Stewards of Our Urban Lakes: Looking to the Future By Tina Stewart Brakebill
Volunteers in a kayak pickup trash Crescent Lake Photos by Brian Brakebill
The Beginnings of a Big Idea Incorporated in January 2021, the Florida-based nonprofit Stewards of Our Urban Lakes (SOUL) can trace its beginnings back to Crescent Lake. Algae blooms had left the area mostly void of plants and wildlife, reducing its status to “a bowl of water in the middle of a lawn.” Wanting to improve the water quality and see the lake come alive again, concerned community members organized the Friends of Crescent Lake (FOCL) in 2007. Thanks to the continued hard work of those volunteers and a partnership with the City of St. Petersburg, the natural beauty and habitat of Crescent Lake are being protected and preserved.
Why Not Just Stay Friends? The rebirth of Crescent Lake inspired other concerned community members to contact FOCL about issues with their own neighborhood waterways. These inquiries, coupled with hopeful ideas about the future of Crescent Lake, motivated FOCL to ask the question: Could more be done, not just for Crescent Lake, but also for other urban lakes? Members thought that was possible, but the group lacked formal legal status. To mature into an effective advocacy group and qualify for grants and other sources of funding, they needed to make a change. That began the transition into something new: SOUL.
Something New: SOUL One of SOUL’s ultimate goals is to provide guidance and outreach
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GREENBENCHMONTHLY.COM / SEPTEMBER 2021
