Photo Credit: J. Whiticar
How We Build Safe, Healthy Communities Through Collaboration
One of the primary things that draws people to Florida’s Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is the opportunity to be outdoors year-round. Whether for work or play, people value a clean, safe environment where health threats and environmental risks are lower and where quality of life is high.
Creating and maintaining healthy communities begins with collaboration among local leaders to support community-based projects. These projects accomplish two important goals:
- Promote environmental health and quality of life issues.
- Build capacity to understand and solve complex environmental and human health problems.
Photo Credit: R. Stanley
Photo Credit: L. Walters
The IRLNEP’s Four Cornerstones for Healthy Communities
Like all National Estuary Programs (NEPs), the IRLNEP has four cornerstones:
- Focus on the watershed.
- Integrate science into the decision-making process.
- Foster collaborative problem-solving.
- Involve the public in consensus-building and decision-making.
Applying these principles, the IRLNEP works across four focus areas to build healthy, vibrant and livable communities along the lagoon. We explore each of these focus areas below:
IRL Community Health: Focus Areas
How the IRLNEP Improves Environmental Quality
Because environmental issues don’t respect county or city boundaries, NEPs define their study areas and management conferences according to watershed boundaries.
The IRLNEP strives to keep stakeholders informed about local conditions and the progress we’re making to improve habitats, water quality and living resources. In working to restore and protect the lagoon’s 156-mile extent, the IRLNEP funds many projects and programs.
These projects focus on shoreline and filter feeder restoration, excess nutrient reduction, infrastructure improvement and public education. The latter improves our understanding of the lagoon and how we all can become better stewards of our local environment.
The program also coordinates among government agencies, policy-makers, stakeholder groups and citizens. By doing so, we can build and reach consensus on the best solutions to effective, adaptive lagoon management.
Why the Lagoon’s Economic Value Matters
We can estimate the total value of the IRL ecosystem in several ways. However, all that matters in the end is why it’s valuable. The lagoon is valuable to the people who live along its shores because of the unrivaled quality of life benefits we enjoy.
Whether you’re a boater, angler, photographer, hiker or biker, the lagoon offers a wealth of activities, enjoyment and fun. But enjoying any recreational opportunity depends on the lagoon being clean and healthy.
More broadly, understanding the role the lagoon plays in the regional economy helps us assess why environmental health matters. It also provides us with the basis for sound decision-making about where and when we spend restoration dollars.
A regional economic study estimated the lagoon’s annual economic value at $7.6 billion, excluding real estate values. The study also pointed out an extraordinary return on investment (ROI) for lagoon-focused restoration. For every dollar spent on restoration, $33 returns to the regional economy.
How We Prepare for Sea Level Rise and Coastal Hazards
The effects of rising sea levels are already affecting Florida, and these effects are likely to worsen as time passes.
Identifying and managing climate-associated risks is essential to maintaining healthy communities. So is strengthening community capacity to prepare for and adapt to rising seas, nuisance flooding, bomb rainfall events and other increasing coastal hazards.
The IRLNEP undertook a planning-level, risk-based vulnerability assessment of the IRL (fiscal year 2017–2018). This study helped inform the development of a long-term action plan with effective solutions that lagoon stakeholders and partners can implement to anticipate and mitigate negative impacts from sea level rise and coastal flooding.
Low-Impact Development (LID)
Many communities are seeing the value in the green building movement, which is changing the way we look at how we design, construct and maintain buildings and create new developments.
Low-impact development (LID) refers to more sustainable land development practices that use natural processes to better absorb and treat stormwater runoff to protect water and habitat quality in surface waters.
Researchers design LID practices to mimic pre-development conditions, reducing runoff volume and keeping water entering local water bodies cleaner.
Green Infrastructure
Stormwater runoff is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas. Traditionally, communities have managed stormwater runoff with so-called “gray infrastructure.” This is conventional piped drainage and wastewater treatments that carry stormwater away from the built environment into coastal waters.
However, communities nationwide are turning toward the use of green infrastructure. This involves incorporating rain gardens, stormwater parks, vegetated roofs, porous pavement, swales, urban tree cover and more. These and other methods protect coastal water quality by treating urban stormwater in ways that mimic natural systems. Meanwhile, they provide communities with amenities.
Green infrastructure has become an attractive component of building sustainable communities. Its use protects the environment as it allows communities to achieve more for their investments.
Coastal Population Growth in Florida
In the U.S., approximately 40% of the population lives in a coastal area. These areas, however, account for less than 10% of the total land in the U.S. Coastal counties average about 468 people per square mile, compared to the national average of roughly 113: more than four times denser. The issues that impact our coasts affect a large proportion of Americans.
That means it’s vital to manage our land development and community growth wisely to ensure continued quality of life along our coasts.
How We Balance Growth With Environmental Stewardship
Many Floridians come here from other places. They come for the clean water, world-class fishing and boating, and other community amenities that make Florida life so attractive.
Many want to live near or on the water and take part in the lagoon’s exceptional recreational opportunities. Because Florida is such a desirable place to work and play, growth and development are inevitable.
However, growth and environmental stewardship aren’t mutually exclusive. Communities across America are learning that integrating development and environmental sustainability makes good economic sense. Done well, growth can continue to be a major economic driver without sacrificing environmental health.
Donate to One Lagoon through the IRLNEP to help protect the lagoon’s health and the communities and economy that depend on it.
Photo Credit: P. Holm
Photo Credit: W. Castino
What Is Smart Growth?
Smart growth conserves resources by redeveloping already built-upon land and reinvesting in existing infrastructure.
It highlights community amenities by designing neighborhoods that have homes within walking distance of shops, offices, schools and parks. It gives residents the option of walking, cycling or driving as they conduct their daily business.
Smart-growth neighborhoods offer a range of housing types, making them attractive to people of all ages and income levels. The high quality of life in smart-growth neighborhoods carries concrete benefits:
- Greater economic competitiveness
- A wealth of new business opportunities
- A stronger local tax base
Environmental Benefits of Smart Growth
Smart growth helps minimize air and water pollution and reduce greenhouse gases. It also preserves natural lands by encouraging compact development and safeguarding environmentally sensitive areas.
Because compact development creates less impervious surface per home or business built, it generates less stormwater runoff. And that directly supports the lagoon’s water quality.