A Look Back To 2024 and What’s Next For 2025
2024 - A Look Back
A lot can happen in a year. Here’s a quick summary of what FOWR was up to in 2024.
We started the year participating in the Parkway Festival, the LCCC Eco Expo, a Springs Conservation Night, and held a presentation about Public Lands. Followed by a guided nature hike at the Rock Springs Run State Reserve in March. We started making a film around this time too! We were honored to be featured on the front page of the Orlando Sentinal about Seminole County’s plan to convert septic tanks to sewer systems to help protect our springs.
In April we kicked off our Wekiva Wellness program with our first event: Unlock the Harmony Within Workshop, followed by a tour of the Wolf Branch Sink Basin. In August we joined other Floridians in the effort to help protect our state parks by saying no to golf courses. In September we organized a clean-up at Katie’s Landing and held our second Wekiva Wellness gathering: A Guided Walking Meditation through Rock Springs Run State Reserve. We welcomed Ryan Smart, executive director of the Florida Springs Council as a special guest at our October board meeting, and then we supported the Lake County Forever Proposal on the November ballot. FOWR board members also attended a Conservation Workshop held by Lake County Conservation Council on Voices of Change: Embracing Environmental Advocacy in November.
A highlight of the year was enjoying a very special November afternoon with Dr. Doug Tallamy while he delivered an inspiring presentation about the importance of native plants and their relevance to water quality and wildlife in the Wekiva basin.
Over the year we saw the Little Wekiva River go from looking like this to this:
From left to right: January 2024 and January 2025.
FOWR also continued to partner with Valencia College in supporting students conducting undergraduate research projects in the Wekiva River basin. Prof. James Adamski, who is a FOWR board member, mentored students investigating the occurrence and antibiotic resistance of fecal bacteria in the springs and streams of the Wekiva River basin. Results were presented at our December board meeting.
And most recently we’re pleased to announce that after jumping through many permitting hoops we finally ordered the kit for the Katie’s Landing Pavillion. Construction should begin about a year after celebrating the life of FOWR founder, park namesake, and our friend, Katie Moncrief.
All above was on top of keeping up with year-round work of technical, community legislation, working in conjunction with other non-profits on projects, education, legal challenges, advocacy, and basin monitoring. While there’s always room for improvement in the Wekiva world, we have a lot to be grateful for.
2025 - What’s Next?
Besides celebrating the Pavillion finally being built at Katie’s Landing, we have another full year ahead! In addition to our expected role of basin monitoring, we’ll be hosting several Wekiva Wellness gatherings, exhibiting our booth during many local environmental events and we’re very excited to introduce a new campaign called ‘Are YOU a friend of the Wekiva?’ Check our next newsletter for more updates!
Image by Michelle J.