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Setting prescribed fires in controlled settings can reduce the risk of wildfires burning out of control. That’s why the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will be conducting prescribed burns June through September at the following Pasco County properties:

• Starkey Wilderness Preserve
• Cypress Creek Preserve
• Upper Hillsborough Preserve
• …

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Emergency Operations Center at Level 2 activation Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) officials are monitoring Tropical Storm Elsa and have raised the activation level of the District’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to Level 2 as of 10 a.m. July 4, 2021. The EOC provides direction regarding District activities before, during and after an emergency event. The District is continuing to monitor potential impacts from the storm that… Read more

At its June 9 meeting, the "Southwest Florida Water Management District's(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2011 (FY2011) millage rate of 0.2900 mill, which is 0.03 mill less than the current fiscal year. This is the fourth consecutive year the "Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board(Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board)":/about/basinboards/pinellas-anclote.php has lowered… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will hold an independent, scientific peer review of wetland-based criteria for use in establishing minimum wetland and lake levels beginning this month. A minimum level is the level of groundwater in an aquifer or the level of surface water at which further withdrawals would be significantly harmful to the water resources or ecology of the area. The review will be conducted by a three-member panel… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) is prohibiting campfires and other sources of open flames on District conservation lands in conjunction with numerous county burn bans and dry conditions. Lack of rainfall this spring has made grasses and other light vegetation extremely dry and volatile, increasing the potential for wildfires. Burning is thereby prohibited on these District properties with camping until sufficient rains occur and county burn bans… Read more

Community members who want to help protect the water resources in their area may apply online for a Community Education Grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.The overall goal of the "Community Education Grant":http://www.WaterMatters.org/communitygrants/ program is to actively engage and educate adults about water conservation, protection and preservation. The program is intended to motivate communities to get involved in protecting their water resources… Read more

District's Cooperative Funding Initiative to Continue In order to increase efficiency of operations and reduce costs, the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Governing Board approved a resolution today to merge the budgets of the District's eight Basin Boards into the Governing Board, while keeping a reduced Cooperative Funding Initiative to fund regional projects. The District's eight Basin Boards provided guidance for local programs and projects that were… Read more

  This October the District is collaborating with the Hillsborough River Watershed Alliance to raise watershed awareness by declaring Oct. 20–27 as Hillsborough River Watershed Awareness Week. The Hillsborough River originates in the Green Swamp and is approximately 54 miles long. Part of the river is designated as an Outstanding Florida Water. The Hillsborough River watershed encompasses approximately 950 square miles. The watershed is located within… Read more

An award-winning video produced by the Southwest Florida Water Management District will be featured on the Bay area public television station WUSF.“Bringing Back the Bay” is a 30-minute video that looks at the recovery of Tampa Bay and some of the challenges ahead. The improved status of Tampa Bay is the result of a cooperative effort among many agencies in the region.The video can be seen in the Bay area on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 9 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 3 at 12… Read more

Left: Maritza Rovira-Forino, Governing Board member and co-chair ex officio of the Hillsborough River Basin Board, joined students in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Right: Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the restoration project. In November, members of the District’s Governing Board and the Hillsborough County School Board joined Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Stewart Middle Magnet School students and faculty in celebrating a shoreline… Read more

Gene Schiller, deputy executive director; Elaine Kuligofski, human resources director; Steve Uebel, human resources manager; and Pam Baldwin, senior human resources generalist, are proud of the District’s distinction. The Southwest Florida Water Management District was recently honored, for the second year in a row, by the Pasco-Hernando Jobs and Education Partnership Regional Board, Inc., as one of the best places to work in Hernando County. “It is a… Read more

Setting prescribed fires in controlled settings can reduce the risk of wildfires burning out of control, as many Floridians witnessed during the state’s wildfire emergency in 2017. That’s why the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will be conducting prescribed burns January through March on Potts Preserve, Flying Eagle Preserve and Chassahowitzka River and Coastal Swamps in Citrus… Read more

Master’s students will get a chance to show the culmination of years of study and work when the District hosts the USF Professional Science Master’s in Geology Symposium. District employee Julie Zydek, a staff hydrogeologist, will be among those presenting a master’s project at the symposium. The event will be held at the District’s Tampa Office at 6 p.m. Nov. 29. This biannual event welcomes students, professionals and members of the public to highlight the… Read more

Setting prescribed fires in controlled settings can reduce the risk of wildfires burning out of control, as many Floridians witnessed during the state’s wildfire emergency in 2017. That’s why the Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will be conducting prescribed burns October through December on Potts… Read more

Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) officials have raised the activation level of the District’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to Level 1 as they monitor Tropical Depression Fred. The EOC provides direction regarding District activities during an emergency weather event. The District is evaluating potential impacts from the tropical depression that could occur throughout its 16-county region. District staff are operating structures in anticipation… Read more

Who's Who at the District At a time when most people often begin planning for their retirement, Betty Rushton was beginning her career in environmental science. “This is my second career,” said Rushton. “My first was a homemaker.” After raising four sons, Rushton went back to school at age 50 to finish her undergraduate degree in environmental studies at New College in Sarasota. But Rushton didn’t stop there, she continued on until she received her master’s in… Read more

Top: Marianne Korosy conducts her research on migrating birds. Bottom: Mary Barnwell, senior land management specialist, and Clay Black, senior professional engineer, assisted. In the early morning hours volunteers flushed birds out of the brush and into an awaiting net. But the birds didn’t stay in the nets long. They were carefully captured and banded in an effort to assist a University of Central Florida (UCF)… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ (District) deactivated the "Lower Hillsborough Flood Detention Area ":https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/pdf/2005_Lower_Hillsborough_FDA_LU-Mgmt_Plan.pdf (LHFDA) today, reopening Structure S-155 and allowing boat traffic to resume along that portion of the Hillsborough River. High water levels caused by recent heavy rains have receded, allowing the Hillsborough River to return to its… Read more

The "Southwest Florida Water Management District":http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ (District) is gathering information to improve identification of flood prone areas in western Marion County. Residents living in the Lake Stafford/Priest Prairie/West Marion watersheds are invited to attend an open house on Thursday, Aug. 20, beginning at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Dunnellon Public Library, located at 20351 Robinson Road in Dunnellon. District representatives… Read more

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) will hold a series of public workshops to gather feedback about the preliminary results of 19 model scenarios for the Withlacoochee River Watershed Initiative. These scenarios were evaluated to better understand how past or future changes may affect the Withlacoochee River and its surrounding watershed.The public is invited to provide input at any of five scheduled regional public information workshops. These… Read more