The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is helping to support many Florida environmental jobs.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration received $167 million in federal economic stimulus money. The State of Florida will see a portion of that, which will be used for ecological projects, including 12,000 corals to be grown to expand reef populations in degraded areas. The projects, which will be overseen by the Nature Conservancy, will create 57 jobs.
Part of the funding will be used to help coral reefs along Florida’s southern coast and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Specifically, $3.3 million will help expand four existing nurseries of staghorn and elkhorn coral and establish two new coral nurseries, according to an article by the Miami Herald.
Those two types of coral have been designated as national threatened species, as they have been damaged by coral bleaching from increasing temperatures in the ocean, coral diseases, hurricane damage and ship groundings. But when healthy, the coral provide views for divers and snorkelers and shelter for food.
As another part of the funding, $4 million will be used to restore oyster beds in the Indian River Lagoon. Another $2.7 million will be used to remove dredged soil and restore 1,000 acres of tidal wetlands and coastal marsh around Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral as part of the Northeastern Florida Wetlands Restoration project. Finally, $750,000 will be used to restore 43 acres of fishing habitat near Tampa Bay as part of the Lost River Preserve.
Part of the goal of the federal stimulus plan is to create jobs and help the economy recovery, and it has done just that, especially throughout Florida. The ARRA has specifically created many new construction and green jobs.