Santa Rosa County was awarded a $800,000 Resilient Florida Grant for the Floridatown Living Shoreline project. This was part of Governor Ron DeSantis' announcement of grants totaling over $404 million for 113 environmental resilience projects across the state of Florida. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Resilient Florida Grant Program helps prepare coastal and inland communities for the adverse impacts of flooding and storm surge.
Floridatown Park, located on Escambia Bay in Pace, provides public boating access facilities and recreational park amenities. The shoreline has experienced extensive erosion from surge and extreme weather events. As an alternative to armoring the shoreline with traditional methods, a living shoreline is an environmentally friendly way of reducing shoreline erosion, improving water quality and providing habitats for fish and wildlife.
The $800,000 Resilient Florida Grant will go towards the construction of the living shoreline, which will use natural vegetation and other elements of nature already existing in the ecological area to restore and enhance natural habitat. This will help protect the park and surrounding land from erosion.
Find a larger view of the image online. For more information, contact Shelley Alexander, environmental programs coordinator, 850-776-5938 or shelleya@santarosa.fl.gov.