Florida’s New Coastal Resilience Law Blocks Destructive Projects and Supercharges ‘Living Shorelines’

“SB302 Coastal Resiliency addresses these barriers by providing clearer frameworks for dune and wetland restoration, mangrove planting and protection, and native vegetation and seagrass projects,” Surfrider Florida Policy Manager Katie Bauman writes.

“These are not experimental ideas; they are proven tools that Florida must scale and replicate across the state,” decried Surfrider in its post on the news.

Florida’s coastline geography varies immensely, and as such will require a complex series of solutions and provisions by the state’s DEP, to be determined. 

There are dunes on beaches serving as buffers against flood and sea-level rise; there are wetlands—a single acre of which can store up to one million gallons of flood water; there are mangroves that absorb wave energy during hurricanes and prevent untold property damage; and there are various other lush, “living shorelines” that prevent erosion, adapt to sea-level rise, and crucially, provide for cost-effective protection from all of the above for coastal communities.

One such particular subject of concern is a hotly contested proposal for a mega-cruise port development in Manatee County, near Tampa Bay, the new law also bears language “prohibiting the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund from approving the dredging or filling of the submerged lands of the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve…”

As vague and open-ended as any bill of law, to wit.

The law also calls for state-sponsored provisions for “hybrid green-gray” resilience solutions, which, Surfrider explains, “incorporate engineered elements alongside nature-based approaches. Surfrider will monitor these provisions carefully to ensure that any hybrid methods do not open the door to extensive hard armoring of our coastlines.” 

In any case, with cautious optimism, Surfrider beats on: “With nature-based coastal resiliency now state law, Florida has taken a significant step forward in building resilient, nature-powered coastlines. Surfrider celebrates this victory and looks forward to the work ahead to ensure our communities, beaches, and coastal ecosystems continue to thrive for generations to come!”

More to follow, surely…