Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) Partners with Coastal Communities to preserve our vital coastline
Since 2005 the Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) has provided all-inclusive educational programs that focus on Florida’s unique ecosystems and wildlife. Each program highlights the importance of outdoor ethics, safety, and environmental stewardship, all in a fun-filled learning atmosphere. YEA offers programs for school groups, youth groups, at-risk youth and people with special needs. YEA is committed to providing opportunities for youth and their families to connect to Florida’s outdoors and fostering a lifelong respect for our planet’s future. Recently, YEA has been focused on Florida’s beaches.
Florida’s beaches serve several important functions, each vital to maintaining the health of Florida’s economy and environment. The coastal sandy beach system is home to hundreds of plants and animals including several endangered or threatened species of sea turtles. Most of these species are dependent upon the beaches, dunes and near-shore waters for all or part of their lives. Beaches are used by both resident and migratory shorebirds for resting, foraging and nesting during the summer months.
Beach dune protection and restoration is a vital element in sustaining our fragile coastline. The dune system is our first line of defense against rising sea levels and storms because it acts as a buffer between the storm waves and coastal development. After seeing the damage caused by the 12-to-14-foot storm surge of Hurricane Sandy, it was obvious that areas with healthy dune systems, including sea oats, and other dune plants, fared much better than those that didn’t. . Up and down the coast, healthy dunes acted like soft sea walls made of sand and vegetation that -- even when flattened or breached -- still managed to protect many coastal communities by blunting the attack of surging waves and tides.
In 2013 the national non-profit organization “Keep America Beautiful” (KAB) and “Waste Management” (WM) together awarded a joint grant to our local “Keep Broward Beautiful” and YEA. This $10,000 “Think Green® Grant”, was one of ten “Think Green® Grants” awarded to KAB affiliates across the country,
YEA used the funds for a Dune Restoration Project at John U. Lloyd State Beach Park in Dania Beach. Broward County’s Natural Resources Planning and Management Division, the State of Florida Park Service and YEA teamed up with volunteers from local schools and businesses to implement the project. The initialbeach clean up resulted in the removal of trash and debris from the dunes and surrounding area. Then the volunteers planted native dune vegetation – more than 6000 sea oats and other dune plants-- to mitigate future beach erosion. All projects were preceded with an educational program that informed the audience about the issue of beach erosion and how litter negatively effects the environment
In 2014, Youth Environmental Alliance will continue to work with student and adult volunteers to remove exotic invasive plants and replace these with native dune species, helping to restore the natural plant dune plant life and protect our coastline. YEA will continue to organize dune restorations at John U Lloyd Beach State Park and expand into the towns of Surfside and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. The ultimate goal of the dune restoration project is to engage volunteers to help build a continuous and vital dune system in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.
“YEA is thrilled to partner with State of Florida Park Service and Broward County and we look forward to engaging youth and adult volunteers to help preserve and restore our vital coastline habitat”, said Lee Gottlieb, Director of Community Outreach for Youth Environmental Alliance. “We extend our sincere thanks to “Waste Management” and “Keep America Beautiful” for supporting this project.”
Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) is a South Florida-based 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to promote education and participation in environmental activities to diverse groups of all abilities. Contact: