County Hosts Lake Worth Lagoon Initiative Kick-off Boat Tour

January 23, 2009

	The crowd cheers as a rehabilitated Cooper's hawk takes flight to return to the Lake Worth Lagoon. « Previous | Next »

County Commissioners Jeff Koons, Karen Marcus and Shelley Vana, along with County Administrator Robert Weisman and staffers with the Department of Environmental Resources Management and Public Affairs, hosted a boat tour aboard the Majestic Princess on January 23 to kick off the Lake Worth Lagoon Initiative (LWLI).

The LWLI is a multiagency and stakeholder collaboration that provides support for increasing awareness of the Lake Worth Lagoon and its valuable resources; carrying out action plans and projects contained in the Lagoon Management Plan; organizing lagoon science symposiums; and awarding funding from the Lake Worth Lagoon Partnership Grant for enhancement and restoration projects.

Invited guests included officials with the South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the League of Cities, and a number of federal, state and local elected officials and business and education leaders.
Before the boat left the Lake Park Harbor Marina, Commissioner Koons emceed a short dockside ceremony, which included the release of a rehabilitated Cooper’s hawk from the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. The Cooper’s hawk is one of about 100 species of marine birds living in the lagoon.

Attendees then departed on a two-hour tour of the lagoon highlighting several key habitat and enhancement projects by Palm Beach County and its many partners.