People United to Restore Our Rivers & Estuaries
People United to Restore Our Rivers & Estuaries
On Saturday, October 11, Tarpon Bay Explorers will be holding a fundraiser to benefit PURRE -- right on the water that is threatened by the pollution PURRE is working so hard to solve. The program will include a presentation in the Explorers' aquarium exhibit and a pontoon boat tour of Tarpon Bay. The trip will be narrated by one of the Explorers' naturalists and by PURRE Chairman Michael Valiquette.
"We're so grateful to Tarpon Bay Explorers for this opportunity not just to raise funds but to raise awareness," Mike said. "It's very timely, too, because the long drought is over and the problems that have never been solved are becoming visible again. We welcome every chance to spread the word and get people involved."
The 90-minute program begins at 11:00 a.m. The cost is $100 per person, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to PURRE.
Tarpon Bay Explorers is the concession for the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge and works to promote its mission of wildlife conservation and habitat restoration.
The refuge is home to a wide range of wildlife habitats, ranging from open estuarine water, sea grass beds, and mangrove islands to freshwater ponds, cordgrass marshes, and West Indian hardwood hammocks. These habitats are directly affected by water quality, and Tarpon Bay Explorers is excited about helping PURRE in the fight to save South Florida's waterways.
For reservations and more information, contact Emilie Alfino of PURRE at 239.357.1644 (cell) or 239.274.7873 (PURRE office); or Stephanie Ray of Tarpon Bay Explorers at 239.472.8900. And hurry! Only 41 spots are available on the boat!
"The River of Grass was only the most distinctive link of an interconnected ecosystem that once blanketed almost all of south Florida, from its headwaters atop the Kissimmee chain of lakes near modern-day Orlando down to the coral reefs of the Keys, an area twice the size of New Jersey. "
~ Michael Grunwald, The Swamp ~
