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I guess, well, well,

2
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well, yeah.

3
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Get it together now

4
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and get your love

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Come and get your love

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get your love now

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love

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Com love

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G let your love

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Come and get your love

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But To baby

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Oh yeah it the same man

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Come and get your love

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Come and get your love,

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my bags last night, briefly.

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Zero out, 9 a.m.

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And I'm gonna be high.

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As a kind by then.

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I miss the earth so much.

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I miss my wife.

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It's lonely out of space

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On such a time, that's white.

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And I think it's gonna be a long, long time

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touchdown brings me round get too fine

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I'm not the man that think I am at home

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I No, no no

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I'm running mad.

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Rocket man Burning out

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And I think it's gonna be a long, long time

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To drop down, brings me round and get too fine.

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I am down

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I'm a rocket man.

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Rocket man,

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burnin' attitude of hair belong.

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Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.

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In fact, as cold as hell

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And there's no one there to raise them.

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If you did

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And all the science I don't understand.

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It's just my job five days a week

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A rocket.

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Rocket man.

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And I think it's gonna be a

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long, long time till tuck it down brings me

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round and get too fine.

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About the man that think I am at home.

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Oh, no, no, no.

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I'm a rocket

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man, burnin' out of fuse out here

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alone.

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And I think it's gonna be a long, long time.

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Madam Chair, you have a live mic.

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I'd like to call the August 28th, 2026,

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uh, big Cypresspace and board meeting to order.

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If you all stand, and I'd ask Michelle McLeod

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to lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

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of America, to the Republic, for which

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it stands, one nation, under God,

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indivisible, with liberty and justice, for all.

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Good morning, board members.

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It's nice to see everyone this morning.

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I hope everyone has been enjoying a wonderful summer, and

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as we transition from the height of summer toward

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the fall, I look forward to continuing our

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work together and building on the tremendous

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progress that we have made.

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Thank you for being here and for your continued commitment to our shared goals.

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A couple of housekeeping items first.

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Board members, please make sure your microphone is on,

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and you speak into the mic, so online attendees can hear you.

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If you turn your head while you're speaking to talk to

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another board member, please drag the mic with

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you so that we can make sure your comments are captured.

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Please try to get as close to the microphone as you can.

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And to be recognized, please use the buttons on the dais.

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For those joining remotely, thank you for your continued

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interest and support.

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And as a reminder, today's proceedings, are accessible

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via Zoom, as well as call your TV in the district's website.

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For those here in person, if you would like to comment

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on an agenda item, please complete a speaker form

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that's in the lobby and bring

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it to the front where Troy Miller is seated to my right here.

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If you're joining by Zoom, use the raise the hand feature and

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Troy will call on you.

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And if you're participating via phone, Star

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9 raises your hand and Star 6 mutes and unmute.

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That brings us to agenda revisions.

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Lisa Keeler, are there any changes to the agenda?

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No, Madam Chair, there are not.

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Our 1st item of business today is to

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transition to a new vice chair for the period of August 2026

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to July 2027.

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Last year, at the August 22nd board meeting.

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The board appointed Miss Smith and Miss

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McLeod for successive one-year terms as vice chair

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of the Big Cypress Basin Board, with

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Miss Smith serving as vice chair beginning August 2025

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through July 2026.

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Followed by Michelle McLeod.

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Service, which will begin August 2026.

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through July 2027.

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It's already been one year.

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Boy, time is really flying.

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And I wanted to take a moment to thank PJ for her

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services vice chair to this board.

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Thank you so much.

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I appreciate everything you have done.

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And as of today, Michelle McLeod will start

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her term as vice chair.

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So I wanted to congratulate Michelle on

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becoming the vice chair and let you know that I look forward to working with

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you more in the future in your new role.

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I want to give you the opportunity if either one of you would like to

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say something, PJ, if you want to say a few words and then Michelle following.

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Just a few.

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Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity and

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to the board as well.

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And it was a interesting year, and really, I really enjoyed it.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Michelle?

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Yes, thank you, chair, for this opportunity.

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Truly, it's an honor to serve under you.

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You have an amazing reputation here in our community for

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your leadership skills.

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So thank you so much for that.

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And PJ, you did us very well.

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You served us well, being so well connected in the community as you are.

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You're such a great spokesperson for us.

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So great job.

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Yes, thank you, thank you so much.

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And we'll go ahead and we'll let them take a couple

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minutes to change chairs.

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And then we'll go ahead and move

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right into our agenda, our next agenda item.

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All right, that brings us to extension by board members.

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These are abstensions for anything

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and disclosures on the agenda.

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We'll go ahead and go down the line.

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Mr. Romano.

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Okay, make sure your mic is on and you're talking into the mic, please.

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Ms. Lenhard?

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And for me.

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Mr. Hill?

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None.

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I have none.

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Vice Chair McLeod, non-privy.

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Miss Smith?

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None.

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Okay, that takes us to the next item, which is consider approval

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of the minutes of the July 7th meeting.

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Are there any corrections or additions to the minutes?

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Hearing none.

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I take a motion in a 2nd to approve the minutes.

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Okay, move by Ms. Smith, 2nd

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by Vice Chair McLeod.

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All in favor.

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Please say aye.

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Aye, oppose.

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Hearing none, that passes unanimously.

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That brings us to the basin administrators' report.

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Good morning, and thank you, Madam Chair.

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I want to start off with just an announcement.

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regarding the corkscrew watershed initiative.

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We are rounding out the end of

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that 3 year study, and our next and

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last public meeting is scheduled for September 30th at one p.m.

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It's going to be held in the basin administrative office.

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Um, The focus probably of that public

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meeting is going to be on the modeling results that

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we've been looking at for the last several months or maybe a year.

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I'm not sure.

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Um, and how that how those modeling

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results relate to the potential projects that could come out of the study.

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And again, those projects are

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potentially, or, I think, hopefully, we're all hoping, right?

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That it's going to help restore the natural or

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the historic hydration to corkscrew swamp sanctuary.

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So exciting time for us to be

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finishing that project and want to let everybody know that that

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next public meeting is at the end of September.

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So then one other thing, uh, that one

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other project that I want to talk about is actually just around

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the corner from Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and that is our Bird Rookery

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Swamp Boardwalk.

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That is one of our capital projects this year in the basin.

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And while you're going to hear from Brad,

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how our rainfall is below schedule, and we

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all know that our natural areas are a little bit drier.

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I saw a crew post on their website last night that they

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were canceling their last wet walk of the season because of dry conditions.

194
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So while, you know, dry conditions

195
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can be bad for natural areas, it is really good for construction.

196
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So our contractor is ahead of

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schedule on this boardwalk.

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They've been going like gangbusters replacing

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that and we are still on schedule to have a ribbon

200
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cutting before the end of the year.

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00:12:42,467 --> 00:12:45,467
Uh, which will be perfect timing for all of

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our local hikers to get back out and enjoy bird rookery swamp.

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So with that, Madam Chair, unless you have any questions, I'll turn the meeting back to you.

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Are there any questions for the basin administrator?

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Go ahead, Miss Smith.

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Just a basic housekeeping.

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00:13:01,670 --> 00:13:04,467
Can you do an invite to us for the September 30th meeting?

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Okay.

209
00:13:04,767 --> 00:13:06,767
Absolutely.

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Anything else?

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00:13:08,934 --> 00:13:10,670
Okay, thank you, Lisa.

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Appreciate it.

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00:13:12,330 --> 00:13:15,334
All right, that brings us to general public comment.

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We're ready to hear from the public.

215
00:13:16,767 --> 00:13:19,767
And these comments are for items

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that are not on the agenda.

217
00:13:21,367 --> 00:13:24,501
There are two opportunities during the meeting,

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00:13:24,501 --> 00:13:27,501
if you want to address anything that's not on the agenda, and

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00:13:27,501 --> 00:13:30,501
we'll start with anyone who is here in person first, Troy,

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and then go to our virtual participant.

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00:13:33,300 --> 00:13:38,367
Madam, sure, we have one comment card here in the room, Richard Eckstein.

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00:13:38,367 --> 00:13:39,534
You'll approach the podium.

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You'll have 3 minutes, sir.

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00:13:47,670 --> 00:13:48,968
Good morning, my name is Richard next time.

225
00:13:48,968 --> 00:13:50,701
I'm a resident of Collier County.

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00:13:50,701 --> 00:13:53,267
Golden Gate Estates for 20 years.

227
00:13:53,267 --> 00:13:55,834
I have some technical assessment.

228
00:13:55,834 --> 00:13:58,834
Hurricane season flood vulnerabilities to

229
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discuss with the board.

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00:14:01,434 --> 00:14:05,330
And I gave you a packet right here.

231
00:14:05,330 --> 00:14:08,267
So you could read over these issues that I've discovered

232
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in the water management distribution of the canals

233
00:14:11,801 --> 00:14:15,401
and gates and basically the infrastructure.

234
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And, um, one of the biggest problems is,

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is Golden Gate Estates is a vulnerable flood,

236
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um, mass flood potential.

237
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Because of the villages of Eastern Collier County

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and the tomato fields are being developed.

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All that water has nowhere to go.

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With 47 houses, proposed to be built there.

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00:14:39,868 --> 00:14:44,100
And if you have a major storm surge coming from the west.

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00:14:44,100 --> 00:14:46,434
And there's no gates to block the storm surge.

243
00:14:46,434 --> 00:14:48,000
It'll fill up the canals.

244
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,133
Philip Golden Gate Estates and 40,000 houses will flood,

245
00:14:52,133 --> 00:14:55,133
catastrophically, in the next 5 years.

246
00:14:56,133 --> 00:15:00,400
And I thought I'd bring this to your attention so you can address the mechanical

247
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,800
issues with this problem.

248
00:15:03,868 --> 00:15:05,501
The hydrology is this.

249
00:15:05,501 --> 00:15:08,734
The system you have now is over 40, 50 years old,

250
00:15:08,734 --> 00:15:12,467
it's not engineered for the watershed component right now.

251
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It's in the estates and the surrounding area with

252
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all the new developments.

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And if we don't address this problem in the next 5 years, it

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00:15:20,367 --> 00:15:24,000
will flood, and it will be catastrophic.

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00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,133
And if there's any way that your board could put

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00:15:27,133 --> 00:15:30,133
in some type of, um,

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Flood pumping stations, and certain areas

258
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of the estates to address this problem.

259
00:15:39,434 --> 00:15:43,634
Uh, when the catastrophic storms hit that,

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um, this gravity flow system you have now is antiquated

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and it will not move the water fast enough, so

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that these states won't flood.

263
00:15:52,367 --> 00:15:55,834
And if you have any questions, I like to answer them.

264
00:15:55,834 --> 00:15:56,267
Okay.

265
00:15:56,267 --> 00:15:57,400
Thank you very much.

266
00:15:57,400 --> 00:15:59,267
We did receive your handout.

267
00:15:59,267 --> 00:15:59,734
Okay.

268
00:15:59,734 --> 00:16:02,934
I had a copy of it at my place, and I think each

269
00:16:02,934 --> 00:16:04,901
of the board members received a copy as well.

270
00:16:04,901 --> 00:16:08,670
So we'll have to take a moment to digest

271
00:16:08,670 --> 00:16:09,467
some of your comments from that.

272
00:16:09,467 --> 00:16:13,601
And I appreciate you coming today and bringing this concern to our attention.

273
00:16:13,601 --> 00:16:14,667
Thank you very much.

274
00:16:14,667 --> 00:16:15,734
Thank you.

275
00:16:15,734 --> 00:16:17,834
I have just one more concern about these floodgates.

276
00:16:17,834 --> 00:16:21,767
They're all exposed to hurricane force wind.

277
00:16:21,767 --> 00:16:25,934
They are, um, the water level's too high, and

278
00:16:25,934 --> 00:16:29,000
you have mosquito problems and algae problems that

279
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,000
are building up in the canals, and all the canals in

280
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,634
the estates are overfilling and overtopping.

281
00:16:34,634 --> 00:16:37,634
And because the system is,

282
00:16:37,801 --> 00:16:39,901
they're holding too much water back.

283
00:16:39,901 --> 00:16:42,901
If they could push the water out periodically

284
00:16:42,901 --> 00:16:45,968
to flush the system out, then fill back

285
00:16:45,968 --> 00:16:48,968
in again, get rid of all the mosquito larvae, mosquito control

286
00:16:48,968 --> 00:16:51,534
won't have to use so much chemicals and spray the area.

287
00:16:51,534 --> 00:16:53,100
Thank you.

288
00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:53,801
Thank you very much.

289
00:16:53,801 --> 00:16:56,801
And I would encourage you to meet with separately

290
00:16:56,801 --> 00:16:59,801
with our water manager at the basin, to

291
00:16:59,801 --> 00:17:00,934
go into it in detail.

292
00:17:00,934 --> 00:17:02,434
All right, thank you for your time.

293
00:17:02,434 --> 00:17:03,167
Thank you very much.

294
00:17:03,167 --> 00:17:04,670
Have a nice weekend.

295
00:17:04,670 --> 00:17:07,670
Madam, sure, that's our only comment here in the room and there are no

296
00:17:07,670 --> 00:17:08,567
hands raised on Zoom at this time.

297
00:17:08,567 --> 00:17:09,801
Okay, great.

298
00:17:09,801 --> 00:17:12,670
Then we'll move on to board comment.

299
00:17:12,670 --> 00:17:15,701
We'll go ahead and start with Mr. Romano.

300
00:17:15,701 --> 00:17:16,801
And for me.

301
00:17:16,801 --> 00:17:18,100
Okay, Ms. Lenard?

302
00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:18,701
None for me.

303
00:17:18,701 --> 00:17:19,834
Mr. Hill?

304
00:17:19,834 --> 00:17:21,734
Uh, n none.

305
00:17:21,734 --> 00:17:23,300
Uh, Ms. Smith?

306
00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:26,467
Um, are any of my colleagues joining me to do

307
00:17:26,467 --> 00:17:29,601
the, the, um, trash pickup, the

308
00:17:29,601 --> 00:17:31,701
beautified, what is it called, Lisa?

309
00:17:31,701 --> 00:17:32,367
Keep calling.

310
00:17:32,367 --> 00:17:32,901
Keep calling.

311
00:17:32,901 --> 00:17:34,901
Beautiful?

312
00:17:36,670 --> 00:17:38,100
It's a question to all of you.

313
00:17:38,100 --> 00:17:40,133
What day was it?

314
00:17:40,133 --> 00:17:42,734
Do you have it on...?

315
00:17:42,734 --> 00:17:43,968
Spurious days, or...?

316
00:17:43,968 --> 00:17:44,567
It's one day.

317
00:17:44,567 --> 00:17:44,934
I sorry.

318
00:17:44,934 --> 00:17:46,330
Towards the end of September.

319
00:17:46,330 --> 00:17:46,367
Yeah.

320
00:17:46,367 --> 00:17:46,868
It is.

321
00:17:46,868 --> 00:17:50,100
I don't have the date off hand, but I know it was an email that was sent out a

322
00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:51,234
couple weeks ago, I think.

323
00:17:51,234 --> 00:17:54,834
We can resend it to you all and refresh your emails.

324
00:17:54,834 --> 00:17:57,968
I just like to encourage them to join me.

325
00:17:57,968 --> 00:17:58,801
Okay, great.

326
00:17:58,801 --> 00:17:59,400
Michelle?

327
00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,234
Yeah, I believe I have a conflict.

328
00:18:01,234 --> 00:18:02,801
That's why I didn't respond.

329
00:18:02,801 --> 00:18:06,334
We've got, I want to say that it's

330
00:18:06,334 --> 00:18:09,334
conflicting with the resiliency conference that's coming

331
00:18:09,334 --> 00:18:12,467
up for both Southwest Florida and the

332
00:18:12,467 --> 00:18:15,634
Florida State resiliency conference, but I'm

333
00:18:15,634 --> 00:18:19,300
not sure if that's the conflict, but there was one on my calendar.

334
00:18:19,300 --> 00:18:22,334
And I'll be out of that country during that time frame.

335
00:18:22,334 --> 00:18:24,367
So I would do it for sure.

336
00:18:24,367 --> 00:18:25,634
Okay.

337
00:18:25,634 --> 00:18:29,100
Okay, you may maybe they're holding up the flag there for us.

338
00:18:29,100 --> 00:18:31,100
So.

339
00:18:31,667 --> 00:18:35,234
I'll get the other Michelle to come.

340
00:18:35,234 --> 00:18:38,400
So the other Michelle has, I'm also committed

341
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:40,934
kind of through Barefoot Beach.

342
00:18:40,934 --> 00:18:44,330
So I always say that, to be honest with

343
00:18:44,330 --> 00:18:47,601
you, when I walk the beach, I do trash pickup every time.

344
00:18:47,601 --> 00:18:49,868
I don't, but I will look at my calendar for you.

345
00:18:49,868 --> 00:18:50,334
How's that?

346
00:18:50,334 --> 00:18:51,300
Fantastic.

347
00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:53,701
I'm not opposed to coming if I'm available.

348
00:18:53,701 --> 00:18:55,734
Can I make a comment?

349
00:18:55,734 --> 00:18:59,100
I walked with Michelle on the beach before and I can attest.

350
00:18:59,100 --> 00:18:59,934
She's right.

351
00:18:59,934 --> 00:19:01,667
She'll pick up any kind of trash she sees.

352
00:19:01,667 --> 00:19:03,834
Yeah, I'm like ridiculous.

353
00:19:03,834 --> 00:19:04,734
That's wonderful.

354
00:19:04,734 --> 00:19:05,667
That's wonderful.

355
00:19:05,667 --> 00:19:06,534
That's all I have.

356
00:19:06,534 --> 00:19:07,834
Okay, thank you.

357
00:19:07,834 --> 00:19:09,400
I have one thing.

358
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,868
I had an opportunity to go out in the field, um, to

359
00:19:13,868 --> 00:19:15,634
greenheart of the Everglades.

360
00:19:15,634 --> 00:19:18,934
And as you know, I mentioned

361
00:19:18,934 --> 00:19:22,534
before, I believe, that, that we are,

362
00:19:22,534 --> 00:19:26,133
we took over this one area off of 41, that, that

363
00:19:26,133 --> 00:19:29,400
was kind of dilapidated, had a failing

364
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,400
seawall, had some dead trees that were

365
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,100
kind of leaning into the water.

366
00:19:34,100 --> 00:19:36,500
And our folks, have

367
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,330
begun cleaning it up, and our field station guys,

368
00:19:41,330 --> 00:19:44,633
talked to Rory Feeney, and thought

369
00:19:45,734 --> 00:19:48,767
that they could do some of the work in house, and save some money, because you

370
00:19:48,767 --> 00:19:51,968
know that it's not in the budget right now,

371
00:19:51,968 --> 00:19:54,701
because it came upon us outside of the cycle.

372
00:19:54,701 --> 00:19:57,901
And so they've been working very, very hard to

373
00:19:57,901 --> 00:20:00,868
clean up the area and get it ready so that we can put some

374
00:20:00,868 --> 00:20:04,300
surfacing on that area that's

375
00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:07,300
already asphalt and concrete and put a

376
00:20:07,300 --> 00:20:10,300
canoe launch there or a kayak launch and get it in use

377
00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:11,801
for our public to go out there.

378
00:20:11,801 --> 00:20:15,133
So that's exciting and that should be coming towards

379
00:20:15,133 --> 00:20:16,400
the end of the year as well.

380
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,701
So just in time for perfect weather, and I

381
00:20:19,701 --> 00:20:22,934
want to thank everyone who's involved with

382
00:20:22,934 --> 00:20:26,901
working together in order to make this possible, and

383
00:20:26,901 --> 00:20:28,634
doing such good work with it.

384
00:20:28,634 --> 00:20:29,400
So thank you.

385
00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,701
And Lisa, thank you for hurting all the cats and dogs and

386
00:20:32,701 --> 00:20:35,334
and keeping this on track.

387
00:20:35,334 --> 00:20:38,634
But Greenheart of the Everglades is extra special to our community

388
00:20:38,634 --> 00:20:41,767
and to the greater South Florida water management district,

389
00:20:41,767 --> 00:20:46,701
and I just want to say thank you to the folks for doing that.

390
00:20:46,701 --> 00:20:50,100
All right, and that, uh, if there's no further, uh,

391
00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:52,670
board comment.

392
00:20:52,670 --> 00:20:55,200
I'm going to call on Rory Feeney to provide us with an

393
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,400
update on the crew marsh restoration project.

394
00:21:00,767 --> 00:21:03,330
That was a good opening for you and all the great work you're doing.

395
00:21:03,330 --> 00:21:04,167
Yeah, thank you.

396
00:21:04,167 --> 00:21:06,868
The fuel station's doing phenomenal job.

397
00:21:06,868 --> 00:21:09,868
Actually, I have Madam Chair and

398
00:21:09,868 --> 00:21:13,234
board members have the privilege of handing this presentation over

399
00:21:13,234 --> 00:21:14,367
to Rick Bauer.

400
00:21:14,367 --> 00:21:18,330
He is our regional land manager for the crew area.

401
00:21:18,330 --> 00:21:21,667
I began working at the district for about a

402
00:21:21,667 --> 00:21:24,801
year ago, came to the district, from Lee

403
00:21:24,801 --> 00:21:27,667
County, Parks and Recreation as a land manager there.

404
00:21:27,667 --> 00:21:30,667
So I'm pleased to present Rick formally to the

405
00:21:30,667 --> 00:21:34,267
board, and he'll be discussing the crew marsh restoration.

406
00:21:34,267 --> 00:21:37,801
I'd also like to take this opportunity to recognize

407
00:21:37,801 --> 00:21:38,901
Marshall Ward.

408
00:21:38,901 --> 00:21:42,670
She's our new section, land stewardship section administrator.

409
00:21:42,670 --> 00:21:45,467
She comes to the district from FWC

410
00:21:45,467 --> 00:21:48,701
after 20 plus years with FWC, as a biologist,

411
00:21:48,701 --> 00:21:52,000
and as a regional administrator over 10

412
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,330
wildlife management areas, I believe, Marcia.

413
00:21:54,330 --> 00:21:56,701
And she's been with the district for about 6 months now.

414
00:21:56,701 --> 00:21:57,834
Right.

415
00:21:57,834 --> 00:21:58,968
Two great people today.

416
00:21:58,968 --> 00:21:59,634
Welcome, Bern.

417
00:21:59,634 --> 00:22:00,167
Right.

418
00:22:00,167 --> 00:22:00,467
Thank you.

419
00:22:00,467 --> 00:22:02,867
Here you go, Rick.

420
00:22:05,670 --> 00:22:06,334
Thank you, Rory.

421
00:22:06,334 --> 00:22:08,300
And good morning, Madam Chair and board members.

422
00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:11,734
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present on our corkscrew

423
00:22:11,734 --> 00:22:13,434
marsh restoration update.

424
00:22:13,434 --> 00:22:16,601
So Corkscrew Marsh is a 7300 acre

425
00:22:16,601 --> 00:22:19,601
parcel of the Corkscrew regional ecosystem watershed.

426
00:22:19,601 --> 00:22:22,934
It's primarily a basin marsh surrounded by music,

427
00:22:22,934 --> 00:22:24,367
flatwoods, and hammocks.

428
00:22:24,367 --> 00:22:27,801
And the marsh system provides critical habitat for a lot of our protected

429
00:22:27,801 --> 00:22:32,567
species, such as the Everglades snail kite and woodstork photo to hear.

430
00:22:32,567 --> 00:22:35,934
And the marsh itself was primarily an herbaceous

431
00:22:35,934 --> 00:22:37,934
sawgrass marsh historically.

432
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:41,167
However, over the past few decades, it's suffered from a

433
00:22:41,167 --> 00:22:44,234
recruitment of undesirable woody species such as

434
00:22:44,234 --> 00:22:45,767
Carolina Willow.

435
00:22:45,767 --> 00:22:48,767
Those woody species create woody monocultures that

436
00:22:48,767 --> 00:22:51,968
shade out our herbaceous vegetation and can lead to a loss

437
00:22:51,968 --> 00:22:55,670
of biodiversity, not just in our plant systems, but with

438
00:22:55,670 --> 00:22:56,634
our wildlife species as well.

439
00:22:56,634 --> 00:23:00,634
So the district has been implementing pest

440
00:23:00,634 --> 00:23:04,000
management strategy in order to combat those effects.

441
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,000
And the main tool of our plant management, a

442
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,100
pest management strategy is mechanical vegetation reduction.

443
00:23:10,100 --> 00:23:13,167
And as you can see here, we are targeting not only

444
00:23:13,167 --> 00:23:16,400
Carolina Willow, but some other undesirable woody species,

445
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,234
such as button, button bush, and red maple.

446
00:23:19,234 --> 00:23:22,234
And most of the work that the district has been performing

447
00:23:22,234 --> 00:23:24,801
is up at our corkscrew marsh trail system.

448
00:23:24,801 --> 00:23:27,901
However, we have done some test plots and some other

449
00:23:27,901 --> 00:23:31,400
areas, such as the Corsgrew marsh camping site and

450
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,133
the Cypress Dome hiking trails.

451
00:23:33,133 --> 00:23:36,834
And the district has been performing this work since 2021.

452
00:23:36,834 --> 00:23:41,234
We've been averaging about 19 acres mulch per year.

453
00:23:41,234 --> 00:23:44,534
And fortunately, we've been blessed

454
00:23:44,534 --> 00:23:47,801
that our partners at FWC have been able to provide

455
00:23:47,801 --> 00:23:50,201
additional multi-mulching acreage from

456
00:23:50,934 --> 00:23:53,934
some funding that they've procured as well in 2025

457
00:23:53,934 --> 00:23:55,801
and 2026.

458
00:23:55,801 --> 00:23:57,400
And for the next slides.

459
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,934
I'm going to be focusing on this main system that we've been performing

460
00:24:00,934 --> 00:24:04,100
up at the coursescrew marsh Trail system.

461
00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:07,167
So this is located where the Marsh Observation

462
00:24:07,167 --> 00:24:09,100
Tower is, if you're familiar with that area.

463
00:24:09,100 --> 00:24:12,100
It provides a good anchor point for us to start our

464
00:24:12,100 --> 00:24:15,200
work and work on some of the drier areas of

465
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,567
the march system while working towards some of the interior

466
00:24:18,567 --> 00:24:19,934
where it gets a little bit wetter.

467
00:24:19,934 --> 00:24:23,367
It also provides us an opportunity for the public to

468
00:24:23,367 --> 00:24:26,367
view our restoration efforts of trying to restore

469
00:24:26,367 --> 00:24:27,501
this system as well.

470
00:24:27,501 --> 00:24:30,567
And we've been doing this for a couple reasons.

471
00:24:30,567 --> 00:24:33,901
One, it's a little bit easier for our contractors to get into that area,

472
00:24:33,901 --> 00:24:37,133
but we're also trying to keep a big block of polygons

473
00:24:37,133 --> 00:24:40,267
open for prescribed fire treatment, which is another land

474
00:24:40,267 --> 00:24:44,334
management tool that I'll touch on a little bit later.

475
00:24:44,334 --> 00:24:47,400
So for the planned work for this past fiscal year,

476
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,534
we are going to continue to work interior and building on that polygon.

477
00:24:51,534 --> 00:24:54,534
However, when our contractors started working in this area, they

478
00:24:54,534 --> 00:24:57,634
found this area to be a little bit more wet than they were anticipating,

479
00:24:57,634 --> 00:25:00,634
that led to some rutting from their equipment and

480
00:25:00,634 --> 00:25:03,834
some downtime from them getting stuck.

481
00:25:03,834 --> 00:25:06,801
So instead of trying to force our way through there and potentially

482
00:25:06,801 --> 00:25:08,267
causing more harm than good.

483
00:25:08,267 --> 00:25:11,801
Um, we decided to rotate towards our contingency plan,

484
00:25:11,801 --> 00:25:15,334
which was to continue and expand that area down

485
00:25:15,334 --> 00:25:19,300
by the Corsegrew Marsh campsite that we had done that test plot at in.

486
00:25:19,300 --> 00:25:22,567
And you can see that we continued that work, again,

487
00:25:22,567 --> 00:25:25,567
working from the exterior towards the interior, addressing

488
00:25:25,567 --> 00:25:28,567
some of those drier areas, and trying to keep in

489
00:25:28,567 --> 00:25:32,167
mind our prescribed fire follow-up treatments as well.

490
00:25:32,167 --> 00:25:35,234
This ideally helps us out also because this provides

491
00:25:35,234 --> 00:25:38,534
us as another area that we can apply those prescribed fire treatments.

492
00:25:38,534 --> 00:25:41,534
That way we're not doing one burn every 2 to 4 years, which

493
00:25:41,534 --> 00:25:45,670
is the ideal fire return interval, but

494
00:25:45,670 --> 00:25:48,234
we can burn one one year, wait a year, burn another another year.

495
00:25:48,234 --> 00:25:51,234
And that way we're continuing those treatments.

496
00:25:51,234 --> 00:25:54,234
And the contractor uses a variety of equipment based on

497
00:25:54,234 --> 00:25:56,501
the environmental conditions that they're encountering.

498
00:25:56,501 --> 00:25:59,634
And this photo on the left, you can see a forestry mulcher

499
00:25:59,634 --> 00:26:01,434
on the left-hand side of that photo.

500
00:26:01,434 --> 00:26:04,834
That is a machine that can move very quickly and efficiently

501
00:26:04,834 --> 00:26:07,100
and cover a lot of acres in a short amount of time.

502
00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:10,100
However, it's a little bit limited because it'll

503
00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:11,901
get bogged down in wet areas.

504
00:26:11,901 --> 00:26:15,267
And when they start to encounter those wet areas,

505
00:26:15,267 --> 00:26:18,267
that's when they switch to the excavator with a mulching head.

506
00:26:18,267 --> 00:26:22,267
It has a lower PSI on the treads so it doesn't create as much running.

507
00:26:22,267 --> 00:26:25,334
And also it allows it to pick its spots of where

508
00:26:25,334 --> 00:26:28,501
it positions itself in the drier areas and swings its boom

509
00:26:28,501 --> 00:26:31,501
around to mulch those, Willow, and other woody species

510
00:26:31,501 --> 00:26:33,234
that we're looking to treat.

511
00:26:33,234 --> 00:26:37,133
And when we do this project, we mulch the vegetation all the way to the ground.

512
00:26:37,133 --> 00:26:40,667
This does not, unfortunately it does not kill the plant entirely.

513
00:26:40,667 --> 00:26:43,670
However, as these re-sprout,

514
00:26:43,734 --> 00:26:47,801
we're hoping that this project is performed as close to the wet season as possible.

515
00:26:47,801 --> 00:26:50,868
So as the resprouts start to form, the water levels will

516
00:26:50,868 --> 00:26:54,100
rise and either drown out the plants and potentially kill it,

517
00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:57,167
or at least it inhibits its growth enough for a lot

518
00:26:57,167 --> 00:27:01,167
of that emergence vegetation that we're looking to bring

519
00:27:01,167 --> 00:27:04,667
back into the system, starts to recover.

520
00:27:04,667 --> 00:27:06,767
And it recovers very, very quickly.

521
00:27:06,767 --> 00:27:09,934
In this photo, you can see that this was

522
00:27:09,934 --> 00:27:12,267
taken as mulching was occurring.

523
00:27:12,267 --> 00:27:15,200
So it was only about a week after this area was mulched.

524
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,200
And in the photo, you can see a lot of those desirable native

525
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,267
vegetative species coming back, such as sawgrass and

526
00:27:21,267 --> 00:27:24,801
cat tail and Sagittarian pickerel weed.

527
00:27:24,801 --> 00:27:27,968
However, this ultimately is not a one catch all

528
00:27:27,968 --> 00:27:30,000
treatment for restoring these areas.

529
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,670
And we do have to implement one of our most effective land

530
00:27:33,670 --> 00:27:35,467
management tools, which is prescribed burning.

531
00:27:35,467 --> 00:27:38,534
And we were able to conduct a prescribed burn in July of this

532
00:27:38,534 --> 00:27:41,634
year for some of those areas that had been mulched in the past.

533
00:27:41,634 --> 00:27:45,670
Our primary objective was to reduce woody

534
00:27:45,670 --> 00:27:48,670
species rejuvenation and recruitment, with

535
00:27:48,534 --> 00:27:51,767
a secondary objective to reduce some of those cattail monocultures

536
00:27:51,767 --> 00:27:55,267
that had come back in some of the areas that we had mulched.

537
00:27:55,267 --> 00:27:58,300
And we were a little bit fortunate enough that

538
00:27:58,300 --> 00:28:01,968
in, uh, this year it was a little bit drier than we were anticipating.

539
00:28:01,968 --> 00:28:05,330
So when we did this burn during the height of growing season, which is

540
00:28:05,330 --> 00:28:08,000
ideal for treating those woody species.

541
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,868
The water levels were a little bit lower.

542
00:28:09,868 --> 00:28:12,868
So combining high winds with

543
00:28:13,670 --> 00:28:17,234
aggressive firing techniques, we were able to achieve

544
00:28:17,234 --> 00:28:20,234
a lot of those results of reducing those woody vegetations that

545
00:28:20,234 --> 00:28:23,367
are spending a lot of energy, growing instead of trying

546
00:28:23,367 --> 00:28:25,968
to defend themselves against these systems.

547
00:28:25,968 --> 00:28:29,167
So the prescribed burn ended up being about 80 acres,

548
00:28:29,167 --> 00:28:32,234
and here is an image overlay of the area that was

549
00:28:32,234 --> 00:28:36,000
treated with the prescribed fire over top of the areas that was mulch.

550
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,133
And you can see that most of the areas that were burned and

551
00:28:39,133 --> 00:28:43,701
covered in our prescribed fire treatment were areas that were mulched prior to last year.

552
00:28:43,701 --> 00:28:47,100
That is the result of those areas accumulating

553
00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:50,267
more fuels during those years, whereas things that were mulched

554
00:28:50,267 --> 00:28:53,501
last year just haven't had enough fuels to recover during that time period.

555
00:28:53,501 --> 00:28:56,701
The exception being there's areas that the cattail

556
00:28:56,701 --> 00:29:01,834
monocultures were starting to come back because cattails are very susceptible to burning.

557
00:29:01,834 --> 00:29:05,133
And when we took a look at our fire evaluations

558
00:29:05,133 --> 00:29:08,133
post-burn, you can see that this photo on the left, this

559
00:29:08,133 --> 00:29:11,300
is an area that was mulched in 2025 on the left in

560
00:29:11,300 --> 00:29:14,367
the area that didn't burn next to an area that had no

561
00:29:14,367 --> 00:29:17,801
treatment in history with vegetative reduction mechanically.

562
00:29:17,801 --> 00:29:20,901
So you can see that the, even with the aggressive firing

563
00:29:20,901 --> 00:29:24,330
techniques, the fire pushed through the area that wasn't mulched, but ended up

564
00:29:24,330 --> 00:29:26,834
stopping short just because those fuels hadn't accumulated enough.

565
00:29:26,834 --> 00:29:30,670
However, if we wait 2 or 3 years for the next fire return

566
00:29:30,670 --> 00:29:33,200
interval to come back, there is a lot of beneficial pyric

567
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,601
vegetation in that community that was mulched in 2025

568
00:29:36,601 --> 00:29:38,634
that should allow that treatment to be more effective.

569
00:29:38,634 --> 00:29:41,868
And in the photo on the right, you can see this was an area that

570
00:29:41,868 --> 00:29:45,000
was mulched in 2023, looking into an

571
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,501
area that was mulched last year.

572
00:29:46,501 --> 00:29:49,667
And you can see a little bit of an edge effect on the fire where it started to

573
00:29:49,667 --> 00:29:52,267
brown out those willow recruits that are coming back.

574
00:29:52,267 --> 00:29:55,834
And hopefully, again, allowing for more fuel accumulation.

575
00:29:55,834 --> 00:29:59,200
Future prescribed fires can be more beneficial.

576
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,868
And we had the most success in areas with high fuels.

577
00:30:02,868 --> 00:30:06,934
So this photo on the left is an area that's primarily sawgrass dominated.

578
00:30:06,934 --> 00:30:10,767
That was 1st mulched in 2021 and then burned in 2023.

579
00:30:10,767 --> 00:30:14,133
And you can see that there is a gray layer of haze

580
00:30:14,133 --> 00:30:16,167
kind of just beneath the pine canopy.

581
00:30:16,167 --> 00:30:19,634
Those are all three-year-old willows that have been completely torched out.

582
00:30:19,634 --> 00:30:22,634
Um, and given that this area was

583
00:30:22,634 --> 00:30:25,634
mulched and has now been burned twice, um, with a

584
00:30:25,634 --> 00:30:28,801
fire intensity that we had in there, we don't expect many woody species

585
00:30:28,801 --> 00:30:31,400
to be successful recruiting in that area.

586
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,868
And in the area on the right, this is an area that has not been mulched at all.

587
00:30:34,868 --> 00:30:37,934
And while you can see that there was not complete defoliation of a

588
00:30:37,934 --> 00:30:39,670
lot of the woody species.

589
00:30:39,670 --> 00:30:40,801
There is that browning out.

590
00:30:40,801 --> 00:30:43,868
So whatever woody species that weren't killed outright

591
00:30:43,868 --> 00:30:46,968
in the fire, they should be at least stressed enough that they're being

592
00:30:46,968 --> 00:30:50,330
reset to 0 and having to sprout from the ground.

593
00:30:50,330 --> 00:30:53,167
And we even had some unexpected effects in areas

594
00:30:53,167 --> 00:30:54,300
that had high cattails.

595
00:30:54,300 --> 00:30:58,367
So for these types of burns, we use the mature willows as a fire brake.

596
00:30:58,367 --> 00:31:01,667
A natural fire brake, which you can see on the left.

597
00:31:01,667 --> 00:31:04,767
This is an area where willow that has not been treated,

598
00:31:04,767 --> 00:31:07,834
the fire pushed in about 10 yards, and Willow is

599
00:31:07,834 --> 00:31:10,901
not very receptive to burning, so the flames were then extinguished.

600
00:31:10,901 --> 00:31:14,367
But it did have a good edge effect on that mature willow.

601
00:31:14,367 --> 00:31:18,567
In the photo on the right, that is an area where mature

602
00:31:18,567 --> 00:31:21,634
willow has not been mulched at all, but the canopy was

603
00:31:21,634 --> 00:31:24,968
a little bit sparser, and there was a dense variety

604
00:31:24,968 --> 00:31:28,100
of cattails underneath of it that allowed the fire

605
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:31,767
intensity to continue and push into those mature willow systems.

606
00:31:31,767 --> 00:31:35,000
This actually extended about a 100 yards through

607
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:36,133
those mature willows.

608
00:31:36,133 --> 00:31:39,200
So this may end up being a couple of acres that we don't need to

609
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,667
treat at all if it has the desired effects.

610
00:31:43,667 --> 00:31:46,868
I also wanted to touch a little bit on some research that

611
00:31:46,868 --> 00:31:50,267
we're conducting with our partners in geospatial

612
00:31:50,267 --> 00:31:52,000
over at headquarters.

613
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,100
So we are doing what's called multi-spectral imagery detection.

614
00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:59,701
They basically take a high resolution aerial

615
00:31:59,701 --> 00:32:02,734
image of corkscrew marsh and run different

616
00:32:02,734 --> 00:32:05,801
wavelengths of light through it, looking how different plant

617
00:32:05,801 --> 00:32:06,868
signatures come back to it.

618
00:32:06,868 --> 00:32:10,000
So in this map, Willow shows up as

619
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,167
red or as pink, depending on what other sort of woody

620
00:32:13,167 --> 00:32:14,300
species are mixed in.

621
00:32:14,300 --> 00:32:17,667
Um, herbaceous vegetation, so there's up as green,

622
00:32:17,667 --> 00:32:19,934
and open water shows up as teal.

623
00:32:19,934 --> 00:32:23,300
So that area that's pointed out in the map where the previous molt

624
00:32:23,300 --> 00:32:26,467
chain has occurred, that's areas that is flooded and surface

625
00:32:26,467 --> 00:32:28,501
water that's reflecting back that signature.

626
00:32:28,501 --> 00:32:31,501
And from this, we can see that there's a density

627
00:32:31,501 --> 00:32:34,330
of willow surrounding the edge of the marsh.

628
00:32:34,330 --> 00:32:37,267
And for the central marsh basin, the

629
00:32:37,267 --> 00:32:40,267
eastern side is pretty heavily dominated by Willow.

630
00:32:40,267 --> 00:32:43,367
However, the Western side, it looks like there's a lot more

631
00:32:43,367 --> 00:32:46,367
open areas where there's not that much willow showing up, which

632
00:32:46,367 --> 00:32:48,767
was a little bit of a surprise for us.

633
00:32:48,767 --> 00:32:51,834
So the next effort to go out

634
00:32:51,834 --> 00:32:55,734
and validate this model is to go out and hike in ground truth.

635
00:32:55,734 --> 00:32:58,734
So these are photos that were taken in that area where it shows

636
00:32:58,734 --> 00:33:00,100
the more pristine marsh.

637
00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:03,330
And this is much more typical of what a basin marsh should look like.

638
00:33:03,330 --> 00:33:06,100
There's still Button Bush and Willow and

639
00:33:06,100 --> 00:33:09,334
other woody species that you would expect, but they're in low densities

640
00:33:09,334 --> 00:33:12,400
and the majority of the vegetation is

641
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:13,601
herbaceous.

642
00:33:13,601 --> 00:33:17,434
And this is an area that has no history of mechanical

643
00:33:17,434 --> 00:33:19,701
or prescribed fire treatments.

644
00:33:19,701 --> 00:33:22,834
To further, uh, validate our model.

645
00:33:22,834 --> 00:33:26,670
We are also partnering with our drone team over at headquarters

646
00:33:26,670 --> 00:33:29,467
to fly transex over the areas that have the transition

647
00:33:29,467 --> 00:33:32,534
genes from where Willow starts to go into those

648
00:33:32,534 --> 00:33:34,801
more herbaceous vegetative areas.

649
00:33:34,801 --> 00:33:37,801
And they take very detailed,

650
00:33:38,901 --> 00:33:42,000
high resolution videos down to less intensive an inch,

651
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,670
in order to see what sort of species we're seen

652
00:33:45,670 --> 00:33:48,234
and further adapt our model and potentially

653
00:33:48,234 --> 00:33:52,434
also planned for future land management activities.

654
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,200
So where does this leave us today?

655
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,734
We'd like to continue the mechanical work.

656
00:33:59,734 --> 00:34:03,834
Ideally, we would like to start linking some of these areas of the pristine marsh.

657
00:34:03,834 --> 00:34:07,400
This aerial imagery that's shown with a multispectral

658
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,300
detection is a couple years old, so it doesn't show the work that was performed this year.

659
00:34:11,300 --> 00:34:14,434
However, that area that we mulched down by

660
00:34:14,434 --> 00:34:17,501
the corkscrew marsh campsite almost broke through that

661
00:34:17,501 --> 00:34:20,234
buffer layer of mature willow.

662
00:34:20,234 --> 00:34:23,467
Also, the area up at Courstream Marsh,

663
00:34:23,467 --> 00:34:26,534
hiking system, where the majority of the work has been performed.

664
00:34:26,534 --> 00:34:28,200
There's also an airboat launch up there.

665
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,634
So if we link these areas of pristine march during the wet season,

666
00:34:31,634 --> 00:34:34,934
we should be able to get airboats in the area and do future land management

667
00:34:34,934 --> 00:34:38,234
activities, further analyze how the system is responding,

668
00:34:38,234 --> 00:34:40,734
and do future planning efforts.

669
00:34:40,734 --> 00:34:44,267
We'd also like to try using different types of equipment.

670
00:34:44,267 --> 00:34:47,334
That excavator is ideal right now for some of

671
00:34:47,334 --> 00:34:49,133
the aquatic areas that we're working in.

672
00:34:49,133 --> 00:34:52,267
But as we get into the deeper water areas, it's also going

673
00:34:52,267 --> 00:34:55,367
to experience running and limitations when we have wetter

674
00:34:55,367 --> 00:34:56,434
than anticipated years.

675
00:34:56,434 --> 00:34:59,734
However, there are aquatic excavators that the tracks

676
00:34:59,734 --> 00:35:02,734
are basically booms like on a pontoon boat

677
00:35:02,734 --> 00:35:05,934
that can access those areas much more effectively with

678
00:35:05,934 --> 00:35:08,634
less impact to the environment.

679
00:35:08,634 --> 00:35:11,501
We also want to continue our prescribed fire regime.

680
00:35:11,501 --> 00:35:15,200
That's obviously the most cost-effective method that we have.

681
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:19,167
In addition to restoring it to a natural state.

682
00:35:19,167 --> 00:35:23,434
We want to continue that prescribed fire return

683
00:35:23,434 --> 00:35:25,467
interval on our mulch areas.

684
00:35:25,467 --> 00:35:28,701
But we also want to start targeting those higher fuel areas.

685
00:35:28,701 --> 00:35:31,701
This area in the northern marsh, where it's

686
00:35:31,701 --> 00:35:33,534
identified on the map.

687
00:35:33,534 --> 00:35:36,801
That's, again, it's more of a modeled color because that

688
00:35:36,801 --> 00:35:40,734
is a less dense area of canopy with cattails underneath of it.

689
00:35:40,734 --> 00:35:43,734
And if we can get fire brakes set

690
00:35:43,734 --> 00:35:46,734
in around it, it's a potential that prescribed burning will

691
00:35:46,734 --> 00:35:50,501
treat that whole area without having to do mechanical work, which

692
00:35:50,501 --> 00:35:52,567
will make things go a lot quicker.

693
00:35:52,567 --> 00:35:56,100
And we also want to maintain the high quality habitat.

694
00:35:56,100 --> 00:35:59,934
That central marsh on the western section where we're

695
00:35:59,934 --> 00:36:02,567
seeing a lot more of that typical besian marsh system.

696
00:36:02,567 --> 00:36:05,667
We'd like to introduce fire in that to help maintain

697
00:36:05,667 --> 00:36:08,200
that and keep the willow from spreading in further.

698
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,434
And we have already been in contact with our partners

699
00:36:11,434 --> 00:36:14,734
at the Florida Forest Service and planning some Ariel Burns

700
00:36:14,734 --> 00:36:17,134
potentially for that system.

701
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,501
And I'd be ever missed if I didn't recognize all of our partners

702
00:36:21,501 --> 00:36:23,133
that helped make this work possible.

703
00:36:23,133 --> 00:36:26,133
Obviously, FWC, who helps co-manage this property

704
00:36:26,133 --> 00:36:29,100
with us, along with our partners at the crew land and water

705
00:36:29,100 --> 00:36:32,534
trust, conservation collier, and the department environmental

706
00:36:32,534 --> 00:36:36,901
protection that assist us, particularly with those prescribed fires.

707
00:36:36,901 --> 00:36:39,934
And with that, I'll take any questions.

708
00:36:39,934 --> 00:36:42,167
All right, thank you for your excellent presentation.

709
00:36:42,167 --> 00:36:43,133
It's very informative.

710
00:36:43,133 --> 00:36:44,934
Go ahead, Miss Smith.

711
00:36:44,934 --> 00:36:48,000
Um, You have a great planning

712
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,167
mind because with all the conditions and financial,

713
00:36:51,167 --> 00:36:55,634
you know, the considerations, et cetera, you do a great job, um, and welcome to the team.

714
00:36:55,634 --> 00:36:58,667
So I thought I had a simple math question for

715
00:36:58,667 --> 00:37:01,501
you, but I don't think it's going to make sense now.

716
00:37:01,501 --> 00:37:03,200
But I'm going ask you anyways.

717
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,200
So 73, 30, 7,330

718
00:37:07,601 --> 00:37:11,734
acres, and then you do 19 acres a year is,

719
00:37:11,734 --> 00:37:15,100
are you actually gaining ground or is

720
00:37:15,100 --> 00:37:19,167
it not all that 7300 that we have to be focused on?

721
00:37:19,167 --> 00:37:22,267
It's not the 7300 is not all

722
00:37:22,267 --> 00:37:23,534
that we have to be focused on.

723
00:37:23,534 --> 00:37:28,100
So the main marsh system makes up about 4500 of that.

724
00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:31,100
Um, there's areas where the hiking trails are in,

725
00:37:31,100 --> 00:37:33,734
uh, both at Corstery March and at Cypress Dems.

726
00:37:33,734 --> 00:37:35,601
There's a lot of music flatwoods in there.

727
00:37:35,601 --> 00:37:38,701
There's depressional marshes, which don't have the same sort

728
00:37:38,701 --> 00:37:41,267
of management, difficulties and challenges.

729
00:37:41,267 --> 00:37:43,667
Um, and there's hammocks as well.

730
00:37:43,667 --> 00:37:47,670
So it's just that main central marsh that we're working on.

731
00:37:47,670 --> 00:37:50,100
But also, that's why the prescribed fire isn't so

732
00:37:50,100 --> 00:37:52,200
important so that we don't backslide.

733
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,367
We're not having to go back and retreat those areas and we're maintaining

734
00:37:55,367 --> 00:37:57,300
them as we make progress.

735
00:37:57,300 --> 00:37:58,300
Okay.

736
00:37:58,300 --> 00:38:01,670
Um, so you're using the drone.

737
00:38:01,670 --> 00:38:04,901
That was one of my questions is drawn because it's so effective.

738
00:38:04,901 --> 00:38:08,200
I'm assuming you're using AI to overlay this and really

739
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,670
do some, that's a no-brainer question, right?

740
00:38:11,670 --> 00:38:14,234
Um, I'm not personally, that would probably be a

741
00:38:14,234 --> 00:38:16,334
question for our geospatial partners.

742
00:38:16,334 --> 00:38:18,133
They did most of the analysis.

743
00:38:18,133 --> 00:38:21,267
My effort in that was giving them areas where

744
00:38:21,267 --> 00:38:24,334
they could model effectively and also going out on the ground

745
00:38:24,334 --> 00:38:25,701
to validate the model.

746
00:38:25,701 --> 00:38:27,701
Okay.

747
00:38:28,334 --> 00:38:31,334
Cattails are our friend, right?

748
00:38:31,467 --> 00:38:32,968
They can be.

749
00:38:32,968 --> 00:38:33,501
Okay.

750
00:38:33,501 --> 00:38:37,100
They provide good wildlife habitat, particularly

751
00:38:37,100 --> 00:38:39,501
for rails and other species.

752
00:38:39,501 --> 00:38:42,968
And they also hold back nutrients from the water.

753
00:38:42,968 --> 00:38:46,200
The problem is, is that you don't want too much of anything,

754
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,701
even though Carolina Willow is a native species.

755
00:38:48,701 --> 00:38:52,734
If it makes a monoculture, it leads to a loss in biodiversity.

756
00:38:52,734 --> 00:38:56,634
The same thing is true with cattails as well.

757
00:38:56,634 --> 00:38:58,534
And I have another question, but I can't read it.

758
00:38:58,534 --> 00:39:00,400
Oh, what is aerial burn?

759
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:01,901
Like you said, you had aerial burn.

760
00:39:01,901 --> 00:39:05,330
So, um, for that, we would use a helicopter

761
00:39:05,330 --> 00:39:08,567
with an uh, HelaTorch on it, which basically lights

762
00:39:08,567 --> 00:39:10,834
the fire from underneath the helicopter.

763
00:39:10,834 --> 00:39:12,767
Um, and that way...

764
00:39:12,767 --> 00:39:15,200
Sorry, I love this, but...

765
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,501
And that way it works much more effectively in aquatic

766
00:39:18,501 --> 00:39:21,634
areas where there may be water on the ground and you're looking to burn off some

767
00:39:21,634 --> 00:39:24,734
of that emergent vegetation and also areas where it's a little bit

768
00:39:24,734 --> 00:39:28,267
difficult to access, which obviously dealing with course through marshes.

769
00:39:28,267 --> 00:39:31,801
And this is a common, it's a common thing that you do is the aerial burn.

770
00:39:31,801 --> 00:39:34,801
Yes, it's one of the things that our bureau uses out for a

771
00:39:34,801 --> 00:39:36,901
lot of our lake Ochobee burns.

772
00:39:36,901 --> 00:39:39,300
Thank you for present, your presentation is very excellent.

773
00:39:39,300 --> 00:39:40,501
Thank you.

774
00:39:40,501 --> 00:39:41,834
Vice term, McCloud?

775
00:39:41,834 --> 00:39:42,968
Yes, great.

776
00:39:42,968 --> 00:39:43,968
Great presentation.

777
00:39:43,968 --> 00:39:45,968
Very thorough.

778
00:39:46,534 --> 00:39:49,734
Just in trying to understand our role in this.

779
00:39:49,734 --> 00:39:52,734
What kind of effects do

780
00:39:53,330 --> 00:39:58,330
these have, these efforts have on like water quality?

781
00:39:58,330 --> 00:39:59,534
Flooding?

782
00:39:59,534 --> 00:40:02,634
So, uh, it helps out a lot with just restoring the marsh

783
00:40:02,634 --> 00:40:05,934
to the natural system, um, just as like Miss Keeler was mentioning

784
00:40:05,934 --> 00:40:07,834
with the corkscrew watershed initiative.

785
00:40:07,834 --> 00:40:09,767
We're looking to get it back to that natural state.

786
00:40:09,767 --> 00:40:12,767
So all the efforts that we're

787
00:40:12,767 --> 00:40:15,734
doing is helping to address water quality in

788
00:40:15,734 --> 00:40:18,868
addition to hydration of the aquifers and all those

789
00:40:18,868 --> 00:40:20,767
other big picture efforts.

790
00:40:20,767 --> 00:40:22,767
Okay, thank you.

791
00:40:23,901 --> 00:40:26,601
I have a couple of questions.

792
00:40:26,601 --> 00:40:30,501
Do we currently have an updated land management plan for this area?

793
00:40:30,501 --> 00:40:31,868
Yes.

794
00:40:31,868 --> 00:40:35,234
The land management plan was last updated

795
00:40:35,234 --> 00:40:39,434
in 2023, I believe, for corkscrew marsh, Regulia.

796
00:40:39,968 --> 00:40:41,234
for the olive crew.

797
00:40:41,234 --> 00:40:42,601
Olive crew.

798
00:40:42,601 --> 00:40:45,734
Okay, so you're working off of that in chipping

799
00:40:45,734 --> 00:40:48,234
away at 19 acres a year, roughly.

800
00:40:48,234 --> 00:40:49,367
Yes, ma'am.

801
00:40:49,367 --> 00:40:53,167
Do we have the capacity to do more if the funding was there?

802
00:40:53,167 --> 00:40:54,334
Yes, ma'am.

803
00:40:54,334 --> 00:40:58,000
Okay, so we do have the capacity to move that along.

804
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,000
The aerial imaging

805
00:41:01,234 --> 00:41:04,367
that you showed, was that just

806
00:41:04,367 --> 00:41:06,367
standard imaging

807
00:41:07,367 --> 00:41:10,667
or are we using drone technology for that?

808
00:41:10,667 --> 00:41:13,000
How are we doing that imagery that you showed?

809
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:14,534
A little bit of both.

810
00:41:14,534 --> 00:41:16,701
So the aerial imagery.

811
00:41:16,701 --> 00:41:19,834
I forget which service geospatial uses, but they

812
00:41:19,834 --> 00:41:23,234
can basically pick which date the satellite

813
00:41:23,234 --> 00:41:26,601
imagery was taken, and that way we use the plant's biology

814
00:41:26,601 --> 00:41:28,330
most effectively.

815
00:41:28,330 --> 00:41:31,634
So some of the areas that we built

816
00:41:31,634 --> 00:41:34,868
into the model were during flowering season, when the Carolina

817
00:41:34,868 --> 00:41:38,000
Willow is producing those bright yellow flowers, in

818
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:39,801
order to use that as part of the signature.

819
00:41:39,801 --> 00:41:42,901
And some of it was during just the regular summertime when

820
00:41:42,901 --> 00:41:45,133
it has leaves on it.

821
00:41:45,133 --> 00:41:48,968
And that way we can combine those to make a more accurate model.

822
00:41:48,968 --> 00:41:51,968
Obviously, if you're using aerial imagery with a deciduous

823
00:41:51,968 --> 00:41:54,934
plant, like the Carolina Willow, if you're doing it in wintertime when they

824
00:41:54,934 --> 00:41:58,267
don't have any leaves, the model is not going to be very effective.

825
00:41:58,267 --> 00:42:01,300
Um, so, uh, that's primarily what we've been using,

826
00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:04,734
but those very detailed high resolution imagery

827
00:42:04,734 --> 00:42:08,200
that the drones took a couple weeks ago when we were validating

828
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:09,334
those transects.

829
00:42:09,334 --> 00:42:12,634
Those will become very effective because we

830
00:42:12,634 --> 00:42:15,734
can actually see plant species because again, the resolution is

831
00:42:15,734 --> 00:42:18,134
like .8 inches per pixel.

832
00:42:18,567 --> 00:42:21,734
So one of the steps in

833
00:42:21,734 --> 00:42:24,734
the process or one of the 1st steps is to get that imagery, right?

834
00:42:24,734 --> 00:42:25,334
Yes.

835
00:42:25,334 --> 00:42:28,400
And then you plan what needs to be treated

836
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:31,467
as a priority based upon the density and the

837
00:42:31,467 --> 00:42:33,434
type of plant that you see in those areas.

838
00:42:33,434 --> 00:42:34,634
Yes, ma'am.

839
00:42:34,634 --> 00:42:37,734
And that's why, that's why we're kind of adapting our strategy

840
00:42:37,734 --> 00:42:40,734
a little bit, because we've been able to verify

841
00:42:40,734 --> 00:42:43,734
that that Western part of the marsh is in much more of

842
00:42:43,734 --> 00:42:46,868
a pristine state than we would anticipate.

843
00:42:46,868 --> 00:42:50,334
So it could maybe be maintained right

844
00:42:50,334 --> 00:42:53,400
now instead of being put into maintenance, right,

845
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:54,467
by some treatment?

846
00:42:54,467 --> 00:42:56,467
That's excellent.

847
00:42:57,767 --> 00:43:00,934
Because that's pretty impressive, that imagery that's able

848
00:43:00,934 --> 00:43:04,300
to pick out the type of plant that's on the ground and that.

849
00:43:04,300 --> 00:43:06,100
So great, great job.

850
00:43:06,100 --> 00:43:09,167
I don't see any other questions from the board.

851
00:43:09,167 --> 00:43:12,167
The only other comment that I have today is

852
00:43:12,167 --> 00:43:15,701
Rory's birthday, Rory Feeney, and he's joining us today at

853
00:43:15,701 --> 00:43:17,200
our board meeting for that.

854
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,601
And as what do we do at the basin when we have a birthday,

855
00:43:20,601 --> 00:43:21,868
we've got cupcakes, right?

856
00:43:21,868 --> 00:43:24,934
So we have cupcakes to share with you and the staff

857
00:43:24,934 --> 00:43:27,968
can certainly take cupcakes as they go.

858
00:43:27,968 --> 00:43:32,670
So thank you, Rick, for being a part of it, and thank you for your excellent presentation.

859
00:43:32,670 --> 00:43:33,133
Thank you, ma'am.

860
00:43:33,133 --> 00:43:34,667
job.

861
00:43:34,667 --> 00:43:36,901
That brings us, is there any public comment?

862
00:43:36,901 --> 00:43:38,334
No, ma'am, we have not.

863
00:43:38,334 --> 00:43:39,534
Okay.

864
00:43:39,534 --> 00:43:43,134
The next item is the reason

865
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,901
why we're here, and that is the fiscal 2627

866
00:43:46,901 --> 00:43:49,901
budget presentation by Candida Heater.

867
00:43:56,934 --> 00:43:58,934
Welcome, candy.

868
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:00,567
Thank you, Madam Chair.

869
00:44:00,567 --> 00:44:01,667
Basin board members.

870
00:44:01,667 --> 00:44:05,867
Thank you for having us here today.

871
00:44:07,801 --> 00:44:11,401
So today's presentation is to,

872
00:44:11,901 --> 00:44:14,901
uh, finalize and, uh, request

873
00:44:14,901 --> 00:44:17,901
approval, uh, for the basin

874
00:44:18,634 --> 00:44:22,334
milledge rate and the basin's budget, which

875
00:44:22,334 --> 00:44:25,934
will, um, then be reflected in

876
00:44:26,300 --> 00:44:29,300
the district's overall, tentative

877
00:44:29,300 --> 00:44:33,500
and final milledge rate and adopted budget.

878
00:44:34,100 --> 00:44:36,100
For fiscal year 2026, 27,

879
00:44:38,167 --> 00:44:41,167
which begins October one of 2026,

880
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:46,200
and then will end in September 30th of 2027.

881
00:44:46,534 --> 00:44:50,334
So today's presentation will briefly go

882
00:44:50,334 --> 00:44:52,000
over the millage rate.

883
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,701
Millage rate is your 1st discussion.

884
00:44:54,701 --> 00:44:58,301
Then go over the revenues and

885
00:44:58,434 --> 00:45:01,434
expense, overview, some budget highlights.

886
00:45:02,133 --> 00:45:05,267
And then at the end, staff will

887
00:45:05,267 --> 00:45:07,667
be requesting 2 motions, and

888
00:45:08,667 --> 00:45:14,670
they will be requested to be voted on separately.

889
00:45:16,567 --> 00:45:19,968
So the first topic, the millage rate.

890
00:45:19,968 --> 00:45:22,368
The fiscal year 2026, uh, 27

891
00:45:23,133 --> 00:45:26,133
proposed milage rate is 0.0978 mils.

892
00:45:28,567 --> 00:45:30,567
That is $9.78

893
00:45:31,868 --> 00:45:34,268
per $100,000 of taxable value.

894
00:45:37,501 --> 00:45:40,501
This millage rate is the same millage

895
00:45:40,501 --> 00:45:43,834
rate that was proposed in July.

896
00:45:43,834 --> 00:45:46,901
There is no change, as well as it is

897
00:45:46,901 --> 00:45:50,330
the same millage rate as the current year, meaning there's

898
00:45:50,330 --> 00:45:52,433
no increase in military.

899
00:45:52,834 --> 00:45:56,267
The millage rate for a $500,000 home

900
00:45:56,267 --> 00:45:58,267
would equal about $48.90

901
00:45:59,334 --> 00:46:01,334
for the year.

902
00:46:01,968 --> 00:46:05,200
And this rate then covers services

903
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:08,367
within the basin within Collier County,

904
00:46:08,367 --> 00:46:11,367
for flood control, picking operations,

905
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:15,800
um, groundwater monitoring, uh, et cetera.

906
00:46:20,767 --> 00:46:23,767
The budget proposed before you

907
00:46:23,901 --> 00:46:25,901
today is $23,648,374.

908
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:32,701
It is the same amount.

909
00:46:32,701 --> 00:46:35,834
that was proposed in July, so there

910
00:46:35,834 --> 00:46:39,133
is no change in the revenues nor the expenditures

911
00:46:39,133 --> 00:46:42,133
to the left are your revenues.

912
00:46:42,133 --> 00:46:43,968
Your advalorum taxes.

913
00:46:43,968 --> 00:46:45,968
at 68% or $15.9

914
00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:49,200
million of that $23000000

915
00:46:50,334 --> 00:46:53,434
proposed budget, as well as some

916
00:46:53,434 --> 00:46:55,434
intergovernmental federal revenues

917
00:46:56,634 --> 00:46:59,634
that are projected, um, to

918
00:46:59,634 --> 00:47:03,467
be received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as

919
00:47:03,467 --> 00:47:07,000
a potential reimbursement based on those expenses

920
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,000
for picking in strand operations.

921
00:47:10,767 --> 00:47:13,767
Utilizing some fun balances, about

922
00:47:13,934 --> 00:47:15,934
13% or $3.1

923
00:47:18,100 --> 00:47:19,934
million.

924
00:47:19,934 --> 00:47:23,367
And then various other revenues, such as investment income,

925
00:47:23,367 --> 00:47:26,834
right away permits, service center lease,

926
00:47:26,834 --> 00:47:30,300
as well as some fund balances from,

927
00:47:30,300 --> 00:47:34,534
they call your county cooperative agreement for Gordon and Palm.

928
00:47:34,534 --> 00:47:38,330
To the right are your proposed expenditure

929
00:47:38,330 --> 00:47:41,167
categories, the largest vein within your

930
00:47:41,167 --> 00:47:43,567
capital projects, uh, at 31%

931
00:47:44,701 --> 00:47:46,701
or 740000000 dollars, and

932
00:47:47,801 --> 00:47:50,868
then moving to uh, restoration of Picayune

933
00:47:50,868 --> 00:47:54,000
Strand at 4 million, uh, the service

934
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,167
uh, center, as well as flood control

935
00:47:57,167 --> 00:47:59,567
operations, a little over $6000000

936
00:48:01,467 --> 00:48:04,534
And then Gordon and Palm at 900 uh 1000

937
00:48:04,534 --> 00:48:06,534
land stewardship at 883,000.

938
00:48:10,100 --> 00:48:11,667
So this is a little different.

939
00:48:11,667 --> 00:48:15,133
Part of this presentation in August that

940
00:48:15,133 --> 00:48:19,000
we present compared to the July, where

941
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,267
we break down those areas within the

942
00:48:22,267 --> 00:48:25,634
district, the South Florida water management district, that is responsible

943
00:48:25,634 --> 00:48:27,634
for implementing the

944
00:48:28,801 --> 00:48:32,901
basin's work plan and those activities that we just briefly discussed.

945
00:48:32,901 --> 00:48:36,200
So first, the administrative services and executive

946
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,200
offices at $612,000.

947
00:48:39,434 --> 00:48:42,467
That is made up of your general services and

948
00:48:42,467 --> 00:48:45,534
facility staff, um, that maintains the service

949
00:48:45,534 --> 00:48:48,534
center, uh, portion of that, uh,

950
00:48:48,534 --> 00:48:50,934
funding comes from the lease.

951
00:48:50,934 --> 00:48:53,501
The lease does cover a lot of those expenses.

952
00:48:53,501 --> 00:48:57,300
The picking strand, water quality, monitoring and lab analysis,

953
00:48:57,300 --> 00:49:00,267
which is under your water quality, a bureau

954
00:49:00,267 --> 00:49:03,334
within the South Florida water management district, and then all

955
00:49:03,334 --> 00:49:05,334
the control room.

956
00:49:05,334 --> 00:49:07,734
at headquarters that works

957
00:49:08,434 --> 00:49:10,834
with your water managers

958
00:49:11,801 --> 00:49:16,467
here at the basin for water management oversight.

959
00:49:16,467 --> 00:49:19,634
Also, ecosystem restoration, which is a division,

960
00:49:19,634 --> 00:49:22,634
um, within the district is $745,000,

961
00:49:23,367 --> 00:49:26,701
um, that is dominantly their responsibility

962
00:49:26,701 --> 00:49:30,200
for the basin that they'll be working on in 2627

963
00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:33,267
is the picking strand, threatening endangered species,

964
00:49:33,267 --> 00:49:36,267
aquatic vegetation, monitoring, uh, service

965
00:49:36,367 --> 00:49:39,967
center, uh, that uh, covers outreach

966
00:49:39,968 --> 00:49:44,168
and communication, uh, basin, water management, modeling,

967
00:49:44,234 --> 00:49:46,234
support.

968
00:49:47,334 --> 00:49:50,400
Your engineering and construction, uh, and modeling

969
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:53,701
division, um, that's under, um, Ms. Lucinay

970
00:49:53,701 --> 00:49:56,701
that often comes over and presents, you know,

971
00:49:56,701 --> 00:49:59,701
for the basin at $9 million.

972
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:03,100
This is the area that's responsible for

973
00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:05,500
the basin's projects.

974
00:50:08,234 --> 00:50:12,100
Field operations and, uh, which includes land management.

975
00:50:12,100 --> 00:50:14,500
This is at $7.8 million,

976
00:50:15,634 --> 00:50:19,300
and as we see here on the slide, dominantly

977
00:50:19,300 --> 00:50:22,300
responsible for maintaining the canals,

978
00:50:22,934 --> 00:50:25,934
the water control structures, Picayune

979
00:50:26,670 --> 00:50:28,670
strand operations.

980
00:50:29,670 --> 00:50:36,200
As well as the land management support for the various areas within the basin.

981
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:38,000
Information technology.

982
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:39,901
at 337,000.

983
00:50:39,901 --> 00:50:43,701
Um, this is made up of your SCATA team.

984
00:50:43,701 --> 00:50:45,434
It supports your SCATA system.

985
00:50:45,434 --> 00:50:48,100
as well as base and board support.

986
00:50:48,100 --> 00:50:51,400
And then you have the reserve's debt fees and charges,

987
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,968
which the basin doesn't have any debt.

988
00:50:53,968 --> 00:50:59,330
And that's your emergency reserves, which is $2 million.

989
00:50:59,330 --> 00:51:03,233
Property appraiser, tax collector fees, self-insurance program.

990
00:51:07,901 --> 00:51:11,133
As mentioned earlier, the next steps, after this

991
00:51:11,133 --> 00:51:14,534
meeting is the inclusion of the basin's

992
00:51:14,534 --> 00:51:17,801
milledge and budget within the district's

993
00:51:17,801 --> 00:51:20,801
overall budget for the September

994
00:51:20,834 --> 00:51:23,234
10th hearing at 515 in

995
00:51:24,501 --> 00:51:28,701
West Palm Beach and then September 22nd.

996
00:51:32,234 --> 00:51:35,234
So the 1st motion, being

997
00:51:36,133 --> 00:51:38,533
requested, is the milledge.

998
00:51:39,934 --> 00:51:42,334
Staff, uh, requests, the

999
00:51:43,267 --> 00:51:46,367
basin board of the South Florida Water Management District to approve the

1000
00:51:46,367 --> 00:51:50,567
submittal of the millage rate of 0.0978 mills.

1001
00:51:53,133 --> 00:51:55,533
For fiscal year 202627, requesting

1002
00:51:57,334 --> 00:52:00,400
the board of the South Florida Water Management District

1003
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:03,634
to levy those Advalorum taxes within the Big Cypress

1004
00:52:03,634 --> 00:52:07,100
Basin, on that rate to finance basin

1005
00:52:07,100 --> 00:52:09,330
functions contained.

1006
00:52:09,330 --> 00:52:12,633
In the fiscal year 2627 basin budget.

1007
00:52:14,501 --> 00:52:15,934
Thank you, Ms. Heater.

1008
00:52:15,934 --> 00:52:20,434
Troy, is there any public comment on this item?

1009
00:52:20,434 --> 00:52:24,434
We have no registered speakers here in the room and no hands raised on Zoom, Mr. Chair.

1010
00:52:24,434 --> 00:52:25,701
Thank you.

1011
00:52:25,701 --> 00:52:30,234
Are there any board questions for candy on this item?

1012
00:52:30,234 --> 00:52:33,501
Saying none if I could have a motion and a 2nd for

1013
00:52:33,501 --> 00:52:35,501
this, this...

1014
00:52:35,634 --> 00:52:36,567
So moved.

1015
00:52:36,567 --> 00:52:39,834
Okay, Andy Hill moves to approve the military.

1016
00:52:39,834 --> 00:52:40,667
Second.

1017
00:52:40,667 --> 00:52:42,667
Vice chair McLeod, seconds.

1018
00:52:42,667 --> 00:52:45,367
I'll now do a roll call vote.

1019
00:52:45,367 --> 00:52:46,501
Mr. Romano?

1020
00:52:46,501 --> 00:52:48,501
No.

1021
00:52:50,701 --> 00:52:51,901
Ms. Leonhard?

1022
00:52:51,901 --> 00:52:53,100
Yes.

1023
00:52:53,100 --> 00:52:53,934
Mr. Hill?

1024
00:52:53,934 --> 00:52:55,934
Yes?

1025
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:57,234
Ms. Smith?

1026
00:52:57,234 --> 00:52:58,300
Yes.

1027
00:52:58,300 --> 00:52:59,801
Vice Chair McLeod?

1028
00:52:59,801 --> 00:53:00,100
Yes.

1029
00:53:00,100 --> 00:53:01,901
And I vote, yes.

1030
00:53:01,901 --> 00:53:03,634
That passes 5 to one.

1031
00:53:03,634 --> 00:53:05,634
Thank you.

1032
00:53:05,934 --> 00:53:08,934
The next resolution, staff request,

1033
00:53:09,567 --> 00:53:12,634
a resolution of the big Cypress Basin

1034
00:53:12,634 --> 00:53:15,634
board of the South Florida Water Management District,

1035
00:53:15,634 --> 00:53:18,340
submitting the fiscal year 2026, 2027

1036
00:53:18,934 --> 00:53:22,534
basin budget, in the amount of $23,648,374

1037
00:53:26,234 --> 00:53:29,367
to the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District

1038
00:53:29,367 --> 00:53:32,734
for inclusion in the district's budget.

1039
00:53:32,734 --> 00:53:33,901
Thank you, Candy.

1040
00:53:33,901 --> 00:53:36,234
Troy, is there any public comment?

1041
00:53:36,234 --> 00:53:37,801
No, ma'am.

1042
00:53:37,801 --> 00:53:40,734
Okay, is there any board comments or questions for candy?

1043
00:53:40,734 --> 00:53:42,234
Seeing none?

1044
00:53:42,234 --> 00:53:44,234
I'll take a motion and a second.

1045
00:53:44,234 --> 00:53:45,534
So moved?

1046
00:53:45,534 --> 00:53:46,734
Is that count?

1047
00:53:46,734 --> 00:53:49,601
Mr. Hill moves to approve.

1048
00:53:49,601 --> 00:53:51,467
Vice chair McLeod seconds.

1049
00:53:51,467 --> 00:53:53,167
We'll now do a roll call vote.

1050
00:53:53,167 --> 00:53:54,534
Mr. Romano?

1051
00:53:54,534 --> 00:53:55,934
No.

1052
00:53:55,934 --> 00:53:57,701
Um, Miss Lenhardt.

1053
00:53:57,701 --> 00:53:58,300
Yes.

1054
00:53:58,300 --> 00:53:59,501
Mr. Hill.

1055
00:53:59,501 --> 00:54:00,167
Yes.

1056
00:54:00,167 --> 00:54:01,670
Miss Smith.

1057
00:54:01,670 --> 00:54:01,734
Yes.

1058
00:54:01,734 --> 00:54:03,734
Vice chair McLeod?

1059
00:54:03,767 --> 00:54:04,133
Yes.

1060
00:54:04,133 --> 00:54:05,934
And I vote, yes.

1061
00:54:05,934 --> 00:54:07,934
That passes 5 to 1.

1062
00:54:09,133 --> 00:54:10,300
Thank you very much, Candy.

1063
00:54:10,300 --> 00:54:12,300
Thank you.

1064
00:54:13,367 --> 00:54:17,670
Okay, that brings us to our technical reports.

1065
00:54:17,670 --> 00:54:20,133
With our field station activity report,

1066
00:54:20,133 --> 00:54:23,767
with Mike Barber and Mike, you're on Zoom.

1067
00:54:23,767 --> 00:54:27,000
Can you hear us, and go ahead?

1068
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:27,901
Yes, ma'am.

1069
00:54:27,901 --> 00:54:28,400
Here?

1070
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:30,968
Good morning, Madam Chair and fellow boardmen.

1071
00:54:30,968 --> 00:54:36,000
I am Mike Barber, supervisor for the Big Cypress Phil Station.

1072
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:42,501
And I'll be presenting the fuel station activity report today.

1073
00:54:42,501 --> 00:54:45,534
We'll go over pump station operations, different

1074
00:54:45,534 --> 00:54:49,670
activities that we do within the maintenance area,

1075
00:54:49,670 --> 00:54:51,670
and an outlet.

1076
00:54:54,434 --> 00:54:57,534
Here on the airport road canal, we're doing mechanical

1077
00:54:57,534 --> 00:55:01,000
harvesting, we're using the truck store,

1078
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:04,434
one of the pieces of equipment that we have, where this

1079
00:55:04,434 --> 00:55:05,934
machine comes in handy.

1080
00:55:05,934 --> 00:55:07,400
You can drive it down to banks.

1081
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:10,534
You don't have to have the access ramps.

1082
00:55:10,534 --> 00:55:14,734
We go in, we cut the vegetation,

1083
00:55:14,834 --> 00:55:17,834
put it on the bank, and go back and pick it up with

1084
00:55:17,834 --> 00:55:20,901
the skid steer, move it where we can get to it,

1085
00:55:20,901 --> 00:55:25,701
with the trash truck and haul it off.

1086
00:55:27,567 --> 00:55:30,601
Here is another type of equipment

1087
00:55:30,601 --> 00:55:33,667
we use for the mechanical harvesting, this is with

1088
00:55:33,667 --> 00:55:36,834
help from West Palm Field Station with their crane and crane

1089
00:55:36,834 --> 00:55:39,968
operator, and Miami Field Station with

1090
00:55:39,968 --> 00:55:42,968
a towboat and towboat operator.

1091
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:46,367
We put this in the bigger canals, the deeper canals.

1092
00:55:46,367 --> 00:55:50,330
It's got the big plow, as you can see on the pitcher on the left.

1093
00:55:50,330 --> 00:55:52,200
You can see the big plow behind it.

1094
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:55,534
They can drag that behind this towboat and

1095
00:55:55,534 --> 00:55:58,601
it actually breaks the vegetation loose from

1096
00:55:58,601 --> 00:56:00,434
the bottom of the canal.

1097
00:56:00,434 --> 00:56:04,534
We ran the I 75 canal from Pine

1098
00:56:04,534 --> 00:56:07,601
Ridge all the way down to Golden Gate and then

1099
00:56:07,601 --> 00:56:10,767
transferred over to the Golden Gate canal and ran

1100
00:56:10,767 --> 00:56:14,434
it from Golden Gate 2 to Golden Gate 3.

1101
00:56:14,434 --> 00:56:17,968
We spent about a month and a half doing this and it

1102
00:56:17,968 --> 00:56:21,734
has now been sent back to the Miami Field Station.

1103
00:56:21,734 --> 00:56:24,667
And doing this, this helps with vegetation.

1104
00:56:24,667 --> 00:56:26,901
We get it before it gets bad.

1105
00:56:26,901 --> 00:56:29,968
We don't have to spray it as much or do heavier

1106
00:56:29,968 --> 00:56:35,368
treatments if we can keep doing this mechanical harvesting.

1107
00:56:37,601 --> 00:56:40,734
Here there are some trees that were spotted by some

1108
00:56:40,734 --> 00:56:43,200
of our subcontractors, so we went out.

1109
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:44,634
This is on a Cypress canal.

1110
00:56:44,634 --> 00:56:47,767
We went out and uh, The group,

1111
00:56:47,767 --> 00:56:50,934
the team members went out and cut these trees up before they got down into

1112
00:56:50,934 --> 00:56:53,934
the hallway into the canal and transferred

1113
00:56:53,934 --> 00:56:58,133
down against the structure and caused any damage or any blockage.

1114
00:56:58,133 --> 00:57:05,933
They cut them all up, removed them, and hauled them to the Atlantic.

1115
00:57:06,801 --> 00:57:09,934
Here we're at FICA 5 where we changed out some

1116
00:57:09,934 --> 00:57:12,801
damaged wiring or some gearboxes.

1117
00:57:12,801 --> 00:57:16,330
It was just some stuff that need to be done within the maintenance

1118
00:57:16,330 --> 00:57:18,433
realm of doing things.

1119
00:57:19,300 --> 00:57:22,634
There's several other guys changing wires and then our

1120
00:57:22,634 --> 00:57:25,834
IT tech working on getting everything back

1121
00:57:25,834 --> 00:57:30,634
to where it's back in operation four.

1122
00:57:32,934 --> 00:57:36,670
Here we assisted the skate of the

1123
00:57:36,670 --> 00:57:39,670
group with solar panel upgrades.

1124
00:57:39,133 --> 00:57:42,167
We went from 150 or from a 100

1125
00:57:42,167 --> 00:57:45,167
watts, solar panel through this bigger 350

1126
00:57:45,167 --> 00:57:46,534
watt panel.

1127
00:57:46,534 --> 00:57:51,334
We went from ATM batteries to lithium batteries.

1128
00:57:51,367 --> 00:57:54,367
This helps with left sunlight,

1129
00:57:54,601 --> 00:57:58,601
charges faster, and then also this keeps the RTUs running.

1130
00:57:58,601 --> 00:58:01,601
Say, if you do lose power or the generator fails

1131
00:58:01,601 --> 00:58:04,901
or anything like that, this keeps the RTUs

1132
00:58:04,901 --> 00:58:07,300
up and running so that we can still receive data.

1133
00:58:07,300 --> 00:58:10,367
We did this in-house to save money so we

1134
00:58:10,367 --> 00:58:12,934
didn't have to get contractors and stuff like that.

1135
00:58:12,934 --> 00:58:16,334
And this has been done at Cocoa 3, Cocoa 2.

1136
00:58:16,334 --> 00:58:23,534
And now, as of last week, Cocoa one has been upgraded also.

1137
00:58:25,133 --> 00:58:28,634
Here we have Phil Station, technician

1138
00:58:28,634 --> 00:58:30,133
working on the side gate.

1139
00:58:30,133 --> 00:58:33,367
We had a storm and lightning hit the control board and

1140
00:58:33,367 --> 00:58:36,000
took out the little gearbox motor.

1141
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:39,670
We do this in-house so we don't have to hire it out,

1142
00:58:39,670 --> 00:58:46,867
save the district money by doing a lot of stuff like this in-house.

1143
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:49,400
Our normal cars in the canal.

1144
00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:53,267
Car on the left, went into the Facto Canal on July

1145
00:58:53,267 --> 00:58:56,567
3rd, car on the right, went to the airport road,

1146
00:58:56,567 --> 00:58:58,601
canal on July 30th.

1147
00:58:58,601 --> 00:59:00,400
Both drivers walked away.

1148
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:03,400
But no injuries, minimal damage

1149
00:59:03,534 --> 00:59:04,901
to the canal bank.

1150
00:59:04,901 --> 00:59:07,968
We was able just to rank down the ruts where they drug them back

1151
00:59:07,968 --> 00:59:12,168
out and everything's good to go.

1152
00:59:13,968 --> 00:59:17,670
Here we had, this is at the fuel station, one of the doors

1153
00:59:17,670 --> 00:59:19,234
was leaking around the top.

1154
00:59:19,234 --> 00:59:21,634
So, again, in-house repairs,

1155
00:59:22,234 --> 00:59:25,334
we went and got some rain gutters, rain gutter, door guards,

1156
00:59:25,334 --> 00:59:33,901
and installed them over the door to keep it from running down and running through the top of the door.

1157
00:59:33,901 --> 00:59:36,234
Here's our 3 month outlook.

1158
00:59:36,234 --> 00:59:40,400
You know, just our normal preventive maintenance and inspections.

1159
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:43,934
Keep on doing our vegetation, control.

1160
00:59:43,934 --> 00:59:46,634
Continue working on our canals.

1161
00:59:46,634 --> 00:59:49,667
And we'll be waiting for when the rain gets here so we

1162
00:59:49,667 --> 00:59:53,267
can do gate changes if needed.

1163
00:59:55,601 --> 00:59:58,601
We'll transition now into the comprehensive Everglades

1164
00:59:58,601 --> 01:00:01,100
Restoration Project Activity Report.

1165
01:00:05,367 --> 01:00:08,434
Photo on the left shows a pub station operator

1166
01:00:08,434 --> 01:00:11,434
manually exercising the vows on

1167
01:00:11,601 --> 01:00:15,934
the fuel farm at the back of pub station.

1168
01:00:15,934 --> 01:00:19,330
They do this, just to keep them, make sure they're moving, because during

1169
01:00:19,330 --> 01:00:22,334
the dry season, nothing's actually getting used out there.

1170
01:00:22,334 --> 01:00:25,934
It's just very little fuel, so these valves don't have to open and close much.

1171
01:00:25,934 --> 01:00:29,667
So it goes around and manually moves these.

1172
01:00:29,667 --> 01:00:32,400
They do this at each pump station.

1173
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:35,400
On the right is distribution

1174
01:00:35,601 --> 01:00:39,434
pump shaft, while they was doing some maintenance, they noticed that

1175
01:00:39,434 --> 01:00:42,667
the shaft was pitted, so they pulled that shaft out,

1176
01:00:42,667 --> 01:00:46,801
had it sent off and recoded, put it back together this way.

1177
01:00:46,801 --> 01:00:52,201
It doesn't cause any issues in the future.

1178
01:00:54,334 --> 01:00:57,767
Here we have pump station operators

1179
01:00:57,767 --> 01:01:00,834
replacing the stem boot covers on the gates.

1180
01:01:00,834 --> 01:01:03,834
These boots go from the top of the gate to

1181
01:01:03,834 --> 01:01:07,300
the bottom of the gearbox and they cover that stem.

1182
01:01:07,300 --> 01:01:10,467
This keeps the dirt and trash from building up on the stem

1183
01:01:10,467 --> 01:01:13,601
and being transferred into the gearbox and causing

1184
01:01:13,601 --> 01:01:16,100
gearbox and gearbox damage.

1185
01:01:22,100 --> 01:01:25,534
Phil station staff members had to go down these tough booms,

1186
01:01:25,534 --> 01:01:29,467
they keep the debris from going on across to the,

1187
01:01:29,467 --> 01:01:32,467
like, Union one, Weir and going

1188
01:01:32,467 --> 01:01:35,434
into the Port of the Isles there by the marina.

1189
01:01:35,434 --> 01:01:38,701
As you can see, on the left-hand side, the

1190
01:01:38,701 --> 01:01:42,000
grates that go on these tough booms are completely covered with

1191
01:01:42,000 --> 01:01:45,000
barnacles and different things and

1192
01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:46,734
they was not working right.

1193
01:01:46,734 --> 01:01:49,734
It was impeding the flow.

1194
01:01:55,367 --> 01:01:58,501
Airfield station staff members replaced all the

1195
01:01:58,501 --> 01:02:01,467
hardware, cleaned the tough booms as much as

1196
01:02:01,467 --> 01:02:03,667
they could get off of them.

1197
01:02:03,667 --> 01:02:06,701
We utilized the little skid steer to help pick

1198
01:02:06,701 --> 01:02:14,501
these up and move things around so you wouldn't nobody getting hurt.

1199
01:02:16,234 --> 01:02:20,234
Either replaced, anchored off on both sides of the canal.

1200
01:02:20,234 --> 01:02:24,434
that are back in operational form now.

1201
01:02:27,801 --> 01:02:29,400
And...

1202
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:32,667
Ms. our chair, Ms. Roman, spoke to this earlier about

1203
01:02:32,667 --> 01:02:37,133
the green heart of the Everglades, staff members went down.

1204
01:02:37,133 --> 01:02:41,167
We took the trees down, as you see here, on the pitcher on the left.

1205
01:02:41,167 --> 01:02:44,701
That is our superintendent, Mr. Dan Walsh,

1206
01:02:44,701 --> 01:02:48,367
he took the initiative to do the tree cutting force.

1207
01:02:48,367 --> 01:02:50,467
He is still arborist.

1208
01:02:50,467 --> 01:02:52,667
So it worked out pretty good for us.

1209
01:02:52,667 --> 01:02:59,867
We took all the trees down, cut them up, hold them off.

1210
01:03:02,667 --> 01:03:07,300
Picture on the left, we thought was neat because once Dan

1211
01:03:07,300 --> 01:03:10,300
cut the tree down, we've seen this picture or got this

1212
01:03:10,300 --> 01:03:12,700
image of the heart.

1213
01:03:14,501 --> 01:03:16,601
Yeah, green heart on the Everglades.

1214
01:03:16,601 --> 01:03:16,901
Great.

1215
01:03:16,901 --> 01:03:19,901
These two pieces of equipment here is

1216
01:03:19,901 --> 01:03:22,868
the only thing we rented, we rented the stump grinder

1217
01:03:22,868 --> 01:03:26,434
and the mini excavator with a jackhammer on it.

1218
01:03:26,434 --> 01:03:29,534
We ground all the stuffs down, then we busted all of

1219
01:03:29,534 --> 01:03:32,667
that concrete up that was on the seawall there, and

1220
01:03:32,667 --> 01:03:34,334
it didn't have any rebar.

1221
01:03:34,334 --> 01:03:37,567
So we reused most of that for

1222
01:03:37,567 --> 01:03:38,834
rip wrap around there.

1223
01:03:38,834 --> 01:03:44,234
That saved a lot of money for the district.

1224
01:03:47,334 --> 01:03:51,167
We got the sod down, we got everything leveled out, put

1225
01:03:51,167 --> 01:03:54,801
sod all the way around and it's been getting water.

1226
01:03:54,801 --> 01:03:57,167
It's staying green right now.

1227
01:03:57,167 --> 01:03:59,501
We've already had people down there fishing.

1228
01:03:59,501 --> 01:04:02,734
I haven't seen anybody launch any kayaks

1229
01:04:02,734 --> 01:04:05,734
or canoes yet, but there's been a lot of people in there fishing and

1230
01:04:05,734 --> 01:04:10,534
we're getting a lot of good feedback.

1231
01:04:11,434 --> 01:04:15,434
The outlook for this is, you know, just our normal wet

1232
01:04:15,434 --> 01:04:18,434
season, pump orders, our PMs,

1233
01:04:18,934 --> 01:04:23,167
and, uh, we will, we're gonna start this week doing

1234
01:04:23,167 --> 01:04:26,167
entrance road, work and maintenance

1235
01:04:26,300 --> 01:04:29,667
cycle for the tie back levees between each pump

1236
01:04:29,667 --> 01:04:32,701
station will go in and grade these levees

1237
01:04:32,701 --> 01:04:36,000
and stuff so that if we have to go across them or whatever, we can,

1238
01:04:36,000 --> 01:04:41,400
you know, air our, keep them in good shape.

1239
01:04:41,567 --> 01:04:45,167
And closing this is a picture that was taken at Golden Gate 3,

1240
01:04:45,167 --> 01:04:48,734
this is fuel station and service center staff,

1241
01:04:48,734 --> 01:04:51,968
and I just wanted to put this in there to acknowledge everyone because

1242
01:04:51,968 --> 01:04:55,200
without this group of people and everyone's

1243
01:04:55,200 --> 01:04:58,234
hands and everything we do, these presentations would

1244
01:04:58,234 --> 01:05:01,434
not be happening because these people,

1245
01:05:01,434 --> 01:05:07,434
each and every one helps with everything we do here.

1246
01:05:07,534 --> 01:05:11,670
And if there's any questions, I'll be happy that.

1247
01:05:11,670 --> 01:05:13,000
This is an amazing photo.

1248
01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:13,601
It is.

1249
01:05:13,601 --> 01:05:17,434
Mike, thank you for your presentation, but this is an amazing photo

1250
01:05:17,434 --> 01:05:20,434
of the Woodstorks gathering at

1251
01:05:20,667 --> 01:05:23,367
the Picayune Strand Restoration project.

1252
01:05:23,367 --> 01:05:26,667
And Mike told me that he took this picture as

1253
01:05:26,667 --> 01:05:27,801
the date is on it.

1254
01:05:27,801 --> 01:05:29,667
July 2026.

1255
01:05:29,667 --> 01:05:32,667
So that's like, you

1256
01:05:33,367 --> 01:05:35,400
know, just a month ago, right?

1257
01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:38,534
Normally, uh, and we've got Audubon in the audience,

1258
01:05:38,534 --> 01:05:41,534
but normally they're not gathering like that hanging out.

1259
01:05:41,534 --> 01:05:44,534
So restoration is working and that's just

1260
01:05:44,534 --> 01:05:47,567
an amazing photo as well as the one with all of the

1261
01:05:47,567 --> 01:05:49,367
members of the field station mic.

1262
01:05:49,367 --> 01:05:52,200
So I want you to pass that on to the guys our thanks.

1263
01:05:52,200 --> 01:05:55,834
Are there any questions for Mike on the field station report?

1264
01:05:55,834 --> 01:05:56,801
PJ?

1265
01:05:56,801 --> 01:05:58,367
Just a quick question.

1266
01:05:58,367 --> 01:06:00,167
Oh, sorry.

1267
01:06:00,167 --> 01:06:03,167
For the vegetation that you mechanically removed.

1268
01:06:03,167 --> 01:06:06,167
Do you do you compost it or do you use

1269
01:06:06,167 --> 01:06:07,601
it for anything or just throw it?

1270
01:06:07,601 --> 01:06:10,601
What do you do with it?

1271
01:06:10,601 --> 01:06:13,767
We take it to the county landfill, and they actually put

1272
01:06:13,767 --> 01:06:17,801
it over on the backside and let it dry out, and then they

1273
01:06:17,801 --> 01:06:20,901
use it to build up their areas back there

1274
01:06:20,901 --> 01:06:24,133
as far as keep it for erosion purposes.

1275
01:06:24,133 --> 01:06:25,334
They grind out.

1276
01:06:25,334 --> 01:06:26,467
I think they grind some of it.

1277
01:06:26,467 --> 01:06:27,670
I'm not sure.

1278
01:06:27,670 --> 01:06:30,670
I could find out for you and get

1279
01:06:30,670 --> 01:06:33,200
back with you and let you know exactly what they do with it, but when we

1280
01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:36,300
go to dump it, they have us put it on the backside of where

1281
01:06:36,300 --> 01:06:39,300
they have their yard debris.

1282
01:06:39,334 --> 01:06:40,567
You can let Lisa know.

1283
01:06:40,567 --> 01:06:42,534
Um, it's sorry.

1284
01:06:42,534 --> 01:06:46,434
Just, it's a good answer, because I just didn't want to put into the lands fill.

1285
01:06:46,434 --> 01:06:49,434
I'm sure there's got to be a use for it and so that sounds like a really good use for it.

1286
01:06:49,434 --> 01:06:53,340
Do we have very much solar?

1287
01:06:53,934 --> 01:06:55,968
on property on any of our properties.

1288
01:06:55,968 --> 01:06:59,868
That's the 1st time I saw that we had a solar capabilities.

1289
01:06:59,868 --> 01:07:01,534
Excuse me, we do.

1290
01:07:01,534 --> 01:07:04,901
A lot of our STA systems have a solar backup.

1291
01:07:04,901 --> 01:07:08,670
So yes, we do rely on our solar powers.

1292
01:07:08,670 --> 01:07:11,133
Okay, primarily for the backup, um, nothing

1293
01:07:11,133 --> 01:07:14,133
to really, like, for a

1294
01:07:14,133 --> 01:07:16,167
primary power source or anything like that.

1295
01:07:16,167 --> 01:07:20,534
I'm going to let you ask that question to Brad that whenever he comes up next.

1296
01:07:20,534 --> 01:07:23,330
Would love to ask that question.

1297
01:07:23,330 --> 01:07:26,133
No, I'm just kind of curious because I'm like, yeah, I should have we should have asked that

1298
01:07:26,133 --> 01:07:29,367
question before because, you know, we're in the sunshine state, but yes, it's

1299
01:07:29,367 --> 01:07:32,167
also Brad will be able to answer that much better than I can.

1300
01:07:32,167 --> 01:07:32,901
Fantastic.

1301
01:07:32,901 --> 01:07:33,267
Thank you.

1302
01:07:33,267 --> 01:07:34,200
You're welcome.

1303
01:07:34,200 --> 01:07:35,330
Thank you.

1304
01:07:35,330 --> 01:07:40,534
Any other questions for Mike Barber on the field station report?

1305
01:07:40,534 --> 01:07:41,834
Mike, I don't see any.

1306
01:07:41,834 --> 01:07:42,767
Hope you're feeling better.

1307
01:07:42,767 --> 01:07:43,868
Thank you for your report.

1308
01:07:43,868 --> 01:07:45,367
Excellent.

1309
01:07:45,367 --> 01:07:48,901
Yeah, I'd like to add that in that picture of the Woodstorps,

1310
01:07:48,901 --> 01:07:51,901
I'd like to take credit for that, but that came from Amanda

1311
01:07:51,901 --> 01:07:54,901
McKenzie and Mary Festmeyer from over at headquarters.

1312
01:07:54,901 --> 01:07:59,200
They're the senior lead environmentalist and the lead environmentalist on the project.

1313
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:02,567
They gave me that picture because I had asked them about if

1314
01:08:02,567 --> 01:08:04,000
they had anything for down there.

1315
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:07,534
So I don't want to take credit for that picture.

1316
01:08:07,534 --> 01:08:08,667
All right, Mike.

1317
01:08:08,667 --> 01:08:09,701
Noted.

1318
01:08:09,701 --> 01:08:10,534
Thank you so much.

1319
01:08:10,534 --> 01:08:14,534
Okay, now we have Brad Jackson with our water conditions report.

1320
01:08:14,534 --> 01:08:16,100
Brad, welcome.

1321
01:08:16,100 --> 01:08:20,670
All right, thank you very much, and good afternoon, Madam Chair, board members.

1322
01:08:20,670 --> 01:08:22,701
It's a pleasure to be here again, to give you your update.

1323
01:08:22,701 --> 01:08:25,868
I'll kind of go over what's been going on in our system, what the conditions are.

1324
01:08:25,868 --> 01:08:29,000
Basically, this wet season, but mostly since last board

1325
01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:31,000
meeting early July.

1326
01:08:31,567 --> 01:08:35,000
So I will jump right in with the no

1327
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:36,534
surprise to this chart here.

1328
01:08:36,534 --> 01:08:40,133
Basically, everyone already knows how dry our area has been.

1329
01:08:40,133 --> 01:08:42,300
We're running quite a deficit.

1330
01:08:42,300 --> 01:08:45,367
That's basically the main takeaway from basically my

1331
01:08:45,367 --> 01:08:49,567
presentation today is normally we're in water, like flood control mode.

1332
01:08:49,567 --> 01:08:52,434
We can do water conservation mode at any time of year.

1333
01:08:52,434 --> 01:08:55,901
It's really dependent on conditions and we're in that condition now where

1334
01:08:55,901 --> 01:08:59,330
our rainfall is, you know, 50, 60% of

1335
01:08:59,330 --> 01:09:00,567
normal for a wet season.

1336
01:09:00,567 --> 01:09:03,634
So you'll see a lot of information today, really about how

1337
01:09:03,634 --> 01:09:06,767
dry it is, and what we're trying to do to make sure that

1338
01:09:06,767 --> 01:09:09,868
we hold on to that precious resource while we, you know, still have it,

1339
01:09:09,868 --> 01:09:11,801
and we're able to hold it.

1340
01:09:11,801 --> 01:09:14,901
Make sure we're recharging aquifers, things like that.

1341
01:09:14,901 --> 01:09:18,501
But here you can see we're running about a 10 inch deficit.

1342
01:09:18,501 --> 01:09:21,567
June, July, August, all pretty much half of

1343
01:09:21,567 --> 01:09:24,801
what you would normally see this time of, you know, for a

1344
01:09:24,801 --> 01:09:26,167
wet season.

1345
01:09:26,167 --> 01:09:29,234
Technically, our wet season started, the middle of, um,

1346
01:09:29,234 --> 01:09:32,534
May on middle of May, May 15th, but, you

1347
01:09:32,534 --> 01:09:36,234
know, it really hasn't been much of a rain maker yet for us.

1348
01:09:36,234 --> 01:09:39,434
You can see the chart on the lower right.

1349
01:09:39,434 --> 01:09:43,670
That's kind of our, um, each color

1350
01:09:43,670 --> 01:09:46,670
is, you know, the upper the upper percentiles and lower

1351
01:09:46,670 --> 01:09:49,133
percentiles of our rainfall as you move from the left is

1352
01:09:49,133 --> 01:09:50,501
January, the right is December.

1353
01:09:50,501 --> 01:09:53,330
So the black line is your average.

1354
01:09:53,330 --> 01:09:54,330
The red line is this year.

1355
01:09:54,330 --> 01:09:57,334
You can see 2017 is our highest year,

1356
01:09:57,334 --> 01:10:00,701
and it's almost, we would almost double where we would be.

1357
01:10:00,701 --> 01:10:03,834
Um, if you were to, you know, look back in time, but they

1358
01:10:03,834 --> 01:10:06,701
had about twice as much rain at that given year than we have this year.

1359
01:10:06,701 --> 01:10:10,400
So almost a full years of rain already in 2027

1360
01:10:10,400 --> 01:10:13,934
this year, only 30 inches, quite shy,

1361
01:10:13,934 --> 01:10:16,934
short of everything that we have,

1362
01:10:16,934 --> 01:10:19,400
that we would really need this time of year.

1363
01:10:19,400 --> 01:10:22,534
So looking back at the rainfall itself, where did it

1364
01:10:22,534 --> 01:10:23,901
actually rain, where it didn't it?

1365
01:10:23,901 --> 01:10:27,567
Your average colors here that you would expect to see?

1366
01:10:27,567 --> 01:10:31,400
The left is June, July, August, going from left to right.

1367
01:10:31,400 --> 01:10:33,667
Normal would be kind of a beige color.

1368
01:10:33,667 --> 01:10:36,534
Blues are below average, reds are above average.

1369
01:10:36,534 --> 01:10:38,000
You can see there's really no red.

1370
01:10:38,000 --> 01:10:39,801
And really no beige.

1371
01:10:39,801 --> 01:10:42,767
So not a surprise there that since we're running about 50 to 60%

1372
01:10:42,767 --> 01:10:47,330
of average for this time of year, hence the water conservation that we've been doing.

1373
01:10:47,330 --> 01:10:50,501
Um, you can see, there's a little bit of rainfall

1374
01:10:50,501 --> 01:10:53,634
that fell in the July in the Southern, um, Facca

1375
01:10:53,634 --> 01:10:56,868
Union and Henderson Belmead area, um,

1376
01:10:56,868 --> 01:10:58,501
but it's very, very localized.

1377
01:10:58,501 --> 01:11:01,534
And, um, you can see some of those responses when I get

1378
01:11:01,534 --> 01:11:05,334
to the Henderson Creek, um, graphs a little bit later.

1379
01:11:05,334 --> 01:11:08,734
Looking at August, if we end up getting much rainfall,

1380
01:11:08,734 --> 01:11:12,267
the rest of this month, and we'll see what the next few days have in store for us.

1381
01:11:12,267 --> 01:11:15,567
But right now, if we end where we are today, it would be our driest

1382
01:11:15,567 --> 01:11:18,567
August, since we, our records

1383
01:11:18,567 --> 01:11:21,634
here from 1990, so it would be our driest looking back that far.

1384
01:11:21,634 --> 01:11:25,100
So quite a record, if that comes to fruition.

1385
01:11:25,100 --> 01:11:29,601
Either way, it's very dry for us.

1386
01:11:29,601 --> 01:11:32,767
So I will also now start to stare step through our

1387
01:11:32,767 --> 01:11:35,767
canal system, and I've got a new graph I've

1388
01:11:35,767 --> 01:11:39,200
put on here to basically show the importance and compare

1389
01:11:39,200 --> 01:11:42,467
past years with this year and how much water we're actually moving through the system,

1390
01:11:42,467 --> 01:11:44,634
and then out to our tide.

1391
01:11:44,634 --> 01:11:47,767
So on the on this slide

1392
01:11:47,767 --> 01:11:50,767
here, you remember the blue shaded areas.

1393
01:11:50,767 --> 01:11:54,000
That's our normal operational levels on both of these.

1394
01:11:54,000 --> 01:11:57,300
This top graph is GG4, which is the blue

1395
01:11:57,300 --> 01:12:01,234
triangle, and then the purple triangle off to the left is GG1.

1396
01:12:01,234 --> 01:12:04,601
The water flows along this canal and out when we have an excess of it.

1397
01:12:04,601 --> 01:12:07,667
So you can generally see GG4 is basically

1398
01:12:07,667 --> 01:12:09,567
right smack in the middle of average.

1399
01:12:09,567 --> 01:12:12,701
We've had 50% rainfall, and yet we still have normal

1400
01:12:12,701 --> 01:12:15,701
water levels in Golden Gate 4, showing

1401
01:12:15,701 --> 01:12:18,868
that we're able to retain the water we do have rather than wasting it and

1402
01:12:18,868 --> 01:12:20,834
sending it off to tide.

1403
01:12:20,834 --> 01:12:23,234
GG1, you see similar stories here.

1404
01:12:23,234 --> 01:12:24,267
The purple line.

1405
01:12:24,267 --> 01:12:27,200
That's our water level this year versus historical.

1406
01:12:27,200 --> 01:12:30,667
When we're in flood control operations, which we're not right now.

1407
01:12:30,667 --> 01:12:33,000
We're trying to conserve water, were higher than that.

1408
01:12:33,000 --> 01:12:36,133
So this is exactly, this is not by,

1409
01:12:36,133 --> 01:12:38,000
um, this is on purpose.

1410
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:41,701
This is what we're trying to do to conserve the water resource.

1411
01:12:41,701 --> 01:12:45,167
Make sure it can go into our groundwater, our surficial aquifers,

1412
01:12:45,167 --> 01:12:46,434
keep our wellings hydrated.

1413
01:12:46,434 --> 01:12:49,501
And on the left, this chart

1414
01:12:49,501 --> 01:12:51,534
down here says GG1 discharge.

1415
01:12:51,534 --> 01:12:54,234
This is the volume of water that moves through that last structure.

1416
01:12:54,234 --> 01:12:58,133
So this, um, kind of teal color.

1417
01:12:58,133 --> 01:13:01,000
That's the amount of water that went out in 2024.

1418
01:13:01,000 --> 01:13:03,167
The blue is this year.

1419
01:13:03,167 --> 01:13:05,167
So in 2024, 160,000

1420
01:13:06,267 --> 01:13:08,734
acre feet, in a wetter year, that's what we did.

1421
01:13:08,734 --> 01:13:11,000
Sending water out compared to this year.

1422
01:13:11,000 --> 01:13:14,667
It's not even 20,000 acre feet of water that left the system.

1423
01:13:14,667 --> 01:13:17,801
So the little bit of water we have, we're holding it in and not

1424
01:13:17,801 --> 01:13:19,334
releasing it out of the system.

1425
01:13:19,334 --> 01:13:24,367
That's basically the takeaway on this slide and all the rest of them.

1426
01:13:24,367 --> 01:13:26,133
The Kokahachie Canal.

1427
01:13:26,133 --> 01:13:29,100
I won't spend as much time on these since I explained the 1st one, but these are basically

1428
01:13:29,100 --> 01:13:32,467
repeats just to kind of show the differing conditions of everything.

1429
01:13:32,467 --> 01:13:36,501
So Cocoa 3, the blue triangle, Cocoa one, the coastal structure.

1430
01:13:36,501 --> 01:13:40,670
The thing I want you to note here, Cocoa 3 is so low.

1431
01:13:40,670 --> 01:13:44,234
I mean, we're not, we're below the 25th percentile on this canal.

1432
01:13:44,234 --> 01:13:46,330
So we're trying to hold everything we can.

1433
01:13:46,330 --> 01:13:47,801
We have an open the structure.

1434
01:13:47,801 --> 01:13:50,801
The rainfall just hasn't materialized in this

1435
01:13:50,801 --> 01:13:53,567
area to make sure that it could even respond yet.

1436
01:13:53,567 --> 01:13:56,634
So as the rainfall happens, we'll continue to see the

1437
01:13:56,634 --> 01:14:00,330
headwater go up and up and up, but it just hasn't materialized yet.

1438
01:14:00,330 --> 01:14:04,670
You can see it on Cocoa one as well, this small little recession here.

1439
01:14:04,670 --> 01:14:06,400
Um, this line going down.

1440
01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:08,434
That's not us moving water through it.

1441
01:14:08,434 --> 01:14:12,330
That's just the water, you know, ET, water use.

1442
01:14:12,330 --> 01:14:13,334
It's just going down on its own.

1443
01:14:13,334 --> 01:14:14,601
It's hot, it's sunny.

1444
01:14:14,601 --> 01:14:18,330
So that's unusual to see this time of year.

1445
01:14:18,330 --> 01:14:19,901
You can see that it's above the green line.

1446
01:14:19,901 --> 01:14:21,367
Again, that's on purpose.

1447
01:14:21,367 --> 01:14:24,501
to hold the water back so we can make sure we're keeping

1448
01:14:24,501 --> 01:14:27,567
saltwater intrusion at bay, the groundwater recharge, all of those

1449
01:14:27,567 --> 01:14:29,234
things happening.

1450
01:14:29,234 --> 01:14:32,534
And the discharges for Coco one on the left, you don't even see a

1451
01:14:32,534 --> 01:14:35,701
blue bar on this one because we haven't released any water yet.

1452
01:14:35,701 --> 01:14:36,501
That's how dry.

1453
01:14:36,501 --> 01:14:38,901
This basin's been.

1454
01:14:40,634 --> 01:14:42,601
Henderson Creek here.

1455
01:14:42,601 --> 01:14:45,734
So this one, this is the area that got a little bit of rain in July, so we

1456
01:14:45,734 --> 01:14:48,400
do have a little bit of more discharges in the southern area.

1457
01:14:48,400 --> 01:14:50,334
You can see this graph here.

1458
01:14:50,334 --> 01:14:52,968
The blue is this year in 2024.

1459
01:14:52,968 --> 01:14:56,934
again, it's still a far cry from 2024, but it's

1460
01:14:56,934 --> 01:14:59,934
more than the others, just because that's where the rainfall happens,

1461
01:14:59,934 --> 01:15:02,934
so you can see we're able to respond to the rainfall when it happens,

1462
01:15:02,934 --> 01:15:06,100
move through the correct amount and retain the right amount

1463
01:15:06,100 --> 01:15:09,100
within the system, make sure that our water

1464
01:15:09,100 --> 01:15:13,834
levels are healthy and able to keep the water that we need inside the system.

1465
01:15:13,834 --> 01:15:16,934
So basically what you can see in the Henderson Creek one,

1466
01:15:16,934 --> 01:15:18,330
the water levels are normal.

1467
01:15:18,330 --> 01:15:23,667
They're within the green, they're within our normal operational band.

1468
01:15:23,667 --> 01:15:27,000
So I've got a couple new slides here for Picking

1469
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:30,133
and Strand and Miller and kind of how the canal system interacts

1470
01:15:30,133 --> 01:15:33,133
with the Picking and Strand project, and to show

1471
01:15:33,133 --> 01:15:36,434
how the water comes into the system and how much we pump out,

1472
01:15:36,434 --> 01:15:39,000
not out, but into the restoration project.

1473
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:42,133
So this one is the Miller 3.

1474
01:15:42,133 --> 01:15:45,300
This is the control structure here, and it moves water south down

1475
01:15:45,300 --> 01:15:49,934
this canal to the S 486 pump station when there's water available.

1476
01:15:49,934 --> 01:15:51,901
I've got the 2 graphs here sitting.

1477
01:15:51,901 --> 01:15:53,868
tied by side or one on top of each other.

1478
01:15:53,868 --> 01:15:55,300
The blue is Miller.

1479
01:15:55,300 --> 01:15:57,167
This one down here is the pump station.

1480
01:15:57,167 --> 01:15:59,434
You can see they run very close together.

1481
01:15:59,434 --> 01:16:00,667
They're parallel.

1482
01:16:00,667 --> 01:16:04,567
So, you know, what happens upstream also happens downstream.

1483
01:16:04,567 --> 01:16:08,670
The thing I want you to note here that's interesting are the flow rates,

1484
01:16:08,670 --> 01:16:11,670
not just the stage, not just the water surface elevation, but

1485
01:16:11,670 --> 01:16:14,367
the flow rates down here, the purple is the pumped flow,

1486
01:16:14,367 --> 01:16:15,701
how much water we actually moved.

1487
01:16:15,701 --> 01:16:17,701
versus Miller 3.

1488
01:16:17,968 --> 01:16:21,434
But the important part is the actual capacity of these structures.

1489
01:16:21,434 --> 01:16:24,434
The miller pump station can pump upwards of

1490
01:16:24,434 --> 01:16:26,670
1400 CFS, I think.

1491
01:16:26,670 --> 01:16:29,400
And we've spent one day pumping 200 CFS.

1492
01:16:29,400 --> 01:16:32,467
So not even a very small percentage of

1493
01:16:32,467 --> 01:16:34,400
what the structures can actually handle.

1494
01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:37,868
And this is pretty much across our entire board, not

1495
01:16:37,868 --> 01:16:39,200
board our entire system.

1496
01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:43,133
We're using a fraction of the capacity because we're in water conservation mode.

1497
01:16:43,133 --> 01:16:46,334
So that's kind of the story here is, yes, we're still moving water,

1498
01:16:46,334 --> 01:16:49,367
but we're conserving it and sending the water intentionally to

1499
01:16:49,367 --> 01:16:52,501
where it needs to be, you know, best for the

1500
01:16:52,501 --> 01:16:56,968
water levels and best for the restoration project to the to the south.

1501
01:16:56,968 --> 01:17:00,234
And that more of these pumping

1502
01:17:00,234 --> 01:17:03,267
volume comparisons, the blue is this year, and the orange

1503
01:17:03,267 --> 01:17:05,667
is what happened in 2025

1504
01:17:06,534 --> 01:17:08,434
last year, the 1st year we had it online.

1505
01:17:08,434 --> 01:17:11,601
So again, 3 times what we pumped last year,

1506
01:17:11,601 --> 01:17:13,701
3 times what we've pumped this year so far.

1507
01:17:13,701 --> 01:17:16,100
So a very different, very different system.

1508
01:17:16,100 --> 01:17:19,334
But at the top here, even though we pumped

1509
01:17:19,334 --> 01:17:22,334
3 times less than we did last year, there's still some water on the landscape

1510
01:17:22,334 --> 01:17:23,934
in the picking and strand.

1511
01:17:23,934 --> 01:17:26,133
If the colors are red, bluish.

1512
01:17:26,133 --> 01:17:29,234
There's not a whole lot of it, but there is some water,

1513
01:17:29,234 --> 01:17:32,300
kind of in these lower areas here, and the pump stations,

1514
01:17:32,300 --> 01:17:35,467
this purple triangle, and you can kind of see some of the areas where

1515
01:17:35,467 --> 01:17:38,534
some of the water is moving through there, but it is definitely less

1516
01:17:38,534 --> 01:17:42,734
than it has been in previous years.

1517
01:17:43,367 --> 01:17:46,634
Moving slightly to the east, the Fact Union Canal, and the picking and

1518
01:17:46,634 --> 01:17:49,868
pump station, S487, the same graph here,

1519
01:17:49,868 --> 01:17:52,968
basically a Fact Union 5 is the blue triangle, more

1520
01:17:52,968 --> 01:17:56,330
of the same story, intentionally holding water back inside

1521
01:17:56,330 --> 01:17:58,501
the system, and picking a strand down here.

1522
01:17:58,501 --> 01:18:01,534
We're holding waters just above where they would normally be,

1523
01:18:01,534 --> 01:18:04,534
but we're still providing water to the restoration project to the south,

1524
01:18:04,534 --> 01:18:07,901
as you can see from the 2026 purple

1525
01:18:07,901 --> 01:18:13,000
line, the pump flow down here at the bottom.

1526
01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:16,100
So I wouldn't normally include this slide

1527
01:18:16,100 --> 01:18:19,400
in an August presentation, but we did have drought

1528
01:18:19,400 --> 01:18:20,601
conditions in June.

1529
01:18:20,601 --> 01:18:23,601
They've improved somewhat looking, you know,

1530
01:18:23,601 --> 01:18:27,501
this came out yesterday, August 25th, or 27th,

1531
01:18:27,501 --> 01:18:30,901
but we still have moderately dry conditions,

1532
01:18:30,901 --> 01:18:33,901
abnormally dry conditions, and even some moderate drought

1533
01:18:33,901 --> 01:18:36,000
inside the our basin area.

1534
01:18:36,000 --> 01:18:39,000
So it really, this helps guide, you know,

1535
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:41,567
lets us know how dry things really are across the board.

1536
01:18:41,567 --> 01:18:44,834
It's not just an isolated system, an isolated spot that's

1537
01:18:44,834 --> 01:18:48,300
dry, but basically the entire state is in some form of drought one way or the other.

1538
01:18:48,300 --> 01:18:51,367
And that helps guide, you know, a little bit of what

1539
01:18:51,367 --> 01:18:57,133
our strategy will be for gate operations, water levels, things like that.

1540
01:18:57,133 --> 01:19:00,534
I spent a lot of time talking about the water levels, but

1541
01:19:00,534 --> 01:19:04,300
I didn't tell you how those looked in comparison to historical.

1542
01:19:04,300 --> 01:19:08,670
So what you see here, it's kind of a rainbow

1543
01:19:08,670 --> 01:19:11,868
of colors, but the left is the water levels inside

1544
01:19:11,868 --> 01:19:13,100
each of those canal.

1545
01:19:13,100 --> 01:19:14,367
is a map of our canal system.

1546
01:19:14,367 --> 01:19:17,330
The reds are lower than they are.

1547
01:19:17,330 --> 01:19:20,167
Um, usually for August, such as the, such

1548
01:19:20,167 --> 01:19:23,167
as this area here, the Cocahachie, and some areas are higher

1549
01:19:23,167 --> 01:19:25,868
than what you would normally see in August, such as GG1.

1550
01:19:25,868 --> 01:19:29,234
They're black in some of the areas over here in Facca Union,

1551
01:19:29,234 --> 01:19:32,300
again, intentional where they were higher than normal.

1552
01:19:32,300 --> 01:19:35,300
The lower ones, we haven't got water to those areas yet.

1553
01:19:35,300 --> 01:19:36,834
There just hasn't been enough rainfall.

1554
01:19:36,834 --> 01:19:39,834
So, this is really indicative.

1555
01:19:39,968 --> 01:19:43,801
It's unusual to see that because we're doing water conservation.

1556
01:19:43,801 --> 01:19:46,801
We if, you know, we need to do change operations.

1557
01:19:46,801 --> 01:19:50,100
I've shown you the same slide before, before a hurricane,

1558
01:19:50,100 --> 01:19:54,330
and basically they're all red showing we've made those pre-storm operations.

1559
01:19:54,330 --> 01:19:57,167
So we can pivot one way or the other to make get ready for a

1560
01:19:57,167 --> 01:20:01,670
storm event if one, you know, it happens to threaten us again.

1561
01:20:01,670 --> 01:20:04,601
And then looking to the north, the corkscrew watershed

1562
01:20:04,601 --> 01:20:08,201
area, this place is exceptionally, it

1563
01:20:08,367 --> 01:20:09,701
appears to be exceptionally dry.

1564
01:20:09,701 --> 01:20:13,701
All of our groundwater, our surface water levels there are below the 10th percentile.

1565
01:20:13,701 --> 01:20:17,734
So very dry, and you don't have to take just the color for it.

1566
01:20:17,734 --> 01:20:22,334
We went out and took some pictures of what that situation actually looks like.

1567
01:20:22,334 --> 01:20:24,634
This is our cork 3 structure.

1568
01:20:24,634 --> 01:20:27,367
That's on the north end of our canal.

1569
01:20:27,367 --> 01:20:30,434
And this is the roadside ditch that runs along

1570
01:20:30,434 --> 01:20:32,400
the Shady Hollow Boulevard.

1571
01:20:32,400 --> 01:20:35,834
The Cork 3 structure is this concrete structure here.

1572
01:20:35,834 --> 01:20:39,000
This is normally completely full and there's four, 5

1573
01:20:39,000 --> 01:20:42,300
more feet of water sitting inside of this canal, and

1574
01:20:42,300 --> 01:20:45,234
then there's water coming into this as well that we have to move through.

1575
01:20:45,234 --> 01:20:46,634
That is not the case this year.

1576
01:20:46,634 --> 01:20:49,667
You can see how dry, everything really is out there.

1577
01:20:49,667 --> 01:20:52,670
So very, very unusual.

1578
01:20:52,734 --> 01:20:55,601
And then this is just to the east of there, cork two.

1579
01:20:55,601 --> 01:20:58,667
This is, um, on the other, just as you come

1580
01:20:58,667 --> 01:21:01,601
off of a Mockley road onto Shady Hollow Boulevard.

1581
01:21:01,601 --> 01:21:03,330
The cork 2 structure here.

1582
01:21:03,330 --> 01:21:06,400
You can see the water lines and how much room there is.

1583
01:21:06,400 --> 01:21:09,400
This is three, 3.5 feet that we still need to fill

1584
01:21:09,400 --> 01:21:12,767
up before we even start to think about discharging water in

1585
01:21:12,767 --> 01:21:15,934
a routine, you know, case and routine operation.

1586
01:21:15,934 --> 01:21:19,100
So we still have a lot of storage capacity left in the system, which

1587
01:21:19,100 --> 01:21:22,167
is why it's so comfortable that we can, you know, be able to conserve

1588
01:21:22,167 --> 01:21:25,167
water, since we have so much storage left, we're able to hold more

1589
01:21:25,167 --> 01:21:28,167
water, um, where we can because we know we have

1590
01:21:28,167 --> 01:21:32,534
baseline capacity in the system because we're not flowing anything today.

1591
01:21:32,534 --> 01:21:35,534
Lisa and talked about the

1592
01:21:35,634 --> 01:21:37,634
Bird Rookery Boardwalk.

1593
01:21:37,634 --> 01:21:40,801
This is just by there, that we have a stage recorder just to the east of

1594
01:21:40,801 --> 01:21:41,868
where the trailhead is.

1595
01:21:41,868 --> 01:21:45,434
And these are some pictures of what that area kind of looks like.

1596
01:21:45,434 --> 01:21:48,601
You can kind of see the, I tried to pick

1597
01:21:48,601 --> 01:21:51,667
out the normal water surface where you would expect it to

1598
01:21:51,667 --> 01:21:55,534
be this time of year in the swamp area, but it's completely bone dry.

1599
01:21:55,534 --> 01:21:57,767
I mean, you can, there's you could walk out there.

1600
01:21:57,767 --> 01:21:59,267
That's very abnormal.

1601
01:21:59,267 --> 01:22:02,801
It tells me, again, there's lots of storage available upstream

1602
01:22:02,801 --> 01:22:06,334
in our headwater for flood control, which basically

1603
01:22:06,334 --> 01:22:10,000
lets us make sure that we can do water conservation operations

1604
01:22:10,000 --> 01:22:15,934
correctly and not sure, you know, make sure we're not putting anything at risk.

1605
01:22:15,934 --> 01:22:19,167
Looking forward, um, the seasonal outlook.

1606
01:22:19,167 --> 01:22:22,868
So right now, we're kind of in this drier than normal scenario.

1607
01:22:22,868 --> 01:22:25,100
September kind of looks the same thing.

1608
01:22:25,100 --> 01:22:28,100
I'm sure people have heard the El Nino and Super El

1609
01:22:28,100 --> 01:22:29,834
Nino things in the news and all that.

1610
01:22:29,834 --> 01:22:33,434
The way it affects us is in our dry season.

1611
01:22:33,434 --> 01:22:36,434
We get more rainfall, that time of year.

1612
01:22:36,434 --> 01:22:39,734
Um, you know, through November through February

1613
01:22:39,734 --> 01:22:40,801
time frame.

1614
01:22:40,801 --> 01:22:42,234
I think I've talked about that in the past.

1615
01:22:42,234 --> 01:22:45,367
It doesn't mean it's a June type event, but it does mean

1616
01:22:45,367 --> 01:22:48,400
that we have more than average rainfall that we're expecting.

1617
01:22:48,400 --> 01:22:51,901
So, hopefully we can get a little bit of rain to help offset

1618
01:22:51,901 --> 01:22:55,133
some of the dry conditions we've got over the summer and

1619
01:22:55,133 --> 01:22:59,801
help get us through the next dry season without anything, anything major.

1620
01:22:59,801 --> 01:23:00,934
In the short term.

1621
01:23:00,934 --> 01:23:02,934
Here's our weather outlook.

1622
01:23:02,934 --> 01:23:05,670
This is already out of date.

1623
01:23:05,670 --> 01:23:08,200
The Tropical Storm Dolly has now longer a tropical storm.

1624
01:23:08,200 --> 01:23:09,801
It was off to the east.

1625
01:23:09,801 --> 01:23:12,167
It's a remnant now and is expected to dissipate.

1626
01:23:12,167 --> 01:23:13,334
you know, it's already dissipated.

1627
01:23:13,334 --> 01:23:17,434
So it'll continue to track up towards this path here.

1628
01:23:17,434 --> 01:23:21,133
And then it brings some beneficial rain to the Caribbean, but it's

1629
01:23:21,133 --> 01:23:24,133
not opposing at risk or anything at this point, but we'll keep our eye on it

1630
01:23:24,133 --> 01:23:27,267
and be able to make adjustments as we need to.

1631
01:23:27,267 --> 01:23:30,300
In the short term, the forecast over here, this is the

1632
01:23:30,300 --> 01:23:31,467
7 day forecast.

1633
01:23:31,467 --> 01:23:34,434
This tells me we're basically gonna go back

1634
01:23:34,434 --> 01:23:37,934
to maybe more of a typical rainy season, at least for the next week.

1635
01:23:37,934 --> 01:23:41,167
This tells us we're going to get about 2 inches over the next week,

1636
01:23:41,167 --> 01:23:44,334
which is a good thing, but also that's only average.

1637
01:23:44,334 --> 01:23:46,133
It's not going to help us make up.

1638
01:23:46,133 --> 01:23:50,000
It's gonna keep us from losing more ground as far as the rainfall of that facet.

1639
01:23:50,000 --> 01:23:53,334
And then I did talk about how the monthly outlook or

1640
01:23:53,334 --> 01:23:57,234
the seasonal outlook going forward and down and below.

1641
01:23:57,234 --> 01:24:00,234
This is you've got our new tool that

1642
01:24:00,234 --> 01:24:03,267
our meteorologist has helped us or put together for us, but

1643
01:24:03,267 --> 01:24:06,801
this gives us an outlook of kind of what we would expect looking forward in time.

1644
01:24:06,801 --> 01:24:09,634
You can see September, October, November, et cetera.

1645
01:24:09,634 --> 01:24:12,634
But the thing, don't pay too much attention on the decimal all the

1646
01:24:12,634 --> 01:24:16,167
way out to the 100th point, but the bigger numbers here,

1647
01:24:16,167 --> 01:24:17,534
five, three, 4 inches.

1648
01:24:17,534 --> 01:24:20,767
Those are, you know, two, 3 times what we would normally see in

1649
01:24:20,767 --> 01:24:24,334
those months, but they're not June type rainfalls.

1650
01:24:24,334 --> 01:24:25,167
They're not 10 inches.

1651
01:24:25,167 --> 01:24:29,367
So it's not anything that may really make up that much deficit.

1652
01:24:29,367 --> 01:24:32,601
It might just help us keep the, you know, keep us from receding down where

1653
01:24:32,601 --> 01:24:36,667
we normally would, um, the normal recession you would see at that time of year.

1654
01:24:36,667 --> 01:24:39,667
So this would be beneficial rainfall given how dry

1655
01:24:39,667 --> 01:24:42,868
we are at this point in time.

1656
01:24:42,868 --> 01:24:46,334
And with that, I will close with this picture

1657
01:24:46,334 --> 01:24:51,534
of another fairly low looking canal in the Cocahachie area.

1658
01:24:51,534 --> 01:24:52,901
Very interesting, Brad.

1659
01:24:52,901 --> 01:24:54,330
thank you for your presentation

1660
01:24:54,330 --> 01:24:55,734
questions from the board.

1661
01:24:55,734 --> 01:24:57,167
Okay, Mr. Hill.

1662
01:24:57,167 --> 01:24:58,901
All right, Brad.

1663
01:24:58,901 --> 01:25:01,467
I'm not going to ask you how you start water.

1664
01:25:01,467 --> 01:25:03,334
flowing from the skies.

1665
01:25:03,334 --> 01:25:08,267
I just checked my radar app and it's not changing today.

1666
01:25:08,267 --> 01:25:12,334
slide eight, it was kind of interesting,

1667
01:25:12,334 --> 01:25:16,400
where you look at the, um, yeah,

1668
01:25:16,400 --> 01:25:19,901
on the upper right, um, slide, yeah.

1669
01:25:19,901 --> 01:25:23,367
But I was wondering, is it stops at 41.

1670
01:25:23,367 --> 01:25:26,601
Is it possible to have a take a look at that throughout

1671
01:25:26,601 --> 01:25:29,100
into the 10,000 islands to

1672
01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:33,734
see what water seeps into the estuary?

1673
01:25:33,734 --> 01:25:36,901
So we drew the line at 41 because the

1674
01:25:36,901 --> 01:25:38,834
LIDAR that this is based on.

1675
01:25:38,834 --> 01:25:42,367
So it's based off basically our well network versus

1676
01:25:42,367 --> 01:25:45,834
LIDAR and the LIDAR gets less effective, less accurate

1677
01:25:45,834 --> 01:25:48,834
as you get into the wet wet areas, and so we

1678
01:25:48,834 --> 01:25:50,634
cut it off there for that for that kind of reason.

1679
01:25:50,634 --> 01:25:54,100
And it looks like that the blue spots, which I believe,

1680
01:25:54,100 --> 01:25:56,100
suggests adequate water.

1681
01:25:56,567 --> 01:25:59,801
That also tied out with your with your rainfall.

1682
01:25:59,801 --> 01:26:00,234
Correct.

1683
01:26:00,234 --> 01:26:03,701
And that was kind of interesting in that area.

1684
01:26:03,701 --> 01:26:06,801
Why it was just, do you have any thesis

1685
01:26:06,801 --> 01:26:09,868
as to why we're getting rain in that area and

1686
01:26:09,868 --> 01:26:11,000
not in other areas?

1687
01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:13,100
It was, I mean, it's just random?

1688
01:26:13,100 --> 01:26:14,367
Yeah, kind of.

1689
01:26:14,367 --> 01:26:16,901
I mean, it just depends on where it falls that particular day.

1690
01:26:16,901 --> 01:26:20,133
I wish it would fall a little bit more, but yes,

1691
01:26:20,133 --> 01:26:21,200
yes.

1692
01:26:21,200 --> 01:26:22,234
Good.

1693
01:26:22,234 --> 01:26:23,501
Thank you.

1694
01:26:23,501 --> 01:26:25,200
Miss Smith.

1695
01:26:25,200 --> 01:26:28,330
I like your new reports are much more clear.

1696
01:26:28,330 --> 01:26:29,100
Is that you?

1697
01:26:29,100 --> 01:26:30,300
Did you do that?

1698
01:26:30,300 --> 01:26:31,567
Oh, it's software.

1699
01:26:31,567 --> 01:26:32,534
Okay.

1700
01:26:32,534 --> 01:26:35,534
So Mr. Eckstein came in, which

1701
01:26:35,534 --> 01:26:39,367
I love the public coming in and asking questions and it's very specific.

1702
01:26:39,367 --> 01:26:46,200
I'm assuming you're going to be pretty much answering those questions.

1703
01:26:46,200 --> 01:26:47,701
So I have one.

1704
01:26:47,701 --> 01:26:51,167
If you are not, if you're going to do what he kind

1705
01:26:51,167 --> 01:26:53,934
of is asking me to do is kind of like release those levels.

1706
01:26:53,934 --> 01:26:56,267
What does that do?

1707
01:26:56,267 --> 01:26:57,701
In this in this drought.

1708
01:26:57,701 --> 01:27:00,701
So if we were, If we were

1709
01:27:00,701 --> 01:27:03,834
to lower levels at this point, the water levels would respond

1710
01:27:03,834 --> 01:27:06,801
quickly and drain the surficial

1711
01:27:06,801 --> 01:27:09,868
groundwater that's surrounding everything around that, which

1712
01:27:09,868 --> 01:27:13,467
are below the 10th percentile for this time of year, I checked our water,

1713
01:27:13,467 --> 01:27:16,934
groundwater level conditions just a few minutes ago, and

1714
01:27:16,934 --> 01:27:20,133
most of the, all of the surficial wells on the lower west

1715
01:27:20,133 --> 01:27:22,100
coast or below the 10th percentile.

1716
01:27:22,100 --> 01:27:24,334
So it would only start to affect those even more.

1717
01:27:24,334 --> 01:27:26,901
That's kind of what's helping hold those levels up.

1718
01:27:26,901 --> 01:27:30,000
Are those canal levels and our water control structures

1719
01:27:30,000 --> 01:27:33,000
are helping that along with some of the secondary systems.

1720
01:27:33,000 --> 01:27:34,434
So they'll open those up right now.

1721
01:27:34,434 --> 01:27:37,701
You'll get one flush of water out, and

1722
01:27:37,701 --> 01:27:39,734
then the water would be, would be gone.

1723
01:27:39,734 --> 01:27:43,330
So short term effect, long term, um,

1724
01:27:43,330 --> 01:27:44,634
more damage.

1725
01:27:44,634 --> 01:27:46,133
Okay, interesting.

1726
01:27:46,133 --> 01:27:49,868
The other question was just to follow up on the solar.

1727
01:27:49,868 --> 01:27:51,868
Do we have?

1728
01:27:52,601 --> 01:27:54,601
Thank you, Lisa.

1729
01:27:56,300 --> 01:27:58,133
So the solar that we have.

1730
01:27:58,133 --> 01:28:01,133
It's basically it, we have a lot of STA sites and

1731
01:28:01,133 --> 01:28:03,234
areas where there's not commercial power readily available.

1732
01:28:03,234 --> 01:28:06,567
So the solar panels are the primary source,

1733
01:28:06,567 --> 01:28:09,767
to keep the batteries charged, so they keep a battery charge for

1734
01:28:09,767 --> 01:28:11,968
our monitoring wells, like the ones up in bird rookery.

1735
01:28:11,968 --> 01:28:13,834
There's not a power pole sitting right there.

1736
01:28:13,834 --> 01:28:16,467
So that's what the solar power, the solar panels are for.

1737
01:28:16,467 --> 01:28:17,801
They keep the batteries charged.

1738
01:28:17,801 --> 01:28:20,901
And they've gone, our skated team's gone through and upgraded those

1739
01:28:20,901 --> 01:28:23,968
over the last 2 years to make sure that we're

1740
01:28:23,968 --> 01:28:26,670
more resilient, so we're on cloudy days.

1741
01:28:26,670 --> 01:28:28,501
when we have hurricanes, things like that where the sun doesn't come out.

1742
01:28:28,501 --> 01:28:31,801
We don't lose that battery power, so we still have that information available.

1743
01:28:31,801 --> 01:28:35,100
But as far as control structures, no, those

1744
01:28:35,100 --> 01:28:38,100
have commercial power or some sort of backup generator, something

1745
01:28:38,100 --> 01:28:40,734
of that effect that's more resilient than just solar power.

1746
01:28:40,734 --> 01:28:43,734
Okay, so where it's effective, resilient,

1747
01:28:43,734 --> 01:28:48,767
we'll have solar, if not, we'll use a traditional grid.

1748
01:28:48,767 --> 01:28:49,434
Right.

1749
01:28:49,434 --> 01:28:50,934
And even then, we have a back.

1750
01:28:50,934 --> 01:28:54,100
So like the upgrades that the field station was doing at Cocoa 3,

1751
01:28:54,100 --> 01:28:57,100
they have commercial power and backup

1752
01:28:57,100 --> 01:29:00,100
generator, but the solar power helps keep things still online

1753
01:29:00,100 --> 01:29:01,734
if something goes wrong with the other things.

1754
01:29:01,734 --> 01:29:04,701
So we're triple redundant almost.

1755
01:29:04,701 --> 01:29:05,434
Okay, understood.

1756
01:29:05,434 --> 01:29:05,868
Thank you.

1757
01:29:05,868 --> 01:29:07,868
Appreciate it.

1758
01:29:08,200 --> 01:29:09,267
Thank you, Miss Smith.

1759
01:29:09,267 --> 01:29:10,467
Okay, thank you, Brad.

1760
01:29:10,467 --> 01:29:11,601
I don't see any other questions.

1761
01:29:11,601 --> 01:29:12,467
Sorry, thank you.

1762
01:29:12,467 --> 01:29:14,267
Appreciate it.

1763
01:29:14,267 --> 01:29:20,267
Next item is the monthly financial report with Candida Heater.

1764
01:29:23,634 --> 01:29:25,567
Thank you, Madam Chair.

1765
01:29:25,567 --> 01:29:28,567
The monthly financial report, um, that is

1766
01:29:28,567 --> 01:29:31,634
in your package today, um, that I'd like to brief you

1767
01:29:31,634 --> 01:29:34,634
on is through June 30th.

1768
01:29:35,767 --> 01:29:38,934
So thus far, we have collected

1769
01:29:38,934 --> 01:29:40,934
$21.8 million.

1770
01:29:42,701 --> 01:29:45,701
You had budgeted for recurring 17.2.2.

1771
01:29:46,868 --> 01:29:50,400
The reason for the additional funding

1772
01:29:50,400 --> 01:29:53,400
is, as mentioned previously, is

1773
01:29:53,934 --> 01:29:56,267
related to the agreement.

1774
01:29:56,267 --> 01:30:00,330
We call your county, um, and schedule to

1775
01:30:00,330 --> 01:30:03,334
submit funding to the to the basin

1776
01:30:03,334 --> 01:30:05,834
for the Gordon and Palm River.

1777
01:30:05,834 --> 01:30:09,767
So that is the increase above what was budgeted.

1778
01:30:09,767 --> 01:30:13,334
You have collected all of your abalorum

1779
01:30:13,334 --> 01:30:15,334
funding as projected.

1780
01:30:16,767 --> 01:30:20,534
The month of June is typically when

1781
01:30:20,534 --> 01:30:24,734
we do collect all of our admalorum.

1782
01:30:24,868 --> 01:30:27,868
Um, expenditures, we have expended $14.8

1783
01:30:30,200 --> 01:30:32,600
million, um, from last

1784
01:30:33,367 --> 01:30:36,367
month, May to June, we spent

1785
01:30:36,367 --> 01:30:38,367
$25000000 and that's,

1786
01:30:39,601 --> 01:30:42,767
um, related to the tower, payments for the tower.

1787
01:30:42,767 --> 01:30:47,634
Right now, you do have a fairly large balance.

1788
01:30:47,634 --> 01:30:50,701
Um, within your operations and maintenance program

1789
01:30:50,701 --> 01:30:53,101
of about uh, $12 million.

1790
01:30:53,934 --> 01:30:57,467
That is made up of your $2000000

1791
01:30:57,467 --> 01:31:01,467
emergency reserves, which we hope we don't use, and it will stay available.

1792
01:31:01,467 --> 01:31:04,467
Um, as well as uh,

1793
01:31:04,467 --> 01:31:07,601
staff is uh, holding funding there to cover

1794
01:31:07,601 --> 01:31:10,100
uh, the I 75 Weir

1795
01:31:10,968 --> 01:31:16,701
2 when the bids come in and they come in on Tuesday.

1796
01:31:16,701 --> 01:31:19,834
In comparison to this time last year,

1797
01:31:19,834 --> 01:31:22,767
so June of this time last year.

1798
01:31:22,767 --> 01:31:25,767
Um, comparison in revenues last

1799
01:31:25,934 --> 01:31:29,534
year, you were at $20, uh, $2 million,

1800
01:31:29,667 --> 01:31:32,534
so you're about 150000000 in collections in revenue.

1801
01:31:32,534 --> 01:31:35,834
Um, that is related to the Avalorm,

1802
01:31:35,834 --> 01:31:38,834
uh, tax revenue, as well as some of

1803
01:31:38,834 --> 01:31:40,267
your Picayune operations.

1804
01:31:40,267 --> 01:31:43,968
You've received a little more revenues in

1805
01:31:43,968 --> 01:31:47,167
intergovernmental because of picking from the Corps of Engineers,

1806
01:31:47,167 --> 01:31:49,167
expenditures.

1807
01:31:49,634 --> 01:31:52,968
This time last year, you were at about 12000000

1808
01:31:52,968 --> 01:31:54,167
this year at 14.

1809
01:31:54,167 --> 01:31:57,167
It's about $2000000 higher, and that's because of the

1810
01:31:57,167 --> 01:31:59,701
tower paying out and finishing that project.

1811
01:31:59,701 --> 01:32:03,330
So, um, everything looks very, um,

1812
01:32:03,330 --> 01:32:06,400
financially stable, um, for the for the basin,

1813
01:32:06,400 --> 01:32:09,167
and uh, that concludes my report.

1814
01:32:09,167 --> 01:32:09,868
Thank you.

1815
01:32:09,868 --> 01:32:12,701
Questions for candy on the monthly report.

1816
01:32:12,701 --> 01:32:13,634
I don't see any questions.

1817
01:32:13,634 --> 01:32:14,501
Thank you.

1818
01:32:14,501 --> 01:32:16,234
Thank you.

1819
01:32:16,234 --> 01:32:19,767
All right, that brings us to the 2nd public comment

1820
01:32:19,767 --> 01:32:21,670
portion of the meeting.

1821
01:32:21,670 --> 01:32:24,133
Again, this is another chance for the members of the public

1822
01:32:24,133 --> 01:32:27,734
to speak on anything that was not covered in the agenda.

1823
01:32:27,734 --> 01:32:30,267
Troy, is there any public comments?

1824
01:32:30,267 --> 01:32:32,834
Madam Chair, we have none at this time.

1825
01:32:32,834 --> 01:32:36,534
All right, then that brings us to the final board comment.

1826
01:32:36,534 --> 01:32:39,634
And we'll go ahead and start with Miss Smith.

1827
01:32:39,634 --> 01:32:41,467
I have none.

1828
01:32:41,467 --> 01:32:43,434
Okay, we'll go to Mr. Romano.

1829
01:32:43,434 --> 01:32:45,133
have none.

1830
01:32:45,133 --> 01:32:46,567
Ms. Leinhardt?

1831
01:32:46,567 --> 01:32:49,868
I guess the only comment I can offer is as we listen to

1832
01:32:49,868 --> 01:32:53,330
the different field station reports and the crew reports

1833
01:32:53,330 --> 01:32:56,200
as an example, it's very interesting to see the

1834
01:32:56,200 --> 01:32:59,200
work in-house to control costs.

1835
01:32:59,400 --> 01:33:02,434
So it's very much appreciated, and I think relevant to bring up

1836
01:33:02,434 --> 01:33:06,267
today as we approved a tax rate and budget for our board.

1837
01:33:06,267 --> 01:33:06,801
So thank you.

1838
01:33:06,801 --> 01:33:08,501
Well said, thank you.

1839
01:33:08,501 --> 01:33:10,434
Mr. Hill?

1840
01:33:10,434 --> 01:33:12,400
I got something for you.

1841
01:33:12,400 --> 01:33:15,634
Michelle was made some comments about solar,

1842
01:33:15,634 --> 01:33:18,267
and some of you may or may not know what I do for a living.

1843
01:33:18,267 --> 01:33:21,267
I run an investment firm, and we have a significant

1844
01:33:21,267 --> 01:33:24,434
holding in a company called Next Power, which

1845
01:33:24,434 --> 01:33:27,434
is the world's largest company in the

1846
01:33:27,434 --> 01:33:30,567
in the adjacent into the solar

1847
01:33:30,567 --> 01:33:33,834
business, where they provide the equipment

1848
01:33:33,834 --> 01:33:37,334
for a solar panel to transverse as

1849
01:33:37,334 --> 01:33:40,133
the sun is moving through the sky during the course of the day.

1850
01:33:40,133 --> 01:33:43,133
Their business isn't putting

1851
01:33:43,434 --> 01:33:45,734
a couple solar panels on top of one of our buildings.

1852
01:33:45,734 --> 01:33:49,501
They do utility scale at a very large base.

1853
01:33:49,501 --> 01:33:52,501
And it's a business

1854
01:33:52,601 --> 01:33:56,300
that's growing rapidly due to the needs for energy.

1855
01:33:56,300 --> 01:33:59,334
And the thing that I've seen in a for

1856
01:33:59,334 --> 01:34:02,501
a while is that we have a significant area of open

1857
01:34:02,501 --> 01:34:05,501
territory where this could come into

1858
01:34:05,501 --> 01:34:07,601
play in the spreader basins.

1859
01:34:07,601 --> 01:34:11,133
And you're just like, how can we put solar panels that's going to get wet?

1860
01:34:11,133 --> 01:34:14,667
Well, here's where the connection comes with their equipment.

1861
01:34:14,667 --> 01:34:18,267
They are working with farms that

1862
01:34:18,634 --> 01:34:22,534
elevate the solar panels above the ground.

1863
01:34:22,534 --> 01:34:25,567
So you see, if you go on their website,

1864
01:34:25,567 --> 01:34:28,567
you see photos of cattle,

1865
01:34:29,901 --> 01:34:32,301
either grazing animals, in

1866
01:34:34,200 --> 01:34:39,200
some areas of growing crops all underneath the solar panels.

1867
01:34:39,200 --> 01:34:41,934
And those solar panels move through the course of the day.

1868
01:34:41,934 --> 01:34:44,634
And since candy's just about finished with a budget.

1869
01:34:44,634 --> 01:34:46,670
Another month or so she'll be finished.

1870
01:34:46,670 --> 01:34:49,267
She probably doesn't have much to do, but I think this will be a huge Apple

1871
01:34:49,267 --> 01:34:53,200
project to take up her time in case she gets bored.

1872
01:34:53,200 --> 01:34:56,734
I think it's something to start taking a look at.

1873
01:34:56,734 --> 01:34:58,534
And what could we do with the power?

1874
01:34:58,534 --> 01:35:02,330
Obviously, adjacent to the solar production

1875
01:35:02,330 --> 01:35:05,330
of energy comes batteries, huge

1876
01:35:05,734 --> 01:35:09,167
industrial scale batteries to store power

1877
01:35:09,167 --> 01:35:10,234
until needed.

1878
01:35:10,234 --> 01:35:13,234
And then when it's, if it's not needed, I'm sure there could be

1879
01:35:13,234 --> 01:35:16,901
a connection to the grid to sell it to some entity, FPNL,

1880
01:35:16,901 --> 01:35:20,467
obviously, would be the 1st thought.

1881
01:35:20,467 --> 01:35:23,601
It's, I mean, this is going to be 25,

1882
01:35:23,601 --> 01:35:26,601
$50000000 type of project, but it could be

1883
01:35:26,601 --> 01:35:31,401
a significant source of revenue for the basin.

1884
01:35:32,501 --> 01:35:35,834
That's what I got for you to think about.

1885
01:35:35,834 --> 01:35:37,400
Vice chair McLeod?

1886
01:35:37,400 --> 01:35:39,330
Vice Chair McCLough?

1887
01:35:39,330 --> 01:35:40,801
Thank you for that, Andy.

1888
01:35:40,801 --> 01:35:42,601
for me today.

1889
01:35:42,601 --> 01:35:47,334
Just to show you how engaged Candy has been.

1890
01:35:47,334 --> 01:35:50,634
If you're interested in reading this, this is available online,

1891
01:35:50,634 --> 01:35:54,267
but this is the budget for the district as a whole.

1892
01:35:54,267 --> 01:35:57,300
And so Candy Hat and her

1893
01:35:57,300 --> 01:36:00,467
team, Julie Matock, who really helps the basin,

1894
01:36:00,467 --> 01:36:02,334
does a great job for us.

1895
01:36:02,334 --> 01:36:05,367
They are leaning forward here at this point in the year.

1896
01:36:05,367 --> 01:36:09,330
getting all these budgets submitted to Tallahassee.

1897
01:36:09,330 --> 01:36:12,330
And with everything that they

1898
01:36:12,330 --> 01:36:14,534
do, that's a huge responsibility.

1899
01:36:14,534 --> 01:36:17,534
So thank you for all you do for the basin, and

1900
01:36:17,534 --> 01:36:20,601
also, I'll take this opportunity to thank you for everything

1901
01:36:20,601 --> 01:36:24,634
you do for the district to make that, make that work for us.

1902
01:36:24,634 --> 01:36:27,634
Um, couple comments on solar.

1903
01:36:28,234 --> 01:36:30,300
This is not a new technology.

1904
01:36:30,300 --> 01:36:33,734
It's just getting some innovative applications.

1905
01:36:33,734 --> 01:36:36,801
One of the things that I looked

1906
01:36:36,801 --> 01:36:39,801
at many years ago when I was on city council was the

1907
01:36:39,801 --> 01:36:43,133
fact that how could we incorporate solar to

1908
01:36:43,133 --> 01:36:46,267
minimize the cost of our or our utility cost.

1909
01:36:46,267 --> 01:36:49,267
And one of the things you can do is

1910
01:36:49,267 --> 01:36:52,267
on the storage tanks, you can apply solar panels, and then

1911
01:36:52,267 --> 01:36:55,234
you can take off some of those costs from your operations

1912
01:36:55,234 --> 01:36:57,167
from utilities.

1913
01:36:57,167 --> 01:37:00,330
You know, you don't need to just float it on a lake either.

1914
01:37:00,330 --> 01:37:02,801
You can also float solar panels on a lake.

1915
01:37:02,801 --> 01:37:07,300
And you bring some, some, um, uh, benefits from that.

1916
01:37:07,300 --> 01:37:10,968
But it's more complicated than just the technologies available.

1917
01:37:10,968 --> 01:37:14,670
And so that might be something for us to

1918
01:37:14,670 --> 01:37:17,601
see if we can maybe find a partner, that we could do a demonstration

1919
01:37:17,601 --> 01:37:20,601
project at no cost to the taxpayers to see if we

1920
01:37:20,601 --> 01:37:22,701
could have some application for it.

1921
01:37:22,701 --> 01:37:25,701
But, um, you know, that, I'll leave that with

1922
01:37:25,701 --> 01:37:28,801
Lisa and the staff, um, from time to

1923
01:37:28,801 --> 01:37:30,300
time at the district level.

1924
01:37:30,300 --> 01:37:33,367
We look at innovative technologies for folks to come to

1925
01:37:33,367 --> 01:37:36,534
us and give us ideas on ways that they can, the

1926
01:37:36,534 --> 01:37:38,767
benefit and in the partnership.

1927
01:37:38,767 --> 01:37:41,834
So I'll leave it at that and see.

1928
01:37:41,834 --> 01:37:43,734
But solar is not a new technology.

1929
01:37:43,734 --> 01:37:46,868
It just needs greater application and storage

1930
01:37:46,868 --> 01:37:48,767
like you said, Andy, with the batteries.

1931
01:37:48,767 --> 01:37:51,767
you know, from that aspect.

1932
01:37:52,701 --> 01:37:54,701
A couple of other items.

1933
01:37:54,701 --> 01:37:57,767
One, I want to congratulate and welcome Jacob,

1934
01:37:57,767 --> 01:38:00,868
who's joined the basin team as one of our engineers

1935
01:38:00,868 --> 01:38:02,868
and water managers.

1936
01:38:03,400 --> 01:38:06,167
So thank you for those who haven't met Jacob.

1937
01:38:06,167 --> 01:38:06,868
He's here today.

1938
01:38:06,868 --> 01:38:11,901
And feel free to meet him before the end of the meeting.

1939
01:38:11,901 --> 01:38:15,634
Also, I want to thank Derek Brown, our basin attorney.

1940
01:38:15,634 --> 01:38:18,934
He sits here every meeting, right to my left,

1941
01:38:18,934 --> 01:38:22,167
down here next to Lisa, Keeler, our basin administrator,

1942
01:38:22,167 --> 01:38:25,834
and he does an incredible job behind the scenes for us.

1943
01:38:25,834 --> 01:38:28,868
And Derek, I need to give you a

1944
01:38:28,868 --> 01:38:31,934
shout out because you've just always there for

1945
01:38:31,934 --> 01:38:35,330
us, no matter what we need, and it's very,

1946
01:38:35,330 --> 01:38:38,234
very helpful to have you hear all the meetings with us as well.

1947
01:38:38,234 --> 01:38:42,670
So a big shout out to you today and a thank you.

1948
01:38:42,670 --> 01:38:45,167
Also, I want to congratulate Michelle

1949
01:38:45,167 --> 01:38:47,334
on your vice chair for this coming year.

1950
01:38:47,334 --> 01:38:50,501
I look forward to seeing what you can do in

1951
01:38:50,501 --> 01:38:52,501
the chair and thank you for having my back.

1952
01:38:52,501 --> 01:38:54,701
That's the most important thing.

1953
01:38:54,701 --> 01:38:57,101
And cupcakes for all.

1954
01:38:57,234 --> 01:39:00,267
Don't forget, even our members of the

1955
01:39:00,267 --> 01:39:01,601
public who joined us today.

1956
01:39:01,601 --> 01:39:04,767
Feel free to join in in the cupcakes for our birthday

1957
01:39:04,767 --> 01:39:06,167
celebration.

1958
01:39:06,167 --> 01:39:09,267
I'll see you at our next meeting, which is Friday,

1959
01:39:09,267 --> 01:39:10,467
October 23rd.

1960
01:39:10,467 --> 01:39:12,467
We're adjourned.

1961
01:39:18,267 --> 01:39:20,267
call out my

1962
01:39:28,767 --> 01:39:30,767
in the