Marine Resources Council LagoonWATCH Recruiting Volunteers for Indian River Lagoon Action Assembly

for more information contact MRC at 321-725-7775

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Ask someone who lives in east central Florida how it’s going and they often will say, “It’s another day in paradise.”

“We’re protecting our paradise while launching tomorrow” is the theme of the 21st Indian River Lagoon Community Action Assembly, which will bring together up to 140 volunteer citizen delegates and facilitators July 24-25 at Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, to consider current science and reach consensus on how to make that theme a reality.

There is no cost to participate; however, meals and accommodations are not provided.

Marine Resources Council LagoonWATCH: Citizens + Science is presenting the Assembly and has so far recruited a diverse group of 82 regional Delegates and 11 Facilitators who have volunteered to help make up the Assembly.

Those interested in volunteering for the Assembly should call MRC immediately at 321-725-7775; weekly brief email orientations begin June 10 leading up to the two-day event. A one-hour Assembly opening ceremony will be open to the public. Sign up to receive email updates and an invitation at LoveTheIRL.org.

The Assembly is featured as part of IMAGINE! A Year of Hope + Action, which MRC launched on the first day of spring.

The year will feature the Assembly along with the first IRL Progress + Action Report that will be produced in collaboration with east central Florida regional partners this fall. “We’re making historic progress in east central Florida,” said MRC Chair Jim Moir.

Top examples are the Brevard County half-cent sales tax that finances the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Program and Plan; a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers management plan aimed at reducing harmful discharges into the Lagoon from Lake Okeechobee into the southern Lagoon, and a host of other locally driven initiatives.

“Local leadership and investment are attracting regional, state, federal and worldwide financial support,” said Moir.

MRC has spent decades working alongside a growing legion of concerned citizens who are shaping a balanced future for the region. Today, the area boasts a richly diversified economy, major universities and scientific organizations, aerospace and space industries, Kennedy Space Center, Port Canaveral and 40 percent of the state’s Atlantic coastline.

The Lagoon is the backbone of the region and one of only 28 estuaries of national significance in the U.S. The IRL National Estuary Program and its Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan guide progress. The last Assembly of this scale was hosted at FIT in 2014 following epic marine mortality events driven by growing pollution.

“Ten years later, east central Florida has a fleet of organizations working together and engaging citizens and science to protect our paradise,” says Moir.

“Then, there was little hope. Ten year on there’s a lot to celebrate; however, we need to keep moving forward together and that’s why MRC is hosting this Assembly.”

Contact MRC at 321-725-7775 or Council@mrcirl.org for more information.

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