Lisa Barton

If you live in a community for a long time, there may be areas that you seldom, if ever, visit. That’s not often the case for me.  I am out daily looking at houses, showing properties and learning about local communities and neighborhoods. The great, unexpected bonus is how much I have learned about the natural beauty of our area, and how lucky we are to still have significant tracks of land that are quite pristine. Anyone who has visited South Florida can attest to how North Florida could look like without some forethought and active planning for preservation of our natural resources .

This came back all the more vividly a few weeks ago when I attended the North Florida Land Trust luncheon (NFLT). The NFLT is a terrific organization that in only ten years has contributed much to preserving and sustaining the ecology of our area. Jacksonville’s mayor, John Peyton, was the guest speaker and he spoke quite passionately and effectively about the River Accord and it’s impact on Jacksonville and North Florida. Overall the River Accord is a $700 million dollar project covering 100+ miles of the St Johns River. Jacksonville is allocated $150 million of the money set-aside for the River Accord. Here are a few things I learned from Mayor Peyton.

First, the River Accord is about improving the health of the St John’s River. As Peyton said, anyone who saw the broad swath of green algae that covered the water two years ago, knows that there are issues with the river that need urgent attention. Secondly, the River Accord is about improving access to the River for boating, fishing, kayaking, and simply enjoying the lovely vistas from the many public parks that are located close to the river. To meet these objectives, a wide variety of expertise, funding, and time is needed to preserve one of Jacksonville’s most valuable assets. The St Johns River makes Jacksonville a truly distinctive community as does the fact that we have the largest metropolitan park system of any city in the US.

The mayor also spoke about the three main sources of pollution to the river:

1. Storm culverts and drainage that empties directly into the river,
2. Individuals and businesses that dump raw sewage into the river
3. Faulty septic systems (the major degraders of the 80+ tributaries that feed the river)

As a community, we need to correct all three pollution sources, and support funding for the River Accord in order to restore the river to minimum acceptable levels—which is defined as reducing the effluent into the river by 32 million gallons a day and by offsetting the need for potable water. Because the St. John’s River in essence defines our city visually, recreationally, and commercially, and many of our loveliest downtown neighborhoods were built to enjoy its beauty, it is clearly in our enlightened self-interest to make sure that the River is healthy!

You can learn more about this initiative at the City of Jacksonville website. For additional information visit the North Florida Land Trust. Even better, find out about their schedule of events and get out and explore for yourself some of the lovely sites they have helped preserve.