Our Work

Championing the Well-Being of Sarasota Bay

We are a partner in helping to conserve the ecological well-being of the Sarasota Bay estuary. Our priority is working for solutions that will help Sarasota Bay and its surrounding communities adapt to climate change, create resiliency in shorelines and maintain and create habitat. We focus our efforts on climate change education, advocacy, and promoting adaptation strategies such as living shorelines and living seawalls.

EDUCATION

We offer education to neighborhood groups and civic organizations on climate change and adaptation and what coastal residents can do in their own back yards to create more resilient and habitat-friendly shorelines. We have done presentations to the Sarasota Yacht Club, to residents of Lakewood Ranch and other communities. Please contact us is you are interested in learning more.

Jack Merriam is conducting on-line classes through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College. He will be teaching an 8-session class - "Climate Change, Dead Fish, Risks and Opportunities" - via Zoom starting September 30th, 2021. This course will include discussions about current environmental issues in our area including water pollution and its sources, harmful algal blooms such as red tide, bay and sea-level rise, increasing rainfall, intensifying storms, coastal erosion, droughts, heatwaves, and other climate change impacts.

Jack's previous classes include "Our Sarasota Environment - Dead Fish and Climate Change", and "How to Reverse Climate Change Right Here, Right Now".

For more information on Jack's classes please visit https://olliringlingcollege.org/

ADVOCACY

Supporting community action

We partner with other local environmental groups to advocate for wise decision-making on issues that will impact the Sarasota Bay estuary, such as major development projects and shoreline and habitat enhancement.

The Sarasota Bay Foundation parterned with Mote Marine Laboratory's Fisheries Forum Subcommittee on Coastal Restoration, Sarasota County's Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST), University of Florida Sea Grant, and START - Solutions to Avoid Red Tide, to do an enhancement of Indian Beach Park that includes shoreline plantings to provide habitat and resilience. This project was completed February 17, 2019.

If you would like more information on what you can do to protect the bay and its watersheds, please contact us.