Taking a Local Approach to River Restoration
In 2023, St. Johns Riverkeeper launched Resilient Ribault in partnership with LISC Jacksonville. One of the drivers of this initiative is to proactively, strategically and continually work in a specific geographic location in order to create real change in a vulnerable area of the St. Johns River watershed. We hope to develop a model that can be implemented in other vulnerable areas of the watershed in the future.
The Ribault River, Trout River, and Moncrief Creek are all tributaries of the St. Johns River. After collaborating with experts, we identified this area of the watershed as vulnerable in terms of climate change, flooding, pollution, and socio-economic factors.
In 2024, we expanded our impact:
- We work directly with residents of the area to ensure our focus is on initiatives that will make a real difference in the community.
- We provide boat tours for residents and stakeholders to experience the Ribault River from the water.
- We’ve advocated for upgrades to riverfront greenspaces, resulting in infrastructure improvements at Riverview Park and Ribault Scenic Drive Park.
- We launched a water quality initiative to obtain data that will allow us to determine sources of pollution, identify potential solutions, and impel action by local and state agencies.
- Our education team targets local students and educators to ensure they learn about their river.
This year, we launched 17 boat trips for nearly 300 residents and community partners to experience this beautiful, underutilized tributary.
We’re also currently working with UF Architecture students to produce designs for a possible park at a former toxic incinerator ash site on the Ribault River.
None of this would be possible without your support. A year-end gift to St. Johns Riverkeeper will immediately go to use to help our river, its tributaries and the people who depend on them.
Please consider making a gift to help us continue this impactful advocacy work – for the river, and for us all.