think that is? Do you have sort of a, a, an approach for how you’re studying that or like a good feel for it?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah, I mean, there’s a variety of factors that can affect seagrass recovery, but really the major driver is water clarity, water quality. Seagrass need, like, to photosynthesize. So when we have turbid water or we get phytoplankton blooms those really microscopic algae that can grow and cloud up the water, that reduces the amount of light that can reach the seagrass and that’s going to definitely have an impact.

So central IRL that I mentioned where we’re not seeing a lot of recovery, we suspect that one of the contributing factors could also be a lack of a robust seed bank. And so in some of these other areas, we were thinking, “Hey, maybe we’ve got some, some flowering going on and, and some seeds that are, that are sitting there in the sediment ready to go.” And that area maybe we’re not seeing that same kind of robust seed banks.

So, you know, again, seagrass are flowering plants, but in an area that tends to have larger fluctuations in seagrass cover like the central IRL, it’s possible that seagrass just never gets to the point of being able to put down a good seed set. or if they are, maybe those conditions that we’re seeing in the central IRL are not conducive to germination or survival of, of germinated seeds.

Kathy Hill:

Interesting. And, and that brings us into our next topic. So I’m very excited to hear about this, uh, seagrass seed study you’ve been taking on. tell us how that came about. I’ve heard yours and Lori Morris’ story about going out and seeing all this great new growth all around you. talk a little bit about that and how did that get you thinking about seed banks?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah. Uh, yeah, that, that reminds me of that moment that I pulled up to the site where, I mean, I was just completely overwhelmed with the increase that we had seen. This was up in the Northern Indian River Lagoon and just so, so unexpected, such a huge dramatic increase. So, but yeah, uh, the common belief as far as seeds are concerned, the common belief until very recently was that the most dominant species that we have out in the Indian River Lagoon, Halodule Wrightii, that it rarely flowered.

We thought, you know, this is growing using vegetative growth, new recruitment into different areas is through fragment settlement pieces of, of Halodule that breaks off and then settles in a new area. We really just did not think that they flowered often and produced seeds. And this was the common belief, not just in the Indian River Lagoon. They thought this on the west coast of Florida and Southern Florida. It was just thought Halodule is not a big seed producer. It really likes to, to reproduce through vegetative growth.

But when we started to observe that recovery that we were just talking about in 2023 up in the northern IRL in Mosquito Lagoon, and then again in 2024 in s- in Northern Banana River Lagoon, we very quickly realized that the scale of what we were seeing just could not possibly be coming from fragment recruitment. It was very rapid and very widespread and all seemed to just turn on like a light switch. so we thought there’s only one other explanation, there must be more seeds than we think there are.

And so we started a project to, to first just answer the question, do we have seeds? And then if we do, where are they? And then if we have them and we find where they are, how closely is that related to where we have seagrass and is it, does it matter how long we’ve had seagrass in that location or if there’s seagrass present now, then there’s gonna be seeds there. And so we had a lot of questions and, and very few answers to start with.

So, um, so we, we got together with Florida Institute of Technology, Austin Fox’s lab and we got some funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and started to answer those questions. So we got answers to those first two. Yes, we do have Halodule wrightii seeds out there and yes, they do relate to where seagrass is present, but the relationship wasn’t as simple as we anticipated. And as you know, from hearing we talk about the lagoon Kathy, nothing ever seems to be simple. It’s such a complex system.

Kathy Hill:

Yeah. Every answer starts with it depends.

Lauren Hall:

And absolutely.

Lauren Hall:

And, you know, Bob Virnstein used to say it, every time you’d have a conversation with Bob, he would say, “Well, it depends.”

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

Um, and, and so it depends in this case as well. We are finding seeds in areas that have seagrass, but it doesn’t seem like all it needs is to have seagrass present. It really seems to need seagrass that has been persistent at that location for a long period of time. And so we’re, we’re really looking a lot more into that and trying to really tease out some of the differences that we’re finding out there.

But one of the other really big takeaways from the, that first part of the seed project has been that our seed density in the Indian River Lagoon is very low compared to other estuaries that have Halodule wrightii. So-

Kathy Hill:

Interesting. Huh.

Lauren Hall:

… we’re… Yeah, we’re finding max numbers of somewhere around 160 seeds per meter squared, which, you know, maybe that sounds like a lot, but when you look at some of the other studies that are finding max densities over 3,000 seeds per meter squared or 5,000 seeds per meter squared, our numbers are really substantially lower.

Kathy Hill:

Very interesting. That’s, uh, that’s a surprise to me.

Lauren Hall:

I mean, it leads to a lot of other questions, right?

Kathy Hill:

Yeah, definitely.

Lauren Hall:

… So if we have really low numbers like that, what does that mean then for seed viability and germination?

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

Those two things, whether or not we have, you know, if you have 160 seeds per meter squared, but only 10% of those are viable, well, that can be critically important. and what are some of the triggers for, flowering some of the triggers for germination and then whether or not those seedlings are going to survive when they do germinate? So we know very little about flowering, particularly with Halodule and, and part of the reason why is Halodule flowers are very, very difficult to see. They’re at the base of the chute, um, they’re very, very small and, you know, in the lagoon, we don’t always have the best clarity in the world, so-

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm. Right.

Lauren Hall:

… so sometimes it’s really, really hard to see these little tiny structures at the base of the chute. Um, but we don’t know, does it, does it happen everywhere? Are there triggers, salinity, temperature, light? Are there certain things that are making these flowers happening and is it flowering once a year? Is it flowering multiple times a year? We really don’t know the answers to those questions right now.

And so, we’re working again with Austin Fox’s lab and, um, some funding from the IRLNEP this next year to try to answer some of that, figuring out what sort of flowering are we getting, what are those, those triggers to flowering, whether or not we can figure out the germination triggers. And, and we’re doing that in, in, in two ways, we’re doing a laboratory, um, and field-based study. So it’ll be really interesting to see what we can find out about that.

Kathy Hill:

Going back just for a sec to where, um, recovery is being seen and not seen and that initial survey for seeds, what did you find? Is it that there are seeds lacking in Central Lagoon where it’s not doing so well, or are seeds present, but they’re maybe just not germinating?

Lauren Hall:

Uh, yeah, and that is such a great question that we actually don’t have an answer to right now. And so we are seeing fewer seeds in the Central Indian River Lagoon than we are in some of the areas where we’ve had a lot of recovery, um, but we are finding some. And so that’s really making us scratch our heads about the seeds are present, but are they not germinating or are they germinating and then not surviving?

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And the concern in that central lagoon right now and the seed bank is that because we don’t have a lot of seagrass in that area, if the seeds that are present germinate, what’s going to lay down new seeds? If there’s, if there’s not a substantial seagrass bed to flower and produce new seeds, then is it possible that we could be exhausting the, the only existing seed bank in that area?

Kathy Hill:

Interesting. Okay. Well, I don’t wanna preset any expectations for what you’re studying and what you and, uh, the Florida Tech folks are doing. Um, but it seems to me like there are really big implications for how we might go about managing the lagoon into the future that would come out of this study. do you see any kind of broader management considerations that, that might come out of this?

Lauren Hall:

Sure. Well, we, we manage adaptively, right? So the more we learn, the better we can manage a very complex system.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

So if we find out that there are regions with no seeds, that might be able to lead us to target some of those for manual restoration projects like plantings or things along those lines. If we find areas where we know have a tremendous amount of seeds and, and frequent flowering that say is triggered by a high salinity event or something along those lines, well, that can help us manage those areas to maintain those higher salinities if we find out that that is something that can contribute to good flowering and good seeding-

Lauren Hall:

… and, you know, and then more resilient seagrass beds.

Kathy Hill:

Right.

Lauren Hall:

So, so yeah, I think the more we learn about this, the better recommendations we can make on how to manage those different areas.

Kathy Hill:

And that brings us into sort of a water quality question as well. You know, there, there’s a lot of folks, not only people who work on the lagoon and who are expert in this, but people who sort of, you know, maybe fish the lagoon or just appreciate the lagoon. there’s a lot of people that advocate for we need to fix the water quality first and foremost before we do anything else.

And then there are folks that say we should, you know, maybe be planting in some of these areas. maybe the water quality’s not great yet, but if we start planting, maybe that’ll kickstart some growth. where do you come down on this issue? You know, are you, are you team water quality or are-

Lauren Hall:

(laughs).

Kathy Hill:

… you team Johnny Appleseed? Or, and it’s okay to say both.

Lauren Hall:

(laughs). Right. Um, well, for sure water quality is always going to be key. We can plant all day long every day, but if the water clarity or the salinity or the other water quality parameters that, that really can impact seagrass aren’t in the right range, then it’s just not going to make it long term.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

But I will say we are learning a lot from these planting projects. So, I love those projects because they really do teach us a lot. We’re comparing a lot of different methodologies. We’re looking at differences in site selection and how to handle grazing pressures and, and grazing pressures are there whether you’re planting grass or whether the grass is recovering on its own.

Kathy Hill:

Right. Right.

Lauren Hall:

Um, and then recently our colleagues at Brevard Zoo and Florida Oceanographic have been observing flowering in their nurseries.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And so then that gives us another opportunity to try to nail down what drives some of these flowering events., so, you know, again, water quality is always gonna be, you know, key as far as I’m concerned, but I, I do think there’s a place for these planting projects and I do think we learn a lot from them. And then, you know, that pesky central IRL, they-

Kathy Hill:

(laughs).

Lauren Hall:

… it might need a kickstart.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And so if we continue to observe really low seagrass extent there and we find that it lacks a robust seed bank, a planting project might be the thing that helps us, you know, sort of restart that section, but, you know, but the water quality still has to be there. You have to have good water clarity.

Kathy Hill:

Right, right. So, um, how long is this study going to continue and, um, what’s next for it?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah. So we’re, this, the project with Austin Fox looking at germination and flowering triggers is gonna be starting up, um, coming this fall and, um, and then that’ll go through next spring. we have a couple of other grant proposals kinda going around right now looking at some additional flowering. we don’t know a lot about sex ratios. You know, we have male and female flowers out there, um, but we don’t know what sort of ratios we have. So we wanna-

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

… look into that a little bit more. We still have a lot of questions and, you know, right now we have, this project will last us this next year and I think by the end of this next year, we’ll probably have more questions-

Kathy Hill:

(laughing). Right?

Lauren Hall:

… but hopefully a lot of answers too.

Kathy Hill:

All right. Well, let’s talk a little bit about the water quality side of the issue. Um, the district of course does big water quality projects. there’ve been a couple going on for quite some time. C-1 is a great project in Palm Bay, um, right along that main canal in Palm Bay where, uh, Melbourne-Tillman drains into Turkey Creek and that project has been really successful in preventing stormwater and wastewater from entering the lagoon.

So all of that pollution, well, not all of it, but 40% maybe-

Lauren Hall:

Yep.

Kathy Hill:

… has been diverted west into treatment areas and then that water goes into St. John’s R- River Marsh instead of going to the lagoon. tell us about what else is coming on for, um, for, for what the district has planned for helping the lagoon and keeping more pollution out of the lagoon in big stormwater projects.

Lauren Hall:

Sure. Yeah. the C-1, uh, rediversion project was a huge project. we completed that first phase in 2015 and just a tremendous amount of nutrients being held now fthat used to make its way into the, into the Indian River Lagoon-

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

… that’s now going back to the St. John’s River, after being treated at Sawgrass Lake Water Management area. I think the estimates are around almost 150,000 pounds of nitrogen per year that are now being-

Kathy Hill:

Yeah, it’s huge. Yeah.

Lauren Hall:

… held back.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

It’s a really huge amount and 13,000 pounds of phosphorus. So, you know, these, these big nutrient reduction projects are critical for the lagoon because nutrients really, really contribute to, um, those long-lasting extensive intense phytoplankton blooms. So the more we can hold nutrients back, the better, the better we’re gonna be out there. but so projects like that, like C-1, we’ve got another project that we just celebrated in spring 2025, that’s the, the Crane Creek and, and M-1 Canal Restoration Project.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

So the, um, the M-1 Canal’s a flood control feature and it diverts stormwater from Melbourne, West Melbourne, and Melbourne Village. We now have an operable wear that’s east of Evans Road that we can still use to maintain flood control, but now instead of the water going to the Indian River Lagoon, we can send it to a stormwater treatment area that’s west of I-95 and treat it there before we return it to the St. John’s River.

So, um, so again, these, you know, big diversion projects, that one is reducing the nitrogen loads by 24,000 pounds per year and phosphorus loads by over 3,000-

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

… pounds per year. Um, it’s also contributing to our alternative water supply benefits. over seven million gallons per day-

Kathy Hill:

Wow, that much?

Lauren Hall:

… of alternative water (laughs) supply benefits, so-

Kathy Hill:

That’s amazing. Yeah.

Lauren Hall:

… and (laughs) as we know, we need the water (laughs). So.

Kathy Hill:

Yeah, we sure do.

Lauren Hall:

So yeah, you know, that’s another great example too , of how multiple agencies come together to make a big difference, how important it is to have all those partnerships because the, the partners for that project included Brevard County and Florida DEP as well.

Kathy Hill:

Uh, so Lauren, what’s the next big project coming online to help the lagoon?

Lauren Hall:

Yeah. The, the next big project that we’ve got coming up is the C-10 Canal. Um, so it’s another rediversion project similar to C-1 and M-1. this one is going to increase the diversion, to the C-1 project by another 10%. It’s located out at the west end of Malabar Road in the C-10 Water Management Area and it’s really at the early stages right now.

We’re still in the design and permitting stage. we don’t anticipate that we’re going to be starting the construction phase of this until closer to 2029, but it is going to be another one of those really big diversion projects looking at diverting, upwards around 30,000 pounds of nitrogen a year and over 1,000 pounds of phosphorus per year, just like those other projects. So-

Kathy Hill:

Oh, fantastic. That’s great.

Lauren Hall:

…It’s a very expensive project. It’s, it’s estimated to cost around $105 million. Um, again, another one of those, you know, great examples of where the different agencies come together, um, to contribute funds. So DEP Resiliency Grant is contributing, Brevard Save Our Indian River Lagoon Program is contributing and then the St. John’s, commitment as well. So we’re still working to, to pull in the rest of the money, but, um, but we’re well on our way to, to, to getting this project going.

Kathy Hill:

Neat. That, that’ll be great to see as it comes online.

Lauren Hall:

So really these are big projects they are also expensive projects and so we do all have to come together to make those contributions to get these going.

Kathy Hill:

I wanna talk just a sec about, um, Brevard County has been showing some correlation information. They have done some big projects on their own. The district has some big projects that have come online. And as these projects progress and they come online, there is a correlation between these projects coming on and fewer algal blooms happening. Talk a little bit about, if you can, uh, about what that means for seagrasses in the lagoon. And did you see a correlation in your recovery?

Lauren Hall:

The short answer is yes, we are seeing these projects making a difference, but the projects are also coming online and sort of starting to take hold and see some of the, the benefits for those projects at the same time as we got into this really big drought. And so right now, it’s very hard to sort of tease apart those two things.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

How much of the improvement that we’re seeing today is related to the drought, how much is related to the project. We think that both are benefiting the conditions in the Indian River Lagoon.

Kathy Hill:

Right.

Lauren Hall:

But until we start to get into a more normal rainfall pattern.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

Um, you know, I think it’s gonna be hard to tease those things apart, but we do think, we know those projects are making a difference.

Kathy Hill:

Yeah.

Lauren Hall:

Um, it’s just right now trying to quantify that difference is, is a little bit difficult because of the drought conditions.

Kathy Hill:

Right. And correlation is not causation, so we all have to be cautious about what we say about that.

Lauren Hall:

Right.

Kathy Hill:

All right. So before I let you go today, let’s talk a little bit about takeaways. If listeners take nothing else away from our discussion today, what do you think is the most important thing they should understand about seagrass recovery in the lagoon?

Lauren Hall:

I would say the most important takeaway for your listeners today are that good things are happening in the lagoon right now in our seagrass beds. And I’m hearing really great stuff from our fishers out there too. They’re seeing positive impacts on the species that rely on seagrasses in the lagoon.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And so I just love to hear those stories. The projects are making progress, but make no mistake, we’re not where we were in 2007 to 2010. We’re still about 42% lower in seagrass acreage than we had in 2009, um, one of our mapping years. So we really can’t afford to just take our foot off the gas right now. We have to keep moving in this direction. We have to keep our, you know, our foot on the gas of nutrient reduction and, you know, and then in, including things that we do in our own backyards.

I think sometimes we feel like some of the small things that we’re doing can’t really have, make a big difference and can’t really have an impact. But if you’re fertilizing sparingly or not at all, better still, if you’re picking up your pet waste, if you’re not allowing your grass clippings to go down the storm drains, all these little things cumulatively can start to have an impact. And if you can get your neighbors on both sides of you to do the same thing and they can get their neighbors to do it, it really can make a difference in, in reducing nutrients out there. So-

Kathy Hill:

Absolutely. Yeah. And, and that’s one of the things that we get questions on all the time that people often wonder, you know, it’s such a big problem. What I’m doing in my yard doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. But if you start doing it and the folks around you start doing it and then folks that they know start doing it, it does have an impact. And so every little bit that we can keep out is a, a piece of impact that can be seen in recovery.

Lauren Hall:

Absolutely. I mean, we’re talking about the thousands of pounds of nitrogen that we add, well, those things also add nitrogen. They also add phosphorus.

Kathy Hill:

Right.

Lauren Hall:

And so if we can reduce every little piece of that and we have thousands of people that are doing it, it also adds up to some of these, you know, to what we’re seeing with some of these large projects.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

So, you know, don’t diminish the difference that we can make.

Kathy Hill:

So, Lauren, tell us a little bit about, um, or talk a little bit about how optimistic you are. Are you, are you optimistic for the future of the lagoon and how seagrass growth is grow- going in the right direction?

Lauren Hall:

You know, Kathy, I think if you had asked me that question 15 years ago, my answer would have been different. When we were in the midst of all of the phytoplankton blooms and it was, you know, the worst blooms that we’d ever experienced in my career here and like I said, I’ve been here over 30 years and so I had never seen anything like that. It was, it felt daunting. It, the task felt daunting to try to get back to where we were. And so it was, it was hard.

There were a handful of years where it was really hard being out there going to sites that, you know, that used to go for hundreds and hundreds of meters from shore that now were 10 meters long, 20 meters long. And so there, there were some rough years, r- rough years. But recently, in these last four or five years, the amount of recovery that we’ve seen has really dramatically changed that feeling in me because, you know, I was always hopeful, but I think now I’m really starting to feel like, like changes are achievable.

And, you know, when we can get there again, when the conditions are right seagrass is incredibly resilient. And, you know, when you give it the right conditions, when the clarity is good and the salinities are what it needs to be and, you know, when we’re doing everything, we’re doing our part to do the right thing for the lagoon, the seagrass does rebound.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And seeing this rebound in the Northern Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon, Northern Banana River Lagoon, all of that increase that we’re seeing, that’s all natural recovery. It just got the right conditions.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm.

Lauren Hall:

And then naturally came back on its own.

Kathy Hill:

Right.

Lauren Hall:

And so that really does give me so much hope and optimism for the future.

Kathy Hill:

That’s neat. Yeah. I think it, it behooves all of us to just kind of remember it’s a marathon and not a sprint and, you know, we can’t stop doing what we’re doing just because we’re starting to see something recover.

Lauren Hall:

That’s right.

Kathy Hill:

You know, we’ve got a long way to go still, but things are looking up.

Lauren Hall:

That’s right. Yeah. It does take a long time. Seagrass grows pretty slow. So we’ve got to give it a chance to, to reestablish and get where it needs to get and then everything else that relies on it will come back to.

Kathy Hill:

Mm-hmm. Exactly. Exactly. And if somebody wanted to dive deeper into the stuff that we’ve talked about today or district activities just in general, what’s a good way to read more about it or if you wanna give a website or, you know, links to sources?

Lauren Hall:

Sure. Um, so you can find out a- about all these projects that we’ve been talking about on our website, www.sjrwmd.com. We’re also on all the socials, so you can find us on Instagram and, um, LinkedIn and Facebook. And then we also have a new story map that’s, uh, just about to be released. So I’m really looking forward to that. It’s going to be specifically for the Indian River Lagoon and it’s gonna talk a lot about all these projects that we just discussed, so-

Kathy Hill:

Oh, fantastic.

Lauren Hall:

Yeah.

Kathy Hill:

Well make, make sure you share that with us and we’ll put it out on our socials and amplify that, uh, signal for you.

Lauren Hall:

Absolutely.

Kathy Hill:

Excellent. All right. Well, Lauren, as always, it’s been fun talking to you today. Thanks so much for coming in and sharing your work with everybody. We appreciate, as always, everything that you do for the lagoon and all the folks at the district. Uh, so thank you and, uh, we will talk to you soon.

Lauren Hall:

As always, Kathy, it’s, it’s always a pleasure. So thank you for having me on today and one of these days we gotta figure out how to do the podcast from the boat. That’d be even more fun.

Kathy Hill:

Oh yeah, let’s do that. (laughs) We’ll do video that time (laughs).

Lauren Hall:

Yeah, sounds good (laughs).

Kathy Hill:

If you enjoy these discussions about the IRL, please like, subscribe and follow this podcast wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, how you can get involved and tips on Living Lagoon friendly, visit us at onelagoon.org. Hit the shop tab at the top of the page to check out our branded One Lagoon merchandise or hit the license plate tab to find out how you can support our work by buying a Lagoon license plate. To stay informed about Lagoon News and upcoming events like our monthly What’s Up in the Watershed webinar, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube all at One Lagoon.