Capt. Mike Conner: EAA Land Purchase is Essential to Everglades Restoration

Presentation Summary

​I will cover the need for water storage and conveyance south of Lake Okeechobee as part of CERP to stop the toxic coastal discharges and re-hydrate Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
 
Will also cover the ongoing human health threat and ecological damage to the St. Lucie River and the newly launched Now or Neverglades Declaration. 

Speaker Biography

Mike Conner is a resident of Stuart, Florida and has worked as a fishing magazine publisher, television host, editor, and freelance outdoor writer covering sportfishing and conservation. Mike has also worked as a licensed fishing guide since 1990 from Florida Bay to the Indian River Lagoon. Having moved to Florida as a 5-year-old, he took to the water and woods, and never looked back. Mike loved fishing and light hunting in the vicinity of the Big Cypress so became involved in Everglades and other Florida environmental causes at the age of 15 as a high school sophomore during the height of the push to establish a commercial jetport inj the heart of the woods that he loved. It was then that Mike realized that politics plays a key role in the preservation of, and now the restoration of, the Everglades.

​Mike became a member of Florida Conservation Association (now CCA Florida) in 1989 and served as an officer of the Dade County chapter, and a state board member for over 10 years. He presently serves as Director of Angler Outreach for Bullsugar.org, a non-profit 501 c(4) organization. Mike is also a board member of the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund and the Indian Riverkeeper.

In his spare time Mike enjoys fly fishing, cooking and gardening.