Meeting Minutes Everglades Wetland Research Park Advisory Committee Meeting January 15, 2016, 10:00 am 12:45 noon Kapnick Center, Naples FL Attending: Bill Mitsch, Director, EWRP; Committee members: Dennis "Duke" Vasey, Naples, FL; Jerry Pausch, Leesburg, OH; Robin Lewis, Salt Springs, FL; Bernard Master, Worthington, OH and Marco Island, FL; Ray Stewart, Amherst, OH; Siobhan Fennessy, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH; Dennis Wilt, Dublin, OH; Stephen Weisberg, Naples, FL; Bill Heffner, Columbus, OH; Susan Calkins- Ritas, Naples, FL; Art Ritas, Naples, FL; Mike Duever, Naples, FL; Mike Peppe, Columbus OH and Naples FL; Tom Maish, Bonita Springs, FL; Tom X. Singer, Winchester, OR; Ed Carleson, Naples, FL; Jim Bays, Tampa, FL. Observers: Abe Levy, Bonita Springs, FL; E.J. Neafsey, Sanibel, FL The meeting was brought to order by Professor Bill Mitsch at approximately 10:05 am. 1. 2016 Bernard and Susan Master Moonlight on the Marsh Lecture Series See press release from international publisher Elsevier on the MOM lecture series: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological- engineering/news/the- 2016- bernard- and- susan- master- moonlight- marsh- lecture/ Appreciation was given to Bernard and Susan Master and Bill Heffner for their donations that led to the extraordinarily successful Moonlight on the Marsh lecture and social event held the previous evening. The lecture by Lonnie and Ellen Thompson of The Ohio State University Climate Change: The Evidence, People, and Our Options attracted 175 participants, far and away the largest attendance we have ever had for our MOM lectures. A summary of the lecture is found at http://www.fgcu.edu/swamp/files/1_releaseinaugural2016_mom.pdf A nice press release detailing the remainder of the MOM lecture series was published in the Florida Weekly on January 21: http://naples.floridaweekly.com/news/2016-01- 21/Top_News/Experts_on_climate_change_water_shine_in_Moonlight.html 2. Introduction of Students Supported by Committee Members Professor Mitsch introduced four FGCU graduate students who are/were supported by members of this EWRP advisory committee: The students and their source of support are: a) Andrea Pereyra (from Lima, Peru; Dec 2015 M.S. graduate in environmental science at FGCU) supported by Judy Sproul Endowment b) Lauren Griffiths (new graduate student in environmental science from Juno Beach, FL) supported by Judy Sproul Endowment c) Conor MacDonnell (graduate student in environmental science from Charlottesville, VA; May 2016 grad) supported by Duke and Janet Vasey d) Daniel Dickinson (graduate student in environmental science from Hamilton, Bermuda; site engineer/boat captain and grad student) supported by Jerry Pausch Each student gave brief remarks of their background and research and thanked the committee. They, in turn, received the committee s appreciation and applause. 1
3. Committee Introductions Each committee member and observer then introduced himself or herself and gave his or her background and/or activity on the committee. Seventeen committee members and two observers attended the meeting. 4. EWRP Director s Report Prof. Mitsch then gave the EWRP Director s Report, summarizing the EWRP s 2012-15 (2013 2016 academic years) accomplishments. These had just been compiled for a National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal that was submitted on Monday Jan 11. 1. Extramural support EWRP had an estimated income from all sources over 2012 to 2015 academic years of $400,400 from grants, contracts, short courses, endowments, and donations. 2. Formal university teaching and short courses The Kapnick Center has been used for approximately 47 university course listings (and 2 high school summer training courses) involving a total of 704 students. Ten professional short courses have attracted participants from approximately 15 U.S. states and 6 foreign countries. 3. Special workshops/conferences On October 22, 2015 the EWRP hosted a Workshop on Blub Carbon, sponsored by Gulf of Mexico Coastal Training Program. We will also host International Wetland Day and the U.S. National Ramsar Committee s quarterly meeting on February 2, 2016. Collaborators and participants are most welcome. See new poster here: 2
4. Moonlight on the Marsh distinguished lectures The estimated total attendance for the 4 years of MOM lectures is 2535, with an average of 115 per lecture. Attendance of 175 the night before might make this 4- year estimate even higher. 5. Hosting visiting scholars There have been, through December 2015, 62 visiting scientists to the EWRP in Naples, with stays at the lab ranging from a few days to a year or more and for a total of 2,095 use days. The visitors to the EWRP have come from 14 foreign countries (most visit days from China, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Poland, and Colombia) and from 11 U.S. states. 6. Total number of visitor days We have had or will have over 9800 visitor days over EWRP s 4 years of existence or 2450 visitor days each year. 5. Discussion of Funding Opportunities for the EWRP Many opportunities for funding the EWRP were discussed at the meeting. Below are the main ideas that were discussed. a) Everglades Foundation Grand Challenge (now called the George Barley Water Prize) Professor Mitsch initiated the discussion by introducing the Everglades Foundation s George Barley Water Prize, a $10 million science prize that will be given to an individual, a consortium, or a corporation that comes up with a sustainable solution to phosphorus pollution in the Florida Everglades. In addition to the $10 million grand prize, $1.2 million in sub- prizes will be awarded throughout the duration of the competition program. The prize and several press releases that announced the prize are at http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/what- we- do/barleyprize/ Why we think we are in a good position to win this award We think the right team, led by a Stockholm Water Prize laureate who has spent his career improving water quality with natural ecosystems such as wetlands, will be very much in the running to win this prize if we get our team in the right position. We have heard, in various web sites and discussions, that the winning science project should be applicable to phosphorus retention and recycling the Kissimmee River in Florida (that is north of and flows into Lake Okeechobee) and in the watershed that flows into western Lake Erie that used to be referred to as the Black Swamp. See https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/restoring- black- swamp- save- lake- erie- bill- mitsch?trk=mp- reader- card for Prof. Mitsch s description of how the restoration of the Black Swamp could save Lake Erie. Our 20- years of research at the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09258574/72# and our recent (2015) well cited paper on achieving extraordinarily low concentrations of phosphorus (10 ppb) from wetland mesocosms in the Florida Everglades also puts us in a good position in Florida. See http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0925857414005424 The Everglades Prize is going to require an application by our team (not determined yet) by mid- 2016 when advice on how to do a pre- application will be published. The prize will be awarded, after several phases of competition in about 2020. Professor Mitsch suggests that these four years before the prize is given (2016-2020) give us an opportunity to solidify our chances of winning the prize by establishing two 3
Olentangy River Wetland- like sites of multiple experimental wetland basins on river floodplains. One site should be on the Kissimmee River and the other near a river in the lost Black Swamp in Ohio that should be restored to cut off the phosphorus going into western Lake Erie. We estimate that the costs of creating the appropriate experimental conditions on these two floodplains are $500,000 to $1 million in each state. Several good ideas came from the discussion: 1. Jim Bays suggested that his company CH2M may be interested in being part of a team that applies for the prize. He will explore the idea of buy- in with his corporation leaders. CH2M has significant experience in ecological engineering of wetlands and has offices in both FL and OH. This idea was received with enthusiasm by the EWRP advisory committee members. 2. Bernie Master suggested that he will contact Kimberly Kauffman who is heavily involved in coastal marshes of Lake Erie including Magee s Marsh to see if she is interested in helping. There was committee enthusiasm for Bernie to follow up on this possibility. He has since contacted her and we are establishing email connects now. 3. Bill suggested that the state agency South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) may be interested in loaning property along the Kissimmee River to a state university for a research site there (he had a short course take a tour of the Kissimmee River in November and had preliminary discussions with SFWMD personnel during the river tour. 4. Bill and Li Zhang visited a potential site on the Sandusky River in Ohio in May 2015 that is owned by the Black Swamp Conservancy. That remains a potential site; Bill will investigate its restoration progress. b) Freedom Park in Collier County At least one EWRP grad student Lauren Griffiths is doing her thesis research at this relatively new 50- acre wetland park in the middle of Naples (corner of Golden Gate and Goodlette Frank Road in Naples). There is mutual interest by both EWRP and Collier County in having EWRP do monitoring research at this site. We are in connection with them and with committee member Jim Bays who designed the site. c) China Opportunity with Robin Lewis Committee member Robin Lewis described an opportunity for the EWRP based on a $5 million donation that he has received from a Chinese billionaire to restore his mangrove restoration project in Marco Island, Florida. The project, called Fruit Farm Creek http://www.marcomangroves.com/ Robin explained that the money is in the bank for the project and that he estimates that $3.1 million will be needed for the restoration and Rookery Bay will receive $0.5 million for outreach etc. That leaves $1.4 million for us to discuss with Robin when Li Zhang comes back in town. Robin is keen to teach his mangrove restoration short course in China, perhaps through FGCU. d) Other Chinese opportunities We have at least three other identifiable opportunities for support from different Chinese organizations- - - University collaboration with the Department of Environmental Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China; corporate funding with a Chinese 4
landscape design firm in Beijing; and a wetland design project through a U.S. sustainability company based in Ohio. It was mentioned that this increased activity in Chinese support for U.S.A. activity appears to be the result of high- level Chinese- American government talks. e) National Science Foundation We sent a $370,000 proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation for their field station construction competition in early January 2016. We will know the verdict on that proposal in six months although NSF proposals have a very low probability of success, maybe 5%. We proposed creation of experimental wetlands (called mesocosms) that were successfully used for student research for more than a decade at the Olentangy River Wetlands in Ohio. Our proposal was for twenty 3ft x 15 ft mesocosm tubs each at the Naples Botanical Garden and Freedom Park (a $10 million wetland complex in Naples designed by Jim Bays and CH2M in the mid- 2000s.). f) Wakodahatchee Wetlands Jim Bays mentioned that he spoke to Ted Winsberg, the former owner of the land associated with the successful Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, FL (southeastern Florida) about possibly funding a project or projects for EWRP researchers. It is a domestic wastewater treatment wetland that has turned out to be an extraordinary bird habitat and has hundreds of thousands of visitors per year walking along the extensive boardwalk system constructed for visitors. The project was designed by our committee member Jim Bays and CH2M. Bill expressed significant interest in this opportunity and Jim will investigate further. See http://www.pbcgov.com/waterutilities/wakodahatchee/ g) DOE and Stephen Weisberg suggested that major funding is now coming from Homeland Security and DARPA for projects which are tied to the changes brought about by Climate Change, rising sea levels, protection of our coasts and other issues affecting our security and future costs. Steve subsequently sent us the following link for DOD and Climate Change: http://fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d4715_21.pdf?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email& utm_campaign=new%20campaign&utm_term=%2asituation%20report 6. Next Meeting Next formal meeting schedule of January 2017 is the most reasonable time. There was considerable interest in having the meeting in Havana, Cuba and having a road show Moonlight on the Marsh lecture there by a Cuban scientist. Bill recently visited Cuba to give a keynote presentation at their X Simposio Internacional Humedales [Wetlands] 2015 in early November 2015 and now has contacts there who welcome his return. Bill and others will investigate the feasibility. The meeting was adjourned at about 12:45 and was followed by an optional lunch and further discussion at the Three60 Restaurant on Bayshore Drive. Thirteen participants at the meeting went to the luncheon. 5