Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-05-2022 NRB AgendaCQY OF SEBASTzt �I HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD AGENDA REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, JULY 5T", 2022 - 6:00 P.M. 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FL "To improve the quality of life in Sebastian by nurturing the balanced relationship between our citizens and our environment by protecting, preserving and promoting our natural resources" I. CALL TO ORDER II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE III. ROLL CALL IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —ACTION ITEM May 3d, 2022 Meeting Minutes V. ANNOUNCEMENTS Item A. Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup on Saturday July 23rd, 2022 Item B. City Awarded IRLC Grant for Tulip Pond LID Project VI. PUBLIC INPUT VII. NEW BUSINESS Item A. Litter Quitter Program Re -Launch i. Program re -cap ii. Outline tasks required to move forward Vill. OLD BUSINESS IX. MEMBER MATTERS X. STAFF MATTERS XI. ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA XII. ADJOURNMENT ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL ANY DECISION MADE ON THE ABOVE MATTERS, WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH APPEAL IS TO BE HEARD. SAID APPEAL MUST BE FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE WITHIN TEN DAYS OF THE DATE OF ACTION. (286.0105 F. S). IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA), ANYONE WHO NEEDS SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THIS MEETING SHOULD CONTACT THE CITY'S ADA COORDINATOR AT (407)-589-5330 AT LEAST 48 HOURS PRIOR TO THIS MEETING.TWO OR MORE ELECTED OFFICIALS MAYBE IN ATTENDANCE. 1 of 8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MAY 3, 2022 Chairman Stadelman called the Natural Resources Board meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. II. Pledqe of Allegiance was recited by all. III. Roll Call Present: Mr. Carrano Ms. Ware Mr. Bradley (Zoom) Mr. Stadelman Dr. Mosblech (Zoom — late arrival) Ms. Lovell Ms. Callaghan Dr. Carrier Not Present Ms. Valenzuela -- Excused Also Present: Ms. Kim Haigler, Environmental Planner Mr. Joseph Perez, AV Technical Assistant Ms. Janet Graham, Technical Writer IV. Approval of Minutes Mr. Stadelman asked all Board members if they had had a chance to review the Minutes of April 5, 2022. All indicated they had. Mr. Stadelman called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of April 5, 2022 as presented was made by Ms. Callaghan, seconded by Mr. Carrano, and approved unanimously via voice vote. V. Announcements A. Thank You to Everyone for Another Successful Earth Day! Mr. Stadelman said Earth Day was very successful. The primary goal of this event is to get information out to the public about all the programs regarding sustainability. Everyone seemed to have a good time. 2of8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 2 MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 Ms. Ware thanked everyone involved in making Earth Day a successful event. She also thanked Ms. Haigler for her support and help in making the event a success. Ms. Haigler thanked everyone who contributed a great deal to the event. She thanked the Sebastian River Art Club in particular for organizing the poster contest. They also did the face painting and as well exhibited their nature-themed art. She said this is the second year for this partnership, and this helped to make the event a huge success. She also thanked the Fine Arts Festival for donating the prizes for the poster contest. She thanked "Sebastian Daily" for donating the grand prize for the scavenger hunt and Indian River County Coastal Engineering Department who are the ones who delivered the oyster mats the day before the event. B. Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup on July 23rd, 2022 Mr. Stadelman stated there were flyers distributed to the Board members. He also told the members of the public in the audience that they can pick up flyers and other materials that are on the table in the back of Council chambers. The information is also available on the City of Sebastian website. He said that, if you have never participated in the Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup, you will be surprised at the amount of material that is cleaned up every year from this small area of waterfront in Sebastian. He repeated the date and the hours of participation-8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. He added that the cleanup is actually held for a whole week, from Saturday, July 1611, to Sunday, July 24t". You can go on line and get all the information you need to volunteer. He added that the Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup website is www.tcwaterwavcleanup.com. Ms. Haigler reviewed the numbers that have been collected in Sebastian compared to Indian River County. Sebastian collected .24 tons with only 52 people and 150 volunteer hours. That put Sebastian ahead of Vero Beach. She stated it is a great event. It brings out volunteers all the way from Volusia County down to Martin County. There are dumpsters present at the boat ramps. Volunteers can be recruited at the boat ramps. There are flyers with more information on the table in the back of Council chambers. She emphasized that in order to volunteer you do not need a boat; you can volunteer to walk, and an area will be assigned to you. The bags and the picker -uppers will be provided as well as tee shirts. There was a representative of the cleanup at the Earth Day event promoting the cleanup, and she had to leave at 2:00 p.m. because she ran out of materials. VI. Public Input -- None VII. New Business 3of8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 A. Earth Day Poster Art Contest PAGE 3 1. Winners announced and awarded prizes, courtesy of the Sebastian Fine Arts Festival Ms. Ware welcomed all the families and friends of the winners of the poster contest. She also thanked the students because this year especially they helped with expanding on our initiative of Sustainable Sebastian, which is the NRB's campaign. The students helped get the word out to everyone. The Board especially liked the posters that specifically dealt with information that is part of the Board's mission statement. She asked that the winners come up to get their prizes as she announced the winners. She added that all of the winners will be invited to take a free art class at the Sebastian River Art Center in the building here in this complex anytime during the summer. She announced the winners as follows: Seventh Grade Third Place -- Marley Miller Second Place -- Paige Stoll First Place -- Noah Hewitt Sixth Grade Third Place -- Baylee Printer Second Place -- Charlotte Smith First Place -- Oscar Sanchez Ms. Ware asked any of the winners who would like to participate in the free art lesson to call her, as her card is in the envelope containing the prizes. They can have a class in either acrylic, watercolor, or collage. She thanked everyone for participating. Ms. Haigler said the winning posters have been posted on the NRB website. She added that on the table in the back of Chambers there are postcards with a link to that website, and they have also been uploaded to the public access channel at COSty. She added that all the posters, including the ones that did not place, have been scanned so they can be added to publications related to stormwater and native landscaping. Mr. Stadelman thanked everyone who participated. He also thanked Ms. Ware for her work in promoting the poster contest. B. IRL Connectivity Science Symposium, held on April 21, 2022 4of8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 PAGE 4 Highlights of area research presented -- Ms. Haigler and Dr. Carrier Ms. Haigler described the theme, which was a symposium of scientists, including Dr. Carrier. There were many presentations covering a lot of research. There was everything from very specialized scientific research to outreach initiatives. Indian River Lagoon Council presented their initiative for a centralized data hub which is for water quality related to harmful algae -bloom data. This involves the Harbor Branch and St. John's River Water Management District and FAU. There was also some research on our living docks. The team had six different sites, and they check them quarterly over a three-year period. The Sebastian site was the furthest north, which exhibited the highest biodiversity on average, which was interesting. It showed that, not only is this a great project to get citizens involved, but it also shows great diversity. To build on that, they promote taking this research further by taking the living dock assessment data, and they are going to model it with the water -quality data to see how synthetic growth is affected. Synthetic growth is in the sediment, but what is growing on these mats is the same as what is growing in the sediment. They are hoping they will see a correlation between those, and they can begin seeing the difference in different abiotic changes and how that influences the growth. Ms. Haigler said she approached the speaker on this study and asked that the Sebastian NRB be a part of this expanded study. She also invited the speaker to present here. She stated that her research will be posted on our oyster garden site. Dr. Carrier said this symposium had the potential to be overwhelming. There were 48 talks that were given in a single day. The agencies that were represented included Harbor Branch, Central Michigan, the University of Florida, FWC, the Florida Oceanographic Society, the Marine Resource Council, FAU, and St. John's River Water Management District. Some of the things that were brought up were positive, and some of the things are cause for concern. If there was a central theme, it was sea grasses and the importance of sea grasses to the community and everything that depends on them. There were also several non -governmental organizations who are actually cultivating sea grasses with the hope of explanting these so that we can see some reestablishment of sea grass beds. There has been some rebounding. He reviewed that last year around Sebastian there were 8 acres or so, and he estimated this year there were between 16 and 24. So there is some hope. If we are looking at improving water quality in the lagoon, sea grasses are important to that. However, in order for sea grasses to thrive, we need to have improved water quality. So it is circuitous, and explanting sea grass is not an easy task. It might be to no avail if light cannot penetrate so that the sea grass can photosynthesize. So there is some concern here, but the fact that they have been able to raise some of these sea grass mats with the hope of explanting them into the lagoon is cause for some positive thoughts. 5of8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 5 MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 He stated there were also some papers presented on some of the issues that manatees face. It was stated that the average weight of an adult manatee is about 1,000 pounds. The daily consumption by a manatee is about 8% of its body weight, or 80 pounds of sea grasses per manatee. So the absolute necessity for sea grass restoration if manatee populations are going to survive is imperative. There was also some discussion of innovative technology. The FAST network is a network of underwater receivers that now extends almost all the way around the coast. Manatees, sharks, sawfish, and a number of other organisms carry transmitters, and these transmitters emit a data pulse that is picked up by the receivers and can indicate the positions of any of these animals. This network extends all the way around the Gulf, all the way around Florida, and up the east coast. In this way we can follow animal movement and get some sense of when they are moving, where they are moving, and perhaps why they are moving. He also discussed the sawfish and how they are being monitored. Ms. Haigler said she will email the information, including the abstracts, and you can click on the email link to the presenter in order to get any further information that you want. Ms. Stadelman asked if, after several years of the NRB's participation in these studies, does the NRB have any real impact on this situation. Dr. Carrier used the oyster mats as an example. He opined that, while it is in its infancy, raising public awareness and the interest of people gives them a level of ownership and support. He stated that, if we could cultivate oysters on all the docks in Sebastian, it would have a modest impact. He added that he and Mr. Carrano, who have their own docks, have had people come to them and ask about placing mats on their docks. Councilman Jones is very interested in this subject. Ms. Haigler described that when she looked at the posters that were presented, every time she saw Sebastian as a sampling site, and Sebastian was always the highest in diversity, with the least microplastics. She added that one of the speakers talked about Sebastian being kind of in a "sweet spot" when it comes to tidal influence. Dr. Carrier added that the Sebastian inlet gives us some access to fresher saltwater that other areas do not have. There were some interesting talks about the potential for increasing saltwater access through something akin to culvert systems for access to seawater into the lagoon, with the realization that high -salinity waters are not good for everything necessarily. Nevertheless, the flushing, the cleansing, and the potential are there. 1yjIIMe] 11010M al_= A. Earth Day & Arbor Day Celebration Wrap-up 6of8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 6 MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 1. Discussion of Successes and Suggestions for Next Year Ms. Haigler reviewed aspects of the event and pointed out how important the partnerships with other organizations/groups are. She is in favor of a suggestion that was made by Ron Paul for two-way radios being provided so that there would be constant ability to communicate with the organizers/staff throughout the day. There were a few issues at this year's event that she will keep in mind when planning for future events. She commented that there were more than enough volunteers, and she thanked Ms. Callaghan for recruiting them. Ms. Haigler added that there are lots of supplies available in storage for these events, and she suggested having those supplies on hand so that the volunteers can access them. She also said she did outreach to Mosquito Control, and they had many people approach them and had questions about sentinel chickens. They even had mosquito fish they were giving people to use in rain barrels or ponds. Solid Waste also gave out a lot of recycling information. She added that she has received more than 20 responses from vendors and participants who were really happy with the event. Ms. Callaghan suggested that there be more contact with the volunteers so that we know exactly how many will be attending and how they will be distributed throughout the park. Ms. Lovell spoke regarding the gopher turtle burrow. Ms. Haigler said that just recently a local gopher turtle agent approached Ms. Haigler and offered to run the gopher turtle burrow event next year. Ms. Ware stated that it takes a lot of manpower to have this event, and she was happy because everyone showed up and did a fantastic job. Dr. Carrier reviewed that Ms. Haigler has added information to our website recently regarding our oyster mat project, which is a nice addition to the website. Ms. Haigler emphasized that there is so much information on the website such as worksheets and puzzle pages and activities like a little scavenger hunt that make the website so much more interesting for all ages. Mr. Stadelman thanked the representative from Florida State Parks. She did a great presentation that talked about the Florida state parks. He thanked Dr. Baker from the Pelican Audubon Society who gave out over 300 trees. He also thanked Lisa from the Marine Resource Council. She is looking to recruit citizen scientists to do the Points of Light program. IX. Member Matters 7 of 8 NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 7 MINUTES OF MAY 3, 2022 Ms. Lovell asked if there are any opportunities for us to get involved in restoration projects. Ms. Haigler said yes. The grant cycle was in January for most of those grants. Sebastian just got a new City Engineer who will be looking at projects like that. Those projects are big, so they are something that we must plan way ahead. She said there was just a grant applied for to create a tulip -pond project. Staff also applied for two municipal awards for environmental sustainability and citizenship for the Sustainable Sebastian program and for the IPM program. Ms. Lovell also brought up the Litter Quitter program and asked if that program could be started up again. Ms. Haigler said absolutely. That is something that Councilman Dodd had brought up at the Earth Day event. There was a long period dealing with COVID, and she did not want to approach businesses when they had to buy to -go containers in bulk. It was a very unique situation, but she suggested that that situation has eased up. She would like to restart that program, and she suggested beginning with another volunteer -training program. Ms. Ware suggested a refresh also. Ms. Haigler suggested starting with reaching out to KIRB and having them come and present information about their role with the new leadership that has been installed. Ms. Ware announced that the Art Club has its last show of the season this Saturday at the Art Club Center from 10.00 to 3:00. Everyone is invited. Mr. Stadelman thanked all the Board members and volunteers for their hard work in putting on the Earth Day and Arbor Day event. X. Staff Matters Ms. Haigler stated she was going to speak on the application for the two grants, but she already discussed them. XI. Items for Next Agenda: JUNE 7, 2022 MEETING CANCELLED Ms. Haigler said the June meeting has been cancelled, but there will be a lot of items coming out to the Board in the near future, and she asked the Board members to keep checking their emails. XII. Adiournment There being no further business, Mr. Stadelman called for a motion to adjourn. A motion adjourning the meeting at 6:52 p.m. was made by Ms. Callaghan, seconded by Ms. Ware, and approved unanimously via voice vote. By: Date: /jg 8of8