Shafer Consulting Selected as Scientific Editor for FWRI

Dr. Jennifer Shafer has been selected to provide professional scientific editing services to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Jennifer will specialize in reviewing FWRI staff research papers that include spatial and statistical modeling in preparation for journal publication.

The Science and Environment Council of Sarasota County Appoints New Executive Directors

Dr. Jennifer Shafer and Dr. David Shafer of Shafer Consulting were appointed the new Executive Directors of the Science and Environment Council (SEC) of Sarasota County.

The SEC was incorporated in 2001 as a collaboration of non-profit and government agencies with environmental missions.  SEC’s mission is to promote and advocate science, conservation and environmental issues in Sarasota County for maintaining and improving quality of life through education, public outreach, demonstration, information gathering and analysis, and special projects.  Institutional members include the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, Crowley Museum and Nature Center, Florida House, Friends of Myakka River, Friends of Oscar Scherer State Park, G.WIZ, Historic Spanish Point, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Myakka River State Park, Mote Marine Laboratory, New College of Florida, Oscar Scherer State Park, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, and Sarasota County Government. SEC also has seven local affiliate members.

“We look forward to carrying on the productive tradition of education and policy initiatives by the SEC, while expanding collaborative research opportunities among members to advance our scientific understanding of our environment and its conservation” David said in a statement.

Shafer Consulting Sponsors Scallopalooza

Shafer Consulting, together with 74 groups and organizations, is proud to sponsor Sarasota Bay Watch's Second Annual Scallopalooza.

The Sarasota Yacht Club http://www.sarasotayachtclub.org/ will again host this special fundraiser this June 9th, dedicated exclusively to restoring scallops in Sarasota Bay. 

Scallopalooza is a celebration of community-based "sea-grass-roots" efforts to restore bay scallops in Sarasota Bay. It features an evening of entertainment, presentations, silent and live auctions and food.

This year's program features colorful Master of Ceremonies Jeff Birnbach orchestrating informative presentations by invited speakers and live auction items:

Web Design: Sustainable & Authentic Florida Conference

Shafer Consulting designed and built the webpage for the 2012 Sustainable & Authentic Florida Conference.

The Conference will be held October 17-19, 2012 on Anna Maria Island.

http://www.sustainableandauthenticflorida.com/

Hernando Hazard Vulnerability Analysis

Shafer Consulting worked with Calvin Giordano and Associates on the Post Distaster Redevelpoment Plan for Hernando County, providing GIS-based Hazard Vulnerability Analysis. The analysis modeled the potential effects of hurricane wind and storm surge and basin flood events in Hernando County. The analysis examined vulnerability of structures, critical facilities, infrastructure, natural resources and socio-economic groups for under vaious hazard scenarios post-disaster redevelopment planning.

Sarasota Bay Watch Scallop Blog

Shafer Consulting designed and built a Scallop Blog for Sarasota Bay Watch.  The blog provides updates on Sarasota Bay Watch's efforts to restore healthy scallop populations in Sarasota Bay.

The Sarasota Bay Watershed Symposium: science, policy and education

New College of Florida, in partnership with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, presented the Sarasota Bay Watershed Symposium February 17-19, 2012.The Symposium brought together 252 participants, including scientists (27%), educators (19%), policy makers (6%), business leaders (13%), students (15%), and the interested public (21%) to address environmental issues in Sarasota Bay and her watersheds.

Altogether, a team of 99 individuals from across the professional, citizen and academic community contributed their time, knowledge and creativity to plan and carry out the Symposium Program.  Invited contributors numbered 74, including two keynote speakers (see Appendix A), a series of six discussion sessions, a visioning session, a science poster session (see Appendix B), native plant display, an art exhibit, and a synthesis and listening session with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Policy Board.  Discussion sessions each featured a plenary roundtable discussion with invited experts, followed by concurrent breakout discussions lead by experts where participants could further explore and discuss sub-topics of the issues from the plenary. 

Sessions on Day 1 focused on habitat connections, science-policy connections and socio-economic connections.  Sessions on Day 2 were place-based, examining the dynamic complexity of topics identified during Day 1 through local case-studies. Lessons learned, solutions and next steps were identified.  Locations included Palma Sola Bay Watershed, Bradenton; Phillippi Creek and North Roberts Bay Watershed, Sarasota; and the Sarasota Bay Watershed, Sarasota-Bradenton and the Islands.

Ten hours of plenary proceedings were video captured and live streamed to the internet, and are available on-demand on the Sarasota Water Atlas.  This video plus summaries of proceedings were uploaded to create 105 pages of new content on the Coastal Watershed Wiki on the Sarasota Water Atlas (http://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/wiki) (see Appendix C).  This document synthesizes the ideas and discussion generated across science, policy and education topics. The table below summarizes results from the Post-Symposium Survey.

New College GIS Historical Land Use Anaysis of Sarasota Bay

Shafer Consulting led a month-long workshop at New College to complete a GIS-based analysis of historical land use in the Sarasota Bay Watershed 1948-2009.