Meeting Scheduled Monday April 17th at the Coastal Branch Library 1 - 4p

I'm in New Jersey for awhile and won't be able to come to the meeting. I'm interested in participating online, but what can I do? The last thing I heard about Deer Lake was that it was all fresh water. It wasn't really a coastal dune lake. When the outfall opens, water flows to the Gulf, but doesn't flow back in. The other info I got about dune lakes was that there were some in New Zealand, in Horowhenua. Web pages about them said that they were the only ones in the world. Wouldn't it be great if the coastal dune lakes of the world recognized and supported each other?

__________________
Caroling, www.wholeo.net

Hi,

It's good to hear from you even though your away from us - This is the real opportunity Phillip and see with the message board is that we can include more folks regardless of their current location. So thanks!

How can you help?

1. In our discussions we generally ask participants to provide us with their top concerns regarding the coastal dune lake we are focusing during the meeting.

2. Next we look for common themes or issues that overlap and with the group's permission combine where appropriate.

3. The issues are ranked and prioritized so that we can focus on those identified as top concerns for the community associated with the lake.

4. Finally, we work together to provide solutions and / or identify gaps in information required to provide solutions.

So that's the process that you can complete on your own and if we have this before the meeting we care share with others. If not then we can share here in the on-line discussion. A good place to start since we have time before the Deer Lake meeting is to give us your top three concerns (with why and some background), prioritize them and finally offer some potential solutions or help identify information missing that would help us find a solution. Go ahead and post it here - or email us. lsj@ufl.edu

You're right Deer Lake has more freshwater water influence than some of our other Coastal Dune Lakes in South Walton. There's still interaction most notably during storm events but there's also hydrologic interaction between the Sand and Gravel Aquifer and the Gulf both which help form Deer Lake and our other Coastal Dune Lakes. Depending on the distance from the Gulf some lakes will be "fresher" and other's will be "saltier".

As far as other similar Coastal Dune Lakes in the World it's an interesting investigation. If we were able to find some other areas, it would be nice to know about experiences in that part of the World. Here's some interesting information about coastal lakes in Oregon -- http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/siuslaw/recr.../geology.shtml

Whether these function as our lakes I'm not sure - I have heard reports regarding problems with digging a connections to the Ocean. Just the similarity in management issues is interesting and what we could learn from other experiences with similar situations. - It would neat to have a sister lake in another part of the world like we have sister cities.

Scott

__________________
L Scott Jackson
University of Florida Sea Grant Extension - IFAS
Okaloosa and Walton Counties

732 N 9th Street
DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433

850-865-0023

Deer Lake
Management Plan Meeting Synopsis
Monday 17, April 2006


I. Areas of Concern


Balancing pressure from development/Storm-water Runoff
• Concerned about overdevelopment
• More effective action on County part to protect the lake
• Accommodating BMP’s on potential north-south corridor
• Increased private use by new St. Joe development
• Ensuring outlet is not affected by new access point to beach
• Addressing increase storm-water runoff from new development

Defining the boundaries of Deer Lake
• Including Little Deer Lake
• Determining what is a Coastal Dune Lake

Water Quality
• Protecting habitat/wetlands for improved water quality and wildlife
• Protecting the valuable resource of Deer Lake
• Increasing scientific information for the entire watershed

Hurricane debris
• Removal of leftover debris from the outlet

II. Potential Solutions

Development/Storm-water Issues
• Enforcement of existing rules/regulations
• Look at storm-water plan on new developments
• Address educational opportunities for homeowner’s association
• Create sediment control project to address runoff from unpaved portion of Lakewood Drive
• Create storm-water control project to address runoff from 30-A
• Prohibit or limit future impervious surfaces

Define Coastal Dune Lake and background information for the lakes (education)
• Place informational kiosks to educate the public on the importance of the dune lakes at St. Joe’s sales office, St. Joe’s beach access bridge, Deer Lake State Park and other appropriate community points of interest
• Create a more inclusive definition of a Coastal Dune Lake in the Land Development Code; especially Little Deer Lake
• Establish baseline data through water quality monitoring program for Little Deer Lake
• Establish the nature of the connection between Deer Lake, Little Deer Lake, Lake Tresca and Eastern Lake
• Collect baseline information on wildlife and vegetation (terrestrial and aquatic)
• Utilize scientific information to develop more educated management policies


Hurricane Debris Removal
• Develop plan to promptly remove debris from the lake after a hurricane

The development around Little Deer Lake will be in front of the BCC this Tuesday.