Newsletter 148

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

ARTS SUPPORT OVER 5K JOBS IN SARASOTA

While attendance and finances for arts and culture have yet to recover from the pandemic around the country, they are on the upswing in Sarasota County and continue to be a driver for the local economy, tourism and tax revenues, according to a new national study. In 2022, the economic impact of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the county was nearly $342 million, according to the latest Arts and Economic Prosperity survey prepared by Americans for the Arts, a national arts advocacy organization, for the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. That total, which supported more than 5,200 jobs in the county in fiscal year 2022, represents a 16% increase from the last study conducted in 2015. Americans for the Arts traditionally conducts its surveys every five years, but the latest was delayed because of the shutdowns and interruptions caused by the COVID pandemic. Nationally, the economic impact fell 9%. “This study shows that arts and culture build jobs and the economy, support jobs in the field and in arts organizations,” said Brian Hersh, CEO of the Arts and Cultural Alliance, who revealed the results in a public presentation recently at the Sarasota Opera House, just hours after the national report was released. “Our colleagues across the country tell us other communities aren’t recovering or stabilizing the way Sarasota has,” Hersh said in an interview before the presentation. “Our audiences are loyal. Spending may not be where it’s been, but we haven’t faced the same difficulties as communities across the country” which have seen dozens of theaters and other arts organizations shut down, lay off staff or curtail operations. Nationally, the study found that the non-profit arts and culture sector generates $151.7 billion and supports 2.6 million jobs. Those attending arts and culture programs in Sarasota also are spending more money aside from tickets and admission fees, marking a 14% increase in economic impact from the last survey, while the national numbers are down 24%. Audience expenditures average $46.21 per person per event ($8 more than the national average) for things like restaurant meals or drinks before or after a show. Hersh said the study also shows that Sarasota attracts more out-of-county residents to arts and culture events, with 47% from out of the county. Nationally, the local numbers are roughly 70%. For more on this story, courtesy of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Arts Support In SRQ

SURVEYING IDALIA SURGE

The greatest impact to Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties from Hurricane Idalia was from storm surge, according to a preliminary impact report on the storm released by the National Weather Service in Ruskin. In Sarasota County, a peak water level of 3.08 feet above the Mean Higher High Water – defined as the average daily highest tide – was measured at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 30 in Venice. In Manatee County, at Port Manatee, a peak water level of 3.69 feet above MHHW was measured at 7:54 a.m. Aug. 30, while in Charlotte County, the surge reached 3.57 feet in North Port Charlotte at 5:45 a.m. Aug 30. The report noted that in all three counties, the surge level generally ranged from 2 to 4 feet. Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane at 7:45 a.m., Aug. 30 near Keaton Beach, in Florida’s Big Bend region. Forecasters had predicted that western Manatee County and northern Sarasota County could see hurricane-force winds, with 6 to 8 inches of rain in the region, with surge levels up to 4 to 7 feet in the Tampa Bay region and 3 to 5 feet in Sarasota. In Sarasota County storm surge flooding destroyed 18 structures and caused major damage in 1,100 others. About one foot of water impacted businesses along St. Armands Circle and homes elsewhere on St. Armands Key. Surge flooding also closed the intersection of Fruitville Road and U.S. 41 and washed out portions of Casey Key Road and Manasota Key Road. The weather service report estimated damage at $2.7 million. Previous reports pegged the storm surge damage in Manatee County at $2.3 million. The highest wind gust recorded – 70 mph – was at 2:22 a.m. at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Manatee County. The highest wind gust recorded in Sarasota County was 62 mph at 12:18 a.m., near Sarasota. In Charlotte County, the highest wind gust was 61 mph at 1:49 a.m., Aug. 30 near Charlotte Harbor. Rainfall ranged from 4 to 7 inches, with a maximum of 6.5 inches recorded near Sarasota, 6.74 inches near Bradenton and 6.11 inches in Charlotte County near Harbour Heights. A total of 386 people took refuge from the storm in Sarasota County evacuation centers and 382 people in Manatee County centers. Power outages affected more than 14,000 homes in Charlotte County and roughly 8,000 in Sarasota County. FEMA is still taking damage claims and the Small Business Administration is also accepting loan applications through Oct. 30. A mobile disaster recovery center is open in the Siesta Beach parking lot. To read more, please click here: Surveying The Surge

SWFL FACES SOME TRUTHS AFTER IAN

For Southwest Florida residents, there are now two timelines that dominate our lives — before and after Hurricane Ian. A year ago, Ian was just a name, maybe a loved one, a friend or a neighbor down the street. Summer was wrapping up, just enough time to squeeze in a few more trips down to Fort Myers Beach and the barrier islands before our version of a cold season set in. Since Sept. 28 of last year, the truth is − that reality is gone. Hundreds, if not thousands, still find themselves displaced from the storm or living in hurricane-damaged houses. Unable to afford repairs or find those to make the fixes. The harsh and undeniable reality is that Ian is one of the worst hurricanes to hit not just Southwest Florida, but the entire state. After making landfall in Cayo Casto as a Category 4 storm, Ian ended up solely responsible for over $100 billion in damage and the damage of thousands of structures. Here’s what we know about the historic storm a year later and how it’s impacted Southwest Florida. It’s no secret that when Ian came through Southwest Florida with its 150 mph winds and up to 18 feet of storm surge, some areas were already vulnerable with how close to the coast they were, resulting in immense and expensive damage. And some of these builders and officials knew the dangers of constructing too close to the Gulf. According to professor, researcher and climate preparation expert at Florida Gulf Coast University Mike Savarese, studies showed that Collier County’s damages from Ian alone were $68 million. Without mangrove coverage along the shoreline, damages would have been $81 million. Retired planner and climate expert Jim Beever told the News-Press that he and others identified several vulnerable areas in Lee and Collier counties for years but that people continued to build in dangerous areas. “We have for decades in Florida had coastal construction setback zones which say you shouldn’t build westward of that line, and unfortunately they’ve given people permission to build beyond those lines,” Beever said. “There are zones that should not be developed extensively.” As for what areas needed to be abandoned, Beever gave Fort Myers Beach, the barrier islands and a few of the low-lying areas in Cape Coral, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties as examples. While many would think a nearly Category 5 storm that flattened large chunks of the region would spell a grim fate for local real estate for years to come, instead, it’s given a “clean slate” for investors to pursue new projects. Say goodbye to the typical beach cottages and quaint downtowns you grew up with. Southwest Florida is going to get a makeover over the next decade. “It’s a renaissance of such because out with the old, in comes the new because it has to be rebuilt,” Senior broker for LSI Cos. Randy Thibaut said back in March. “There’s no choice and what it’s being rebuilt with is much higher value real estate, it’s drawing a different type of buyer and it’s bringing different types of retail and recreational opportunities.” Please click here for more, courtesy of Fort Myers News-Press: Some Truths After Ian

SOME LOCAL RESIDENTS STILL STRUGGLE AFTER IAN

One year after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, Sarasota and Manatee counties are still recovering from the Category 4 storm’s impact. “Ian was something none of us had experienced in our lifetimes and probably never will again, ” said North Port City Manager Jerome Fletcher. “The storm left scars on North Port but we continue to heal.” Seven of the 149 deaths linked to Hurricane Ian occurred in the city, which suffered damage from the hurricane’s initial passing after making landfall to the south in Lee County, and later flooding, as its prodigious rainfall along the Myakka River basin drained to the Gulf of Mexico. Lee County – which wound up on the most damaging side of the storm – suffered cataclysmic damage, but Sarasota County Emergency Management Director Rich Collins noted that just 24 to 36 hours prior to landfall, forecasters had anticipated Ian would come ashore in Sarasota County. At a recent news conference to discuss the storm’s one-year anniversary, Collins said, “We were on the edge of a major, Category 4 hurricane. “Ultimately that was the largest response in Sarasota County for a storm in as long as anyone can remember in the history of the County.”

Once the storm subsided and winds dropped below the 45 mph threshold to allow for police, firefighters and emergency services personnel to safely respond, there were more than 845 calls for aid waiting. Some figures at the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ian’s arrival give some sense of the scope of the ongoing recovery:

In response to Hurricane Ian, FEMA has provided $1.1 billion to 386,600 homeowners and renters in Florida. It has paid $82.2 million to 26,400 Sarasota County households, $17.9 million to 11,900 households in Manatee, $96.9 million to 27,100 households in Charlotte and $24.5 million to 4,600 DeSoto households.

FEMA has also provided temporary housing units, including apartments, travel trailers and manufactured housing units, to 1,361 households, with 107 in Sarasota County. According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Hurricane Ian insured losses totaled $17.28 billion. with 86.1% of those claims closed as of June 28 – the most recent data available. Statewide, 34,865 claims remain open without any type of payment. In Sarasota County, a total of 76,552 claims were filed, with 86.8% closed and 2,970 open claims remaining without payment. In Manatee, 13,962 claims were filed, with 88.9% closed and 688 open claims remaining without payment. Recovery has been tough for North Port resident Jeffrey Rapkin. Hurricane Ian tore holes in the roof of the two-story home he shares with his wife and autistic daughter and left the interior exposed to the elements. His insurance company, Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Company, offered $9,000.

Rapkin is suing the company in circuit court. According to the case file, the cost to repair the home is in excess of $200,000. He wanted to live in a larger FEMA mobile home on the property and in April filed suit against the city of North Port for its refusal to allow that placement. A month later the City Commission changed its stance but by then, Rapkin said, his daughter had become settled in the FEMA-provided rental apartment on Toledo Blade Boulevard, so he didn’t want to move her again. Rapkin and his wife Virginia still mow the lawn and he continues to pay the mortgage on a structure that he can’t repair. “I lost my home,” said Rapkin, who noted that months without a roof have led to other issues with the interior walls and mold. There’s more on this story here: Local Residents Struggle

PROGRESSIVE TO NON-RENEW 100K POLICIES

Florida’s home insurance crisis continues to weigh on homeowners as reports indicate that Progressive plans to send out non-renewal notices to roughly half of its home insurance policies in December. The Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) confirmed to several media outlets that Progressive would be dropping an estimated 100,000 home insurance policies to “rebalance” its exposure in the state. Jeff Sibel, a Progressive spokesman confirmed that the company doesn’t have any plans to leave Florida, but the company announced to its agents recently that it would no longer provide dwelling/fire, also known as DP3, coverage in Florida. Triple-I confirmed that Progressive is planning to non-renew 47,000 DP3 policies and 53,000 “high-risk” property policies. Progressive Home is one of the largest homeowner insurers in the state by direct premiums written, making up 3.9% of the market share, according to Triple-I. Progressive’s announcement comes after AAA sent out a similar batch of non-renewal notices for some of its homeowner policies and Farmers Insurance announced it was leaving Florida entirely. Please follow the jump for more: Progressive Non-Renewals

PRIVATE INSURERS TO TAKE CITIZENS POLICIES

Amid a push to move policyholders into the private market, regulators have approved proposals by six private insurers to take as many 153,000 policies from the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky signed six orders recently giving the go-ahead to the private insurers to make offers to Citizens customers. The state Office of Insurance Regulation issued similar orders July 31 and Sept. 1 that could lead to insurers taking as many as 386,000 policies from Citizens. The number of policies that end up leaving Citizens likely will be significantly lower than the approved totals. Nevertheless, what is known as “depopulation” is a key state strategy for trying to shrink Citizens, which has grown to more than 1.4 million policies because of financial problems in the private market. “Depop (depopulation) is critically important,” Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio said last week. “We’ve got to do it for the health of the market.” The orders signed in recent days by Yaworksy will allow the six insurers to assume policies from Citizens on Dec. 19. They will allow Slide Insurance Co. to assume up to 75,000 policies; TypTap Insurance Co. to assume up to 25,000; Safepoint Insurance Co. to assume up to 16,000; Florida Peninsula Insurance Co. to assume up to 15,000; American Traditions Insurance Co. to assume up to 12,000; and Edison Insurance Co. to assume up to 10,000. Many state leaders have long sought to move customers out of Citizens into the private market, at least in part because of the risk that policyholders across the state – including people who do not have Citizens policies – could be forced to help pay claims after a major hurricane or multiple hurricanes. But officials say Citizens often charges lower premiums than private insurers, reducing the incentive for customers to leave Citizens. That helped lead to lawmakers passing a measure in December that required Citizens customers to accept offers of coverage from private insurers if the offers are within 20% of the cost of Citizens premiums. For example, if a homeowner received an offer of coverage from a private insurer that is 19% higher than the Citizens premium, the homeowner would have to accept it. But the new orders signed by Yaworsky also would prevent the private insurers from raising rates by more than 40% for policyholders coming from Citizens. Such a limit was not included in the orders signed July 31 and Sept. 1. Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, had 1,406,189 policies as of this month. As illustrations of its growth, Citizens had 511,055 policies on Sept. 30, 2020; 708,919 policies on Sept. 30, 2021; and 1,071,850 policies on Sept. 30, 2022, according to its website. There’s more on this story here, courtesy of CBS News: Private Insurers To Take Citizens Policies

NEW ROOF MEANS ADDED COSTS FOR HOMEOWNERS

Florida homeowners have increasingly been forced by insurance companies to replace their roofs under threat of huge spikes in premiums — that is, if they can get coverage at all. At the same time, in Sarasota County, unlike other nearby jurisdictions, that new roof carries another cost: a higher tax bill. Other area counties’ elected property appraisers consider replacing a roof with the same material to be a maintenance issue, but Sarasota County’s Property Appraiser classifies it as a capital improvement that enhances the home’s taxable value. Sometimes that increased value is greater than 3% on homesteaded property, which one local attorney says “skirts the spirit” of the Florida Constitution that caps the annual increase in taxable value on homestead property at that level annually. The increase in taxable value is just one of the hits that property owners face after inflation approached a 40-year high last year. The state’s property insurance market has been skyrocketing in cost, forcing homeowners to pay for improvements such as roofs just to retain coverage and escalating property values that have driven up taxes. The local property appraiser says his hands are tied because of state law. “Our attorney has told us how to interpret the statute and we pride ourselves in following the law,” Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst said. “When the law says the property appraiser may, we always go to the side of the taxpayer. In this case, it says shall and that really, the word shall, doesn’t give me any leeway.”

A survey of the property appraisers’ offices in Charlotte, Manatee, DeSoto, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties shows the Sarasota office is an outlier in determining that equates a roof replacement with enhancements such as adding a pool or a room to a home. This isn’t the first time Sarasota County’s property appraiser’s interpretation of state law has been under scrutiny. Furst has taken two cases to the Florida Supreme Court seeking to enforce the letter of the law.

Please click here for more: New Roof Adds Costs

POPULATION GROWTH TOPS SURVEY CONCERNS

Population growth and new development ranked as the top issue facing Sarasota County for the fourth year in a row, according to an annual survey of county residents. In the survey of 1,250 residents, 25% of respondents ranked population growth and development as the most important issue facing Sarasota County – a 6% reduction compared to 2022. The Sarasota County Citizen Opinion Survey reflected an overall positive perception of Sarasota County, with 98% of those surveyed rating their quality of life as good or excellent and 80% saying they trust county government. Now in its 32nd year, the survey included rotating specialty questions in 2020. This year’s questions focus on the environment and the Sarasota County Jail. Just as in 2022, the second most popular survey answer was “there are no serious problems,” at 11%. That decreased from 13% a year ago – and is a significant drop from 2019, when 27% of the respondents thought there were no serious problems. Crime jumped ahead of affordable housing for the third most important issue, with 9% of the respondents noting that this year vs. 5% in 2022, while affordable housing was cited by 6% of respondents. The University of South Florida and marketing consulting firm HCP Associates conducted the Sarasota County Citizen Satisfaction Survey, and the margin of error for the county at-large was plus or minus 2.77%. Residents were interviewed between July 25 and Aug. 25 via a random digit telephone survey. Please click on the link for more: Population Growth Tops Survey

SARASOTA TOP HOME MARKET TO WATCH

The Sarasota-Manatee housing market has been crowned the top home market to watch in the country by Insurify.com, which cites the area’s housing construction boom and skyrocketing property values. Three other Florida metros joined Sarasota on the list. The online insurance agency used building permit, population change and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau, along with Zillow.com data and an internal database of home insurance quotes, to then score and rank the 75 most populated metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. The Sarasota metro, which includes both Sarasota and Manatee counties and their municipalities, had the highest number of new residential units under construction when accounting for existing population of the metro area, with 218.37 residential units under construction for every 100,000 residents. That figure towered over other metro areas in the country, with Fort Myers ranking a distant second with 191.13 units being built per 100,000 residents. Both Fort Myers and Sarasota have experienced some of the highest population growth over the past two years, with Sarasota’s population growing by 7% from 2020 to 2022, and Fort Myers’ population increasing by 8.1% during the same time span. Nationally, the country’s population has increased by just 0.6%. Sarasota has seen a year-over-year increase of 24% for approved housing units under construction, but Fort Myers saw a 14% decline comparing year-to-year building permit data, which could be attributed to Hurricane Ian’s striking the area in September 2022. Still, Insurify.com ranked Fort Myers at fourth in the top 10 markets to watch, pointing to the still large number of homes being built in the area. There’s more on this story here: SRQ Top Market To Watch

MALARIA SCARE BRINGS NEW MOSQUITO CONTROL

With seven documented cases of malaria reported in Sarasota County this year, the county’s Mosquito Management Services team spent the summer on high alert.

The cases were reported in May, June and July, prompted by mosquitos carrying the Plasmodium vivax infection. Mosquito Management Services manager Wade Brennan said the team increased its spray treatments in response to the outbreak, but dry weather in the first half of the summer also helped control the threat. Brennan said extra treatments focused on high-risk areas in North Sarasota.

“So, with malaria, we were dealing with a smaller focused area. And we were dealing with a (mosquito) species that doesn’t fly that far,” Brennan said. “And so, what that allowed us to do is we changed our focus (from) more wider spread throughout the entire county to northern Sarasota. And we were able to put the boots on the ground and really get into those wood lots and also those trenches, the canals, areas like that.” Along with the malaria threat, effects of Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Idalia also increased the risk of mosquito-borne diseases ahead of and following the unusually dry summer. This resulted in an increased number of spray treatments in the county, with 51 truck missions completed in the 2023 fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023. The previous four years averaged 26 truck missions a year while aerial missions averaged 32. The 2023 fiscal year saw aerial missions increase to 35. As treatments increased, so did the cost, but Brennen said the drought helped to offset the expenses. For the 2023 fiscal year the county contracted out spraying services and purchased pesticides that cost a total of about $1 million. The total expenses in 2022 were $870,000. The team uses a combination of adulticides and larvicides for treatment, rotating them to reduce chances of resistance. A variety of pesticides are used. Brennan says 90% of their treatments target larvae and do not kill other bugs. “They’re very targeted-specific to mosquitoes only,” Brennan said. “But our adulticides do have other insects that they can kill, so that’s why we apply at night. So, we’re targeting and making sure that it’s not affecting our local pollinators with our bees, our butterflies, all our beneficial insects.” Click here for more: New Mosquito Control Tactics

COMMISSION TO STUDY REOPENING MIDNIGHT PASS

The Sarasota County Commission plans to authorize a fresh study on the feasibility of reopening Midnight Pass, in part to try to gain more favor with state and federal regulators on a project that is projected to cost from $25 million to $40 million for construction and environmental mitigation – not counting design and permitting.

The commission unanimously voted recently to direct county staff to start internal engineering studies, following a presentation by Public Works Director Spencer Anderson on the master plan forwater quality improvements in Little Sarasota Bay, which includes evaluation of the potential impact of reopening Midnight Pass.

Most recently, the governor vetoed a $1 million allocation in this year’s state budget that would have helped pay for design and permitting efforts needed to reopen the pass. The modern push to reopen Midnight Pass started in 2021 with the nonprofit called the Midnight Pass Society II that enlisted support from Sarasota County and area state legislators, who secured the $1 million for design and permitting costs of the project. Rather than pursue the former option of a 300-square-meter inlet, the County Commission opted to purse the second of three options offered by Anderson, which includes a new concept and feasibility study. “Resuming a new feasibility study would also give us the opportunity to evaluate what might be an option instead of a fully engineered inlet from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf – the contemplation of, could it be a pipe connection, could it be something other than the inlet,” Anderson said. “That will allow us to evaluate that more thoroughly, obtain updated information and most importantly to develop a relationship with the regulators that are in place today in association with the political support we have at the state and federal levels. “This will allow us to get the regulators on board and be partners in this effort.” The cost for that could be $250,000 to $500,000 for the feasibility study, $2 million in design and permitting and the $25 million to $40 million construction and mitigation costs. Please click here for more: Commission To Study Midnight Pass

EFFORTS TO ADD MANATEES TO ENDANGERED LIST

Federal authorities took the first step toward reclassifying Florida’s beloved sea cow, the West Indian manatee, as an endangered species. Manatees were removed from the endangered species list in 2017 and reclassified as a threatened species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced recently that the agency is opening a 90-day finding period to review additional scientific and commercial data and decide if there is enough reason to reclassify them as endangered once again. This action comes after a formal petition made by several environmental advocacy groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Harvard Animal Law & Police Clinic, Miami Waterkeeper and Save the Manatee Club, and a solo Puerto Rican engineer. The groups issued a joint statement in celebration of the recent announcement. The species may be determined to be endangered if it meets one or more of five factors: the destruction or threat of destruction of its habitat, overuse for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes, disease or predation concerns, the inadequacy of existing regulations, or other manmade factors. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the species has declined dramatically since 2017. The group points to pollution-fueled algae blooms and an ongoing mortality event they say approached 2,000 deaths in 2021 and 2022 combined. The center’s Florida chapter is based out of St. Petersburg. Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission records show a significant threat from human activity also plays a heavy hand in manatee mortality. So far in 2023, there have been 476 confirmed manatee deaths, including 77 killed by verified boat strikes, another 14 were attributed to other human factors. An additional 77 deaths were confirmed as natural, 11 from cold stress, 77 were perinatal calves, 38 could not be determined, and another 182 were not necropsied. “This finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service is a crucial step in manatees’ road to recovery,” said Ben Rankin, a legal fellow at the center. “Scientists have documented overwhelming threats to manatees in recent years, and it’s heartening the government is taking action to respond.’ There’s more to read here: Efforts To Add Manatees To Endangered List

GO SLOW FOR THOSE BELOW

Law enforcement agencies aren’t the only ones keeping track of boaters’ speed on the area’s waterways. Mote Marine Laboratory is also using laser speed guns to collect data on boaters’ habits as part of its two-year-old Sea Turtle Protection Zone initiative. Sea turtles are found year-round in Southwest Florida waters. During nesting season, the endangered turtles spend more time closer to the surface and close to their nesting beaches. With more turtles near the surface, there’s a greater chance they’ll be hit by a boat. Mote scientists have documented boat-strike hotspots along the Sarasota area coast and created the voluntary Sea Turtle Protection Zone, which stretches from Longboat Key to Siesta Key, including Sarasota Bay. The zone was created in 2021 through a partnership between the Loggerhead Marinelife Center and the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida. The project is also funded by the Disney Conservation Fund and money collected from the sale of the state’s sea turtle license plate.

“The area extends pretty much from the 10th Street boat ramp down to the north Siesta Key Bridge,” expanding about a mile offshore, said Gretchen Lovewell, stranding investigations program manager at Mote Marine Laboratory. “It’s a voluntary zone where we’re asking people to just slow down and be on the lookout for sea turtles.” Mote says since the 1980s, boat collisions with sea turtles have tripled in Florida. Lovewell says this year has been particularly hard on the sea turtle population. “This year, June, July and August, were really high numbers for us. We’ve already had over 30 turtles this year that we’ve recovered that have been hit by boats,” most of them in the new protection zone. And 90% of sea turtle strikes are fatal, according to Valerie Nicole Tovar, conservation manager at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. “Our goal is to increase boater awareness and enlist boater voluntary compliance to decrease sea turtle injuries and deaths by creating a united front with our local boating communities,” Tovar said in a recent news release. A similar zone has also been established in Palm Beach County, she said.

There’s more on this story here: Go Slow For The Turtles

GARDENS PARTY

Selby Botanical Gardens is marking 50 years of plant research and colorful flower displays with the opening of “The Orchid Show 2023: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.” In Selby’s Tropical Conservatory, Nathan Burnaman, associate director of horticultural exhibits, led a team to design and create new displays that highlight the garden’s history of scientific research and discovery and the fascination people have with orchids. “We’ve been studying, growing and displaying orchidaceae for 50 years. That has been our claim to fame and we are trying to show that history in this display,” said Angel Lara, vice president for botanical horticulture. Two new ponds have been created with orchids resting atop pumice rocks that appear to be floating above the water, suggesting their nature as epiphytes or air plants, Burnaman said. As visitors enter the space, they first see a large display with red, purple and pink orchids attached to cork formed in the shape of a star. Cork also is mounted on the outer windows where pots made from 3-D printers and featuring the Selby logo are attached to hold individual orchids, Burnaman said. At the other end, is a family tree of orchid species. There are about 28,000 different species of orchids, some of which have either been discovered or initially described by Selby scientists. Selby is known to house the most diverse collection of living orchids and other epiphytes in the world, and its living collection features more than 16,000 plants, including more than 3,500 orchids. About one-third of its herbarium collection of more than 120,000 pressed and dried plant specimens is made up of orchids. Please click on the link for more: Gardens Party