Sending Out an S.O.S.
Protect Your Paradise!
Imagine a crystal clear Indian River Lagoon with meadows of sparkling emerald seagrass teaming with schools of fish and an abundance of other marine life. With your support it can happen.
Sending Out an S.O.S.
We’re making progress here in east-central Florida when it comes to reducing harmful algae blooms and clearing cloudy waters; however, it’s time to dive deeper.
The Indian River Lagoon coastal community of Florida stretches east from Orlando to the beaches and includes 40 percent of the state’s Atlantic coastline.
The crown jewel of the region is the 156-mile-long Lagoon, situated just behind the barrier islands and beaches of the coast.
The community is interconnected by a vast network of canals, waterways, roads, bridges, and 50 rapidly developing counties and municipalities.
Since 1990, Marine Resources Council (MRC) members and supporters have worked together to protect, restore, unite, and promote the region in order to bring our beloved Lagoon back to her former majesty.
S.O.S.
Save Our Seagrass!
Until recently, when algae blooms retreated, seagrass, the foundation of our region’s marine habitat, rebounded. That’s no longer true. We need to know why.
We’re sending out an S.O.S. to the State of Florida to greatly broaden water testing in the Indian River Lagoon and its tributaries, so we can know what’s in our water.
Now, MRC is convening its first Indian River Lagoon regional Seagrass Assembly. The assembly process is a hallmark of MRC and leads to community consensus on priority actions that for 30 years have led to important change.
S.O.S.
Save Our SEA!
Help create a SEA Change:
Science + Education + Action
Science is the heart of MRC.
We’re expanding our LagoonWatch citizen science program with the 1,000 Points of Life initiative, which will involve certified labs analyzing water samples from the 10 major tributaries that feed the Indian River Lagoon.
Education is key to understanding science and taking action.
Our most important educational tool is the annual Indian River Lagoon Report Card, grading water quality and seagrass health. It distills complex data into an easy to read format.
MRC is growing its educational programs with additional IRL Report Card presentations statewide, monthly live and virtual Lunch and Learn programs, and monthly email newsletters. We also have introduced STEM-based summer camps, and curriculum for schools, home-schoolers, and others.
Action includes advocacy and volunteerism.
Together, we are the voice of our beloved Indian River Lagoon.
When you make a donation to MRC you become an annual member and help strengthen that voice. You also fund science, education, and action programs and initiatives, such as our new and innovative Concrete Creations built by staff and volunteers and used to stabilize living shoreline restoration projects.
S.O.S.
Save Our Shorelines!
Natural infrastructure, such as stabilized, vegetated bluffs, mangrove-lined shorelines, oyster beds, and other natural buffers provide habitat for marine life. They also offer more beautiful and textured landscapes to break up turbulence from waves and protect you from Mother Nature.
The 10-acre MRC headquarters campus in Palm Bay, Florida, features the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House, along with an innovative living shoreline restoration showcase. The campus also demonstrates Low Impact Development practices, and has trails, Lagoon overlooks, and more. Visits and tours are available.
At our nine-acre Walking Tree Preserve near Sebastian and Vero Beach, MRC operates a licensed mangrove nursery where we are cultivating thousands of these “walking trees” for use in shoreline restoration projects across the region and world. Also worth arranging a visit and tour.
Please help MRC develop its campuses and continue its shoreline restoration projects.
S.O.S.
Save Our Stormwater!
Many impactful stormwater and wastewater improvement projects are underway across the region; however, more needs to happen to bring the region into balance.
MRC is calling on the counties and cities in our region to adopt common-sense Low Impact Development (LID) practices that will reduce flooding and runoff pollution into our canals, waterways, and the Lagoon.
LID practices retain stormwater where it falls improving new and existing communities, developments, businesses, neighborhoods, and homes.
This spring MRC is pleased to partner with Martin Wanielista, PhD, PE, Ferguson Waterworks, and Streamline Technologies to host the 2023 LID Conference, which will provide communities with the tools they need build a better and more sustainable Florida.
S.O.S.
Save Our Spirit!
Imagine our beloved Indian River Lagoon once again clothed with a sparkling, swaying gown of emerald seagrass.
MRC members and volunteers are working together to make that vision a reality by giving a voice to the Lagoon. MRC is made up of people, families, neighborhoods, communities, businesses, and organizations working to protect, restore, unite, and promote the Indian River Lagoon coastal community.
Together, we can restore balance to our region. Please consider sharing a year-end donation.
Thank you for loving our Indian River Lagoon.