Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection
Waters that Work, Play and Live
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection manages more than 5.3 million acres of submerged lands and coastal uplands in Florida.
Much of Florida's distinctive character lies in the beauty of its coastline. The best of our coastal landscapes as well as several inland waters is set aside for protection as aquatic preserves. Florida's natural beauty is a major attraction for both tourists and residents. Ironically, these coastal and inland resources that draw people to Florida are potentially endangered by the increased population pressures. Aquatic preserves protect Florida's living waters to ensure they will always be home for bird rookeries and fish nurseries, freshwater springs and salt marshes, and seagrass meadows and mangrove forests.
These aquatic preserves — located throughout Florida — offer a window into the state's natural and cultural heritage. Local leaders long recognized and worked to protect these critically important and ecologically sensitive areas and in 1975, with growing appreciation for their environmental diversity and alluring beauty, Florida enacted the Aquatic Preserve Act. This Act brought together existing and future aquatic preserves under one management program to ensure "their aesthetic, biological and scientific values may endure for the enjoyment of future generations."
The Marathon building in the Keys, which houses the staff offices for the Florida Keys Aquatic Preserves and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary programs, experienced a notable rooftop nesting season this year. The South Florida seabird nesting season runs from April 1 to August 31, and these rooftops have hosted nesting seabirds for several years.
More than 35 children and their parents spent a day exploring Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve last week during the inaugural “Rookery Bay Roots of Adventure Kids Event.” The half-day experience was held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School (EPSS) and gave conference attendees' families an opportunity to experience Rookery Bay’s estuary
Everyone measures success differently. When a teacher says, after being in a Teachers On The Estuary (TOTE) workshop, that she will slow the pace during activity transitions to give her pre-K students time to pause and observe ants crossing the sidewalk, that is success. American biologist and naturalist E. O. Wilson would have been pleased to hear that.