Water bodies, watersheds and storm water
In this section
It’s your lagoon home
The lagoon and you
Read the plan that guides work in the lagoon region.
Publications
Read the program’s newsletter – the Indian River Lagoon Update – and find other general and technical documents about the lagoon and its restoration.
Kids
Find a fun site for children and explore coloring/ activity books.
Restoration
Learn about efforts of the District, local governments and other agencies to restore and protect the lagoon.
Links
Visit links to the websites of other groups and agencies who are also working to protect the lagoon.
The Indian River Lagoon license plate
What your purchase means —
how funds are used
Florida drivers may purchase an Indian River Lagoon license plate for $15 per vehicle/trailer at any tag office statewide. Every purchase is much more than a vehicle registration surcharge. Your contribution directly funds reconnection of impounded salt marshes, shoreline stabilization projects, mangrove and spoil island restoration, treatment of stormwater runoff, and education efforts throughout the lagoon.
All of the money collected from purchasing the “snook tag” in each lagoon county stays in that county, and is combined with funds from statewide sales for projects in each of the six counties along the lagoon. Other funding sources double the dollars raised from the tag sales. And, no administrative salaries or studies are ever funded by lagoon license plate purchases — 100 percent of the proceeds goes toward restoration and education efforts.
Recently completed projects using tag sale proceeds include the following:
Volusia County
Volunteers have planted mangroves and native cordgrass at five locations within the Canaveral National Seashore in the Mosquito Lagoon to protect the shoreline and provide additional wildlife habitat. Other completed projects include the city of Edgewater’s community stormwater master plan, and the reconnection of impounded wetlands in the Tomoka River to re-establish the vital link between the river and the wetlands that had been cut-off decades ago for mosquito control.
Brevard County
Installation of sediment traps (baffle boxes) in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral, Satellite Beach and many other cities has reduced the amount of trash and debris washing into the lagoon from streets, parking lots and residential neighborhoods. Construction of stormwater treatment ponds in Merritt Island, Palm Bay, and Rockledge is under way to reduce pollution from urbanized areas and to improve water quality in the lagoon.
Indian River County
Construction of agricultural best management practices in many citrus groves is reducing the quantity and improving the quality of freshwater discharges to the lagoon from the county’s many drainage canals. Funding was made available to restore and protect Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, treat invasive exotic plants, and construct stormwater detention ponds in Gifford and Roseland.
St. Lucie County
Water quality improvements have been made to more than 500 acres of mangrove wetland habitat by restoring the historic tidal connection between these wetlands and the lagoon. Public awareness of and access to the lagoon have been improved through the addition of educational signage and construction of a pier at Vitolo Family Park.
Martin County
License plate purchases have funded the removal and replacement of invasive exotic plants with native vegetation to improve nesting habitat on Bird Island, the only site in Martin County where the endangered wood stork is known to nest. Twenty-six other bird species are also known to use Bird Island, including 15 species that use it for nesting.
Palm Beach County
Lagoon tag funding was used to reestablish the intertidal community of the Southwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River. With the cooperation of adjacent homeowners, this project removed accumulated sediments and spoil, removed invasive exotic plants and replaced them with native species, and reestablished tidal wetlands along the South Florida Water Management District’s C-18 canal, an area used by the Florida manatee and numerous species of wading birds.
Purchasing the Indian River Lagoon license plate supports projects that improve water quality and help create or restore natural habitats for the lagoon’s many species.
For more information about the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program and programs supported by the license plate, visit the following websites:
