Adult manatees are typically 9- to 10-feet long from snout to tail and weigh around 1,000 pounds. Manatees have two forelimb flippers that they use for steering movements and to hold vegetation while eating. A large, round, flattened paddle-shaped tail is used for swimming. They are quite agile, and able to swim upside down, roll or move vertically in the water. They frequent back bay estuaries and shallow coastal zones and spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrasses. This includes the back bay waters of Cayo Costa and Gasparilla Islands as well as our beaches, where in the summertime, mating herds have been observed.

So how does the state progress with its clean water plans if coastal homes with private septic and wastewater systems are being denied a better way? That’s a question that many are speculating about right now, and with a reconsideration hearing coming up in early September, people who have the same questions need to speak up.

Here we call it “One Charlotte, One Water.” The County Commission approved the hiring of a water quality manager to develop a water quality monitoring plan and to coordinate cross-departmental efforts and public outreach. Earlier this year, the County convened a water quality summit to identify water quality drivers in Charlotte Harbor; share recent advances in harmful algal bloom detection, prediction and communication; highlight County activities and partnerships to monitor, improve and protect water quality and natural habitats; and provide opportunities for citizen education and action.

Gopher tortoises can live 40 to 80 years in the wild. They love to forage on tender low-growing green plants and leaves in the early morning or late afternoon but can also be found eating flowers on prickly pear cactus and hibiscus, saw palmetto berries and gopher apples. They have one clutch of eggs per year, which contains anywhere from three to 14 eggs, and it takes about 100 days for the eggs to incubate. The sex of the eggs is temperature-dependent, meaning that if the temperature is above 85 F, the hatchling will be a female, and if lower, it will be a male.