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Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 1 Proj # Bay PRP 2014-035 Project Name St. Andrew Bay Water Quality Report Card Project Proposer, affiliation, web site Linda Fitzhugh St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Assoc. www.sabrma.org Project Description The St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association proposes to create a report card for St. Andrew Bay. This report card would feature a water quality analysis of the bay similar to those completed for Chesapeake Bay. Information would be distributed to community leaders and it would be placed online for the public to see. Information would also be disseminated to officials from the FDEP, FWCC, NOAA, USACE, and USFWS. Proj. Size (acres) 67000 Economic Good water quality is essential to our livelihood. Not only does this support our local fishermen, but it supports real estate and tourism. Property values are higher in areas where good water quality exists. If a water body is degraded, then we can focus on that area for restoration. Environmental Good water quality is essential to fisheries, recreational activities, and property values. By tracking how water quality changes over time, RMA will be able to identify areas in the bay where water quality has improved and where it has degraded. This information is necessary for proper management. Social Tourists are attracted to this area because of our beautiful beaches and bay. St. Andrew Bay boasts some of the best shallow water fishing in the area; guides from Destin come here to fish the flats for redfish and sea trout. Tourists and residents rent boats and jet skis to explore the bay. Other The St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association is the only entity in this area that has been monitoring the water quality in St. Andrew Bay since 1990. Therefore, RMA is the only entity that already has the continuous data set that can be used for long-term water quality comparisons. Project Location St. Andrew Bay is located in Bay County, Panama City, FL. It is almost 69,000 acres and is composed of West Bay, North Bay, St. Andrew Bay, and East Bay. RMA will create a report card for the bay by comparing water quality data in specific areas of the bay over time. Est total project cost $150,000 Amount requested $100,000 Describe what funds will be used for $80,000 will be used to hire a data manager, GIS expert, graphic designer, videographer and publisher to complete the data analysis, create a template for the report card, and print the report card for distribution. $10,000 is needed for equipment and $10,000 is needed for rent. Long term funding needed? Source? Availability? Long term funding is not needed to complete this project. Est yrs completion 0-2 Matching $ available? Yes Match source? Secured? The project manager and data manager will donate their time to complete the report card and disseminate information. This is valued at $50,000. The St. Andrew Bay Watch Program will continue to collect water quality data which is valued at $130,000 annually but is not used as match for this project. ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 2 Amount match secured $50,000 % proj cost from match 30 Partners anticipated? Yes Partner names UF, US Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, FDEP, FWCC, GCSC Funds request other source? If yes, name source, decision date N/A Proj fully funded by other source? FULL PROPOSAL FORM Project number (proposal) Bay PRP 2014-035 Submittal date proposal 2/7/2015 Project name (proposal) St. Andrew Bay Water Quality Report Card Applicant name Linda Fitzhugh Project description (proposal) The St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association (RMA) proposes to create a report card for St. Andrew Bay. This report card would feature a water quality analysis of the bay similar to those completed for Chesapeake Bay. Information would be distributed to community leaders and the public and it would be placed online for anyone to see. Information would also be disseminated to officials from the FDEP, FWCC, NOAA, USACE, TAFB, NSA, USFWS and any other entities interested in this information. Project location description The project encompasses the entire St. Andrew Bay system: West Bay, North Bay, St. Andrew Bay, and East Bay. The St. Andrew Bay Watch Program of RMA has over 80 water quality monitoring stations in the bay that are sampled St. Andrew Bay Watch has been sampling the bay since 1990 so RMA has a huge data set that can be used for long term water quality studies. 1. Restore nat res The report card will show water quality trends like the improvement of water quality in West Bay now that the treated wastewater is no longer being dumped there and the degradation of water quality in Grand Lagoon. The improved water quality in West Bay makes this area eligible for seagrass and oyster restoration projects. Creating a baseline will allow us to monitor whether the water quality continues to improve as restoration takes place. The declining water quality in Grand Lagoon tells us that we need to do more to protect the natural resources (and home values) in this area. 2. Mitigate N/A 3. Implement plan N/A 4. Workforce/Jobs To complete this report card and create a template that can be used year after year for subsequent water quality analyses, RMA needs to hire, on a part-time basis over a two year period, a data analyst, a GIS expert, a graphic designer, a videographer, and a publisher to print the finished product. 5. Improve state park N/A ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 3 6. Infrastructure N/A 7. Flood protect N/A 8. Planning Once the report card is complete, RMA plans to create a 20-30 second video to be used as a public service announcement. This PSA will describe how water quality has changed over the past decades in St. Andrew Bay and it will air on our local TV stations. The project manager and data manager will discuss how the report card was made and highlight the results of the report card via interviews and public meetings, and RMA will send the report card to the public via direct mail, email, and websites. The information should be used to plan future projects. 9. Promote tourism Ecotourism can be an economic boom to a region and getting the word out that the water quality in West Bay has improved should encourage more anglers to fish the flats of West Bay. Although water quality has declined in Grand Lagoon, once this information is disseminated, locals can implement Best Management Practices at their homes and businesses to reduce pollution via non-point and point sources. By focusing on cleaning up Grand Lagoon, we will eventually improve conditions in this water body which should benefit the businesses that rent jet skis and pontoon boats and offer day fishing trips to tourists. 10. Promote seafood Water quality conditions have improved in West Bay now that the treated wastewater is no longer being dumped there. This is a huge boon to the oyster industry since this area is no longer closed to the harvest of shellfish! Our report card will show the connection between clean water and a healthy oyster fishery. It will also show that our bay supports healthy shrimp, redfish and sea trout populations that can be fished directly, and it supports the juvenile stages of the offshore species we love to eat, mainly snapper and grouper. 1.1 Diversify N/A 1.2 Infrastruc N/A 1.3 Airport N/A 1.4 Job train N/A 1.5 Workforce dev N/A 1.6 Facil tourism/econ dev A healthy bay supports a healthy economy. The report card will show that most of our bay is in fair condition and that areas like West Bay have improved over the past several decades. This information needs to be disseminated to the TDC and local businesses that focus on water-related activities like fishing, boat rentals, snorkeling and scuba diving, kayak sales and rentals, and sight-seeing. It would be great to see water taxis and sight- seeing boats in the bay as well as kayak and jet ski tours showing the locals and tourists the beauty and bounty of the bay. 1.7 Rec, transport, wage N/A 1.8 Protect nat res The purposes of the report card are to show the public how water quality has changed over time and how better water quality enhances the economy. People protect what they love and we are hoping that the report card will provide people the information they need to protect the natural resources of the bay. 1.9 Promote fishing The report card will show that a healthy habitat makes for better and more enjoyable fishing. ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 4 1.10 Commun resil N/A 2.1 Protect SAB The report card will show the water quality trends that have emerged over the past few decades. By highlighting some of the Best Management Practices from the SWIM and Stormwater plans and incorporating some of the recommendations from FWCC and FDEP, the report card will show how easy it is for us to improve and protect the water quality in the bay. 2.2 Improv wtr qual The report will show areas where water quality needs to be improved which will help decision makers prioritize the lands that need to be purchased and those that need to be restored. 2.3 Protect seagrass The report card will highlight how seagrass cover has changed over the decades and it will show how poor water quality and poor boating practices are detrimental to this essential fish habitat. 2.4 Wildl hab The report card will contain information about local fisheries, the birds that spend time in the bay, and the seagrass habitat the provides the protected nursery areas for our offshore fisheries. 2.5 Acq lands N/A 2.6 Preserve dunes, shore The report card will highlight the importance of seagrass habitat to fisheries, better water quality, and reduced shoreline erosion. 2.7 Protected spp The information in the report card could be used by decision makers to identify areas that need more protection. 2.8 Water data The report card will show how important it is to have decades of data that can be used to determine how water quality is changing over time. It will also highlight the various indicators that are used to determine the health of the bay. 3.1 Deer Pt Lk wtr qual N/A 3.2 Stabil roads N/A 3.3 Sewer AWT N/A 3.4 Septic to central N/A 3.5 N/A 3.6 LID N/A 3.7 Coast resil The report card will show the areas in the bay vulnerable to sea level rise and this information can be used by decision makers to determine how much and what kind of upland development should occur. 3.8 Support port N/A Budget justification $100,000 is being requested over a two year period. Of these funds, about $80,000 will be used to hire individuals to complete the data analysis, to make maps to display the data, to design the report card template that will be used over successive years to show the health of the bay, to create a 20-30 second public service announcement that will be aired on local TV stations, and to publish the results. Approximately $10,000 is needed to purchase a high end computer, a large format printer, and the software, desks, and office supplies needed to print documents. The last $10,000 will cover rent and most utilities over the two year period. ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 5 Ongoing costs The St. Andrew Bay Watch Program of RMA needs approximately $80,000 annually to collect water quality data every month at over 80 stations in the bay. The program leverages the in-kind value of its 50+ volunteers, which comes to at least $50,000 annually, in the various grants it receives to perform this work. The St. Andrew Bay Watch and RMA will continue to write grants to fund this program; however, if the county, state, or federal government would like to subsidize any or all of these costs, RMA would welcome this help! That said, we do not anticipate any ongoing costs for Bay County. Objective and measures The overall objective is to produce a report card that shows trends in water quality over time, but the report card will also highlight the biological resources in the bay and identify ways that we can easily protect the ecosystem. During year 1, we will meet with scientists and regulatory officials to determine the water quality thresholds to use for the report. We will purchase the supplies we need and we will complete the data analysis. We will then hire a videographer to create a 20-30 second video that will be aired on our local TV stations as a public service announcement. During year 2, we will contract with a graphic designer and a GIS expert to create the template for the report card and then we will print and distribute the report card to the public. The report card will be sent electronically to everyone that wants a copy. Lastly, we will create a PowerPoint presentation that we can use at meetings and community events to educate the public about the health of the bay. Nat Res Proj Yes Best Avail Science As part of this project, we will meet with scientists and regulatory officials from state and federal agencies to determine the water quality thresholds to use for the report card. This will ensure that we are using the correct indicators and that the appropriate thresholds are being applied to each indicator. The data are of high quality because the St. Andrew Bay Watch Program strictly follows the procedures dictated by FDEP and UF-Lakewatch already. In fact, we have scientists from FDEP that accompany us every month on our sampling trip that samples the shallow water sites in West Bay and St. Andrew Bay. All the procedures we follow were developed by FDEP and the research shows that water quality data collected by volunteers are not significantly different from that collected by FDEP or UF-Lakewatch biologists. All data are eventually uploaded into FDEP's database and so they are publicly available. Env issues I answered "no" to every question on the Treasury checklist. This project is a data analysis and educational project. Econ Dev proj? Econ Dev description Job Creation? Yes Describe how jobs created We will have to contract with individuals to complete the data analysis, to create the template for the report card, to create a 20-30 second public service announcement, and to publish the results. These are all contractual jobs and the individuals will be paid for the services they provide. No. jobs created 5 No. jobs created Yr 1 2 No. jobs created Yr 2 3 No. jobs created Yr 3 ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 6 Avg wage Total proj cost $80,000 Complement. proj descr. N/A Proj readiness descr We are ready to go! Once we get the funding, we will immediately purchase the equipment and software we need and we will set up schedules for the meetings needed to determine the thresholds for the indicators we use. Once the thresholds are known, we will analyze the data. We do need to download the most recent data and add this to our database, but this will not take much time. We are ready now! Permits required? Permits status Land acq? Acquire fee simple? Acquire easement? Fee and easement descri Terms of easement Entity to hold title Easement acres Fee simple acres Appraisal avail? Appraised value Title opinon avail? Material risks None have been identified at this time. Likelihood of success The project manager and data manager created a very cursory rough draft of a report card last year. So we know how to organize and analyze the data. We do want to meet with regulatory officials from Florida to determine what thresholds we should use for St. Andrew Bay because last year we used threshold values for Chesapeake Bay. We also want to work with a graphic designer and GIS expert to create an eye-catching template that can be used for years to come since last year's report card was informative but very boring to look at. We know how to do the hard work; we just need help making the report card appealing to the public. Contract out work? Yes Contracting strategy Contracts will be written to identify the specific tasks that need to be accomplished, the time frame in which they need to be completed, and the criteria that will be used to determine whether they were completed satisfactorily. If unsatisfactory work is completed, the contractor will not be paid. This will be clearly stated in the contract. Applic manage proj? Yes L 1. Proposed mgr Linda Fitzhugh, St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association L 2. Mgr agreed? Yes ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 7 L 3.Mgr experience For the St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association, Linda Fitzhugh has managed at least three grants over the past 12 years. There was a $35,000 project that involved seagrass monitoring behind Shell Island near East Pass, a $36,000 federal project that involved seagrass restoration in West Bay, and a $100,000 grant that funded various research projects in the bay: a water residence time study, a study that linked water quality to seagrass productivity, and a seagrass mapping study. The project manager is a Professor of Biology at Gulf Coast State College and she managed a $1,500,000 teacher education project that employed one individual full time and seven individuals part-time and provided professional development activities to 30 teachers in Northwest Florida. This project lasted for three years from 2012 to 2014. L 4. Post proj maint The St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association has been doing water quality monitoring since 1990. We are one of the longest running, citizen-based, water quality monitoring programs in the state of Florida. RMA utilizes a technical Board of Directors to guide its work; most Board Members are either currently employed as biologists or regulatory officials or are recently retired from said jobs. The organization has received over half a million dollars over the years to fund its programs. Although the organization would welcome a recurring funding source, Board Members will continue to apply for grants to fund RMA's programs. L 5. Mgmt approach The project manager and data manager will complete a Gantt chart to show when tasks need to be completed. This document will be our guide to get all the tasks accomplished within two years. Funds will be deposited into RMA's checking account so that equipment and supplies can be purchased and contractors can be hired. All contracts and receipts will be kept in one folder for easy access and all the documents: Gantt chart, contracts, Excel spreadsheets showing expenditures, invoices, etc. will be scanned and stored electronically as well. Outreach descr A 20-30 second public service announcement will be created as well as a PowerPoint that will be used at meetings and community events to educate the public. The report cards will be available as a hard copy and electronically, and they will be posted on RMA's website.