Coastal Dune Lakes Episode 3 – The Coastal Dune Lakes Advisory Board

Ad·vi·so·ry: having or consisting in the power to make recommendations but not to take action enforcing them.

The Coastal Dune Lakes Advisory Board is comprised of residents and partners with Walton County, to ensure the protection, health and environmental integrity of the county’s globally rare and imperiled Coastal Dune Lakes and to provide sound recommendations to the Walton County Board of Commissioners.

The Coastal Dune Lakes Advisory Board monitors the watersheds and the Coastal Dune Lake Protection Zones of 15 Coastal Dune Lakes for activities that affect the environmental conservation of the lakes. To learn more about the Board and the lakes, see the Coastal Dune Lakes Advisory Board Manual.

Over the past 8 years I have been able to attend numerous advisory board meetings to hear about updates on the Coastal Dune Lakes in Walton County. Every time I attend the meeting I learn something new, meet new people, and leave the meeting with ideas. These people are the ears and eyes for the coastal dune lakes. After the meeting the information is compiled and presented to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners.

It is well worth the effort to sit in the meetings to gain new understanding about the dune lakes in Walton County, to find out what is working and not working, listen to ideas shared to improve the protection of the lakes, discover the process of the local governance and how this works, and contribute to the ongoing conversation about the dune lakes. This is a group of folks who deserve credit for many of the improvements seen along and around the lakes and 30A.

Coastal Dune Lakes Episode 03 is a brief overview of the CDLAB.