KRISTEN LIVENGOOD/Monroe County

MONROE COUNTY’S HIGGS BEACH IN KEY WEST TO GET ECOLOGICALLY FRIENDLY FACELIFT 

KEY WEST, FL – Monroe County was awarded a $381,000 Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant to supplement the design, construction, and post-construction monitoring of approximately 570 feet of shoreline at the County-owned Clarence S. Higgs Memorial Beach Park in Key West. The award is from the FDEP Beach Management Funding Assistance Program recently approved by the Florida legislature and signed by the Governor. The Monroe County Project Management department submitted the grant proposal to supplement its ongoing beach program at Higgs Beach.

The project will correct the slope on the beach and in the water to prevent future erosion and reestablish lost sea turtle nesting areas that have declined in the area over the years due to erosion. Pre-construction and post-construction benthic surveys are being conducted to monitor and mitigate any affected seagrass or coral in the area. The County and its consultants will conduct daily monitoring of the beach during construction. The renourishment is scheduled to start after July 4, 2021 and will not affect sea turtle nesting or any existing sea turtle nests.

The sand replenishment project is also funded through a Florida Keys Tourist Development Council (TDC) grant. Project design, including benthic surveys of the area below mean high water, development of environmental monitoring plans and water quality monitoring have been conducted in conjunction with the governing permitting agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the FDEP.

Healthy beaches protect public infrastructure and private development, provide critical habitat for many endangered and threatened species, and secure recreational and economic interest along the state’s sandy shoreline. The FDEP funded $62.6 million for 24 beach monitoring and renourishment projects throughout the state.

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