A conversation about swimmable, drinkable, fishable water.

​Marty is a 6th generation Floridian, born and raised in Dade County. He served in the US Submarine Service and is SSN 637 class qualified to wear Dolphins. Stomping the Florida Everglades throughout his life, a hunter, a fisherman, environmentalist and clean water advocate, his understanding and study of Florida’s hydrology, geohydrology and ecology is a lifelong pursuit. Marty’s family has a long history of Community involvement, and his sense of Legacy is acute.

Marty believes everyone should serve their local Communities and he has served on the Trustee Steering Committee at Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge, on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee at Stuart Feed Store Museum and a term on the Martin County Historical Preservation Board. Also served on several terms on the Board of Directors, and was Historian for the Lake Worth Pioneers Association. Marty has been involved with water issues since the early 1990’s including the St. Lucie Initiative, and the inception of the Rivers Coalition in 1998. An accomplished and respected historian, over the years he has made presentations and speeches teaching our Citizens and Children about our rich local history often in first person as his Great Great Grandfather Hannibal Dillingham Pierce, a Cousin of Lt. Col. Benjamin Pierce of the Fort fame.

​Marty was selected as your Indian Riverkeeper Sept 2012 and has worked hard to educate and raise awareness about clean water. The mission of the Indian Riverkeeper is to protect and restore the waters of North America's most diverse estuary, the Indian River Lagoon, its tributaries, fisheries and habitats through advocacy, enforcement and citizen action. 

Coming Soon.

Jean Sarmiento is creator of SunKeeper Solutions and co-founder of the Love the Everglades Movement.  Together they have become a creative force in the realm of Environmental Advocacy.
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SunKeeper Solutions is dedicated to the health of the Planet.  They are achieving this through implementing Artistic strategies to solve Environmental problems. They specialize in Native Plants and Habitat Restoration – from Native landscapes in peoples homes to major remediation work within Wetlands.  With partnerships in the Industry, no job is too big or too small. 
 
Their services include Custom Artisanship, Living Walls, Solar Mosaics, Phytoremediation, Flood Mitigation, Water Towers, Invasive Species Removal, Edible Gardens and beyond.  They are also available for Educational Workshops and Presentations.

Founding and Managing Member at Conservation Concepts LLC

"I strive to make our collective quality of life better in South Florida and I feel putting environmental protection and conservation of our resources at the forefront of everyone's mind is the best way to extend the time we have in paradise. Let's all understand that the health of the environment is inextricably linked to our economy and health."

Laura Reynolds is a Founding and Managing Member at Conservation Concepts LLC, an environmental consultant agency with the goal to educate, advocate and positively influence conservation in Florida on complex environmental issues.

Ms. Reynolds strives to integrate her solid scientific background with environmental policy and savvy negotiation skills in order to protect and restore Florida's environment. She serves as an instrumental tool suitable to conduct comprehensive environmental audits to determine compliance with environmental regulations ensuring this way a healthy future to Florida's citizens.

Ms. Reynolds is a former Executive Director at Tropical Audubon Society, a former Research Assistant and Adjunct Professor at Florida International University. Ms. Reynolds graduated from Jacksonville University in Marine Biology and Florida International University in Environmental Science. Some of her areas of expertise are in environmental conservation, resource management, leadership and grant writing.

THOMAS E. LODGE, PH.D., CEP
Consulting Ecologist
Thomas E. Lodge Ecological Advisors, Inc.
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With over 40 years of environmental consulting experience, Dr. Lodge has been a self-employed ecologist since 2004. He graduated with Departmental Honors in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University (1966), and completed his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Miami (1974) where his dissertation involved the physiological ecology of Everglades’ freshwater fishes. Chemistry, limnology, ecology, and ichthyology were the key areas of his formal education.

Dr. Lodge specializes in wetlands and their restoration. He has conducted projects pertaining to terrestrial, wetland, aquatic, and shallow-marine environments, including considerations for rare, threatened, and endangered species, water quality, and conditions such as noise and toxic contaminants. His experience includes developing and applying wetland assessment methodologies for determining appropriate mitigation for wetland impacts. In the early 1990s he authored a widely copied methodology, the Wetland Quality Index (WQI), which he developed to give a consistent, defensible equivalency between impacts and compensatory mitigation in southern Florida freshwater wetlands where small fishes and wading birds are key food-chain indicators. He regularly uses Florida’s Uniform Mitigation Wetland Method (UMAM) as well as other methodologies where required. The applications of his work have been in federal, state, and local wetland permitting as well as conservation projects. He has considerable experience as an expert witness and is a Certified Environmental Professional (CEP) under the National Association of Environmental Professionals.

He is author of The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem, and is currently preparing it 4th edition. The book has been widely used as an advanced high school and college text, and as well as a guide for lay people to understand the Everglades and its restoration. With a strong interest in wildlife photography, he is a regular speaker on the Everglades.