December 2023 EAC meeting features Marisa Carrozzo
Lynn Martin | Published on 12/29/2023
At our December meeting, our speaker was Marisa Carrozzo, Senior Coastal & Wildlife Program Manager with the National Parks Conservation Association’s (NCPA’s) Sun Coast Region.
Marisa came to tell us about NPCA and the Everglades Coalition annual Conference in January. NPCA’S mission is to protect and enhance National Parks for future generations. They are a watchdog organization and also take legal action when needed. There are 11 National Parks in Florida, four of these are in South Florida: Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Park (BCNP), Biscayne National Park and the Dry Tortugas National Park. We also have Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Believe it or not, BCNP is the most visited National Park in South Florida. Marissa is currently working on South Florida issues such as protecting BCNP against oil drilling, getting the Ghost Orchid on the endangered species list, and protecting and restoring the Everglades. In particular, NPCA is working on getting Burnett Oil to restore the damages caused from its seismic activities a few years ago. To date, the Company’s mitigation has been inadequate. Check out SaveBigCypress.org for loads of info.
Marisa discussed the Everglades Coalition (EVCO), which has 58 member organizations, including the LWVFL. EVCO has 3 main activities: developing/negotiating consensus positions concerning the Everglades, the Everglades Action Day when they meet with legislators in Tallahassee, and the EVCO annual conference—the 39th conference is happening next month in Bonita Springs.