Latest news with #EstuaryProgram
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Springfield works to restore their floodplain
SPRINGFIELD, Fla. (WMBB) – The City of Springfield is working with the St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program to restore their floodplain. The city is drafting a design plan that's about 30% complete. Springfield has been experiencing flooding issues since Hurricane Michael hit in 2018. 'After Hurricane Michael. We lost a lot of our tree canopy, which a single tree can filter up to 100 gallons a day. And so when you lose all of those trees in a very short period of time, it causes a lot of issues with stormwater flooding,' St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bay Estuary Program Official Jessica Graham said. After a heavy rain, there's nowhere for the runoff to go. 'If there's no floodplain there, no wetlands there, then it just washes off into wherever it can go. The path of least resistance. And so the floodplain will help to retain that. It kind of acts like a sponge. And so the sponge can help to keep that there, filters it, and then it allows it to go into the groundwater rather than the surface,' Graham said. Bay County TDC approves new tourism-driven weather page The Army Corps of Engineers conducted a hydrologic and hydraulic study in 2021 to determine how to alleviate the flooding issues. They decided on a nature-based solution by planting native trees to help clear out debris. The project will help restore the floodplain by enhancing the wetland habitat in the upper tributaries of Martin Lake. The St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program secured a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for 510-thousand dollars fund 30% of the design. They are working to identify areas where the water flow is backing up. 'It's identified some areas that we need to increase our culverts, as well as areas that have just been really filled in by sedimentation and a lot of vegetation. But right now we've been trying to really find the stream boundaries,' Graham added. They are still working to secure additional funding. They need an additional $500,000 to complete the rest of the design work. The St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program is holding a public workshop at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 16, at Springfield City Hall. The project will also be discussed at the Springfield commission workshop at 5:30 p.m. that night. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal funding cuts could hurt lakeshore conservation efforts
MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — With some cuts already made to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and more possible, conservation groups in West Michigan are concerned about efforts to protect the Great Lakes and the watersheds that flow into it. The Trump administration has a proposal in the works to cut NOAA's budget by billions of dollars to get rid of its climate research branch, . Congress would need to approve such a move, but if it happens, scientists are anxious about what it will mean for their research and cleanup efforts. The Department of Government Efficiency has already made massive job cuts at NOAA, which forecasters have said could result in dangerously less accurate weather forecasts. Trump orders agencies to 'sunset' environmental protections Kathy Evans is a board member for the Muskegon Lake Watershed with decades of experience in conservation, natural resources, and restoration. She said her team has been working to have NOAA declare the places where rivers empty into Lake Michigan as estuaries. The proposed funding cuts could put that at risk. 'It's important for us because Muskegon Lake, for example, and White Lake are areas of concern. They've been cleaned up, but there are other estuaries coming into eastern Lake Michigan that need cleanup, need science to better figure out how to manage these resources. If we don't get that information through the Estuary Program, we won't know how to manage our natural resources well,' Evans explained. Inside A Greener Mitten Evans is also concerned about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This is a comprehensive federal program launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes — the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. Led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with 15 other federal agencies, the GLRI addresses the most significant environmental challenges facing the Great Lakes ecosystem, including invasive species and toxic substances. The GLRI has invested roughly $4.9 billion from 2010 to 2024, with an another $800 million from 2022 to 2025 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The investments have led to significant environmental improvements, including restoration and protection of over 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands and other habitats, reopening more than 1,000 miles of rivers and streams for fish passage and implementation of projects on more than 11,500 acres to control invasive species. DNR to cover federal funding cuts for state's Great Lakes piping plover program It has also played a crucial role in reducing phosphorus runoff — a key contributor to harmful algal blooms — by more than 2 million pounds through 2020, according to the GLRI. GLRI is up for renewal in congress this year. Evans worries not renewing it in full could affect important projects along our lakeshore. 'Things that would stop would be invasive species control resiliency, stopping erosion on the shorelines. Fish and wildlife habitat would be impacted. Contaminated sediments would not be cleaned up, and that affects our drinking water, our public health, our recreation, our commercial fishery, everything,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
