SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — The City of Satellite Beach and the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA) are partnering up to protect the Indian River Lagoon with vegetated buffers.

What You Need To Know

  • Earlier this year, the city installed its first vegetated buffer at Desoto Park

  • Buffers can help keep rainwater runoff pollutants out of waterways

  • ORCA researchers said vegetated buffers are helping to reduce high phosphate levels in local waterways

  • The city is matching up to $500 for canal-front residents who build vegetated buffers in their own backyards

Earlier this year, the city, ORCA researchers and community volunteer transformed 1,800 square feet of turf grass into a vegetated buffer at Desoto Park. The buffer, made up of more than 400 native Florida plants, helps to keep stormwater pollution from entering the city’s waterways, like the Indian River Lagoon. 

Runoff pollutants like pesticides, fertilizers, pet waste and more, can easily enter waterways during rainstorms — but vegetated buffers and buffered shorelines can help capture those pollutants. 

Veronica Cancio, a research assistant for ORCA, said buffers serve as both a physical and chemical barrier that can absorb nutrients and minimize pollution entering the water. 

“When there’s heavy rain and runoff, these plants are actually up taking those nutrients before they get into our waterways,” Cancio said.

Cancio and her team at ORCA have installed nine vegetated buffers across Central and South Florida to help protect the Indian River Lagoon. 

“We go out near adjacent waterways that may have just turf grass and we remove the turf grass,” Cancio said. “We plant native plants or Florida-friendly plants as a way to add a buffer between the runoff that might be coming in and the waterway.”

Prior to the buffer being installed at Desoto Park, Cancio and her team measured high levels of phosphates in the water.

“Although some levels of phosphate are expected to be seen in the environment. An unbalanced amount can lead to things like harmful algal blooms, which can then lead to seagrass decline,” Cancio said.

Since the installation of the vegetated buffer, Cancio said there’s been a noticeable reduction of phosphates in the water — both at Desoto Park and the other eight buffer locations ORCA has across the state. 

“We’re seeing that reduction in phosphates at all the sites,” Cancio said. “It’s something that’s really exciting to see because we are reducing the amount of phosphates that might be leading into our waterways just by adding a buffer.”

The City of Satellite Beach recently announced the creation of the “Vegetative Buffer Zone Plant Grant,” which matches up to $500 for canal-front residents who plant buffers in their own backyards. Applications for the grant are open and the grant is available until September of next year. 

Cancio said buffers are a simple way to protect the environment and that giving back to our waterways is what keeps her motivated every day. 

“I know the environment needs our help,” Cancio said. “And this is just a small way that I can put my part in the world and in the environment. So, it just makes me want to wake up every day and be a part of it.”

Reagan Ryan is a 2023 — 2024 Report for America Corps Member, covering the environment and climate across Central Florida for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.