Estuary Program launches community education campaign
Did you know that oyster reefs provide critical habitat for other species, filter water for human consumption, help stabilize our shores, and produce delicious seafood? Or that Pensacola is one of the top places in the continental United States for average annual rainfall?
The Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program (PPBEP) aims to educate the public on facts like these and much more with their new campaign and website at www.Estuary101.com. Beyond education, the campaign also provides activities for exploring our estuaries and invites the community — individuals, businesses and organizations — to take the pledge to support local waterways in big and small ways every day.
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“We are thrilled to launch this campaign to educate the public on the vital role our estuaries play in keeping our community safe and healthy – and the critical challenges they are facing now,” says PPBEP Executive Director Matt Posner in a written statement. “From visiting some of our region’s most spectacular natural habitats to utilizing the best available science to inform policy recommendations and much more, there is a role for everyone in this work, and we’re ready to share it with the region.”
To encourage citizens to learn more about the estuary, the program is also launching a series of online giveaway drawings, including stays at area hotels, gift baskets from local retailers and gift certificates from local restaurants, among others.
The site is a critical component for implementing the Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Watersheds, their blueprint for improving the health and sustainability of our estuaries and in turn, enhancing the community’s quality of life and economic prosperity. That plan, developed over several months with community stakeholders, identified outreach and engagement as a critical need.
“This campaign represents an important step in our efforts to have Pensacola and Perdido Bays designated as Estuaries of National Significance,” Posner said. “This would open up new funding for our region to take critical steps to restore, protect, and preserve our waterways for generations to come.”
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With support from generous supporters and dedicated partners, PPBEP brings together the community to implement a variety of restoration and preservation efforts.
Accomplishments include securing $7 million in funding for local environmental projects, educating more than 2,000 local students on the estuary and its importance, setting up 100 seagrass monitoring stations, training local contractors in sustainable living shoreline construction, and much more.
To learn more about the Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program and how you can get involved, visit www.Estuary101.com.
In September of 2018, the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program was created and funded with a $2 million grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to bring together a diverse array of stakeholders to ensure meaningful and collaborative watershed management. Its membership has grown to include governments and agencies from Baldwin County, Alabama, in the west to Okaloosa County in the east.
The program's board, representing nine governing bodies within the Pensacola Bay/Perdido Bay watershed, approved a 208-page draft comprehensive management plan in October of 2022 that will serve for the next decade as its guiding document.
"The estuary program is non-regulatory and non-advocacy," Posner told the News Journal in 2022. "We don't enforce or litigate. We serve in the middle, offering science-based and community driven support and recommendations."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program launches education campaign
