Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management is pleased to announce the grant award winners for the Lake Worth Lagoon and Chain of Lakes Partnership Grant Program. Since 1998, the Florida Legislature has appropriated $19 million and local sponsors have provided over $40 million to fund projects that improve water quality and restore fish and wildlife habitat within the Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL) and the Chain of Lakes (COL).
The county acts as the administrator for the grant program and facilitates a request for proposals process to solicit projects from local sponsors. The selection committee is tasked with the evaluation and selection of the applications and includes representatives from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Inland Navigation District, Palm Beach Community College, the South Florida Water Management District, and the West Palm Beach Fishing Club.
On September 5, 2008 the committee met to allocate the Legislature’s appropriation of $500,000 to the Lake Worth Lagoon and $200,000 to the Chain of Lakes for FY2008-09. The South Cove Natural Area Phase 2 project was awarded $415,000. The John Prince Memorial Park Campground Sewer Project in the Chain of Lakes was awarded $165,000. A portion of the remaining funds will be used for grant administration, monitoring, and outreach within the LWL and COL system.
The South Cove Natural Area project consists of filling a deep dredge hole to elevations that allow for the recruitment of seagrass and a series of intertidal mangrove islands. The project will create mangrove and spartina habitat (2 acres), seagrass habitat (3.5 acres), oyster reef (0.9 acres), and limestone rock for mangrove island revetment and planters (1,695 feet). Fisheries, benthic organisms, and wildlife will benefit from increased food supplies, nursery areas, and shallow water habitat. During Phase 2 of the project, a public use facility that includes an elevated boardwalk, an observation deck, and an information kiosk will be constructed. Project partners include Palm Beach County, the City of West Palm Beach and the Florida Inland Navigation District.
The John Prince Park project is located in a 727-acre county park located around the shores of Lake Osborne. It is the county’s oldest regional park and features a 48-acre campground with 277 RV/tent sites, playgrounds, horseshoe pit, pavilions, picnic facilities, walking trails and a boat ramp. The purpose of this project is to replace the restroom’s 50-year-old septic tank and drain field, install new sanitary sewers for 53 campsites, replace the manager’s residence septic tank, and connect to the City of Lake Worth’s municipal sanitary sewer system. Conversion from septic tanks to a public sanitary sewer will modernize the campgrounds and provide a more environmentally sound wastewater disposal system that will reduce pollutants from entering Lake Osborne and thereby help to improve water quality in the COL system.
For more information on the Lake Worth Lagoon and Chain of Lakes Partnership Grant Program, visit Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management on the Web at: http://www.pbcgov.com/erm/lakes/estuarine/lake-worth-lagoon/partnership-grant-program/.
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