Conserve & Restore Native Ecosystems
It’s been more than a decade since East Coast Zoological Foundation (ECZF) jumped into action with programs aimed at balancing the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) ecosystem. With the IRL in our backyard, we recognized the importance of taking a leadership role in restoring and protecting this regional resource.
Home to more than 4,000 species of plants and animals, 50 of which are listed as endangered or threatened, our work has focused on finding environmentally friendly solutions to improve water quality, protect and restore habitats, expand biodiversity, and increase resilience to storm damage and erosion.
Our staff and thousands of volunteers from the community work steadily on living shoreline solutions that restore populations of native, filter-feeding oysters to the lagoon, grow protective mangroves, seed restorative clam beds, replace nutrient-rich seagrasses, restore and build new reefs and create buffer zones to stem pollution and algae blooms.
We’ve established a solid foundation for current and future initiatives focused on best practices, streamlined processes, and data collection and analysis, allowing us to constantly evolve in our mission to combat factors affecting lagoon health. We hope you’ll join us.
Our projects support a complex ecosystem of vegetation, animals, and humans, providing economic, cultural, educational, research, and ecological benefits. Volunteers are needed for the projects below to support the restoration of water quality and resilience in the Indian River Lagoon. We look forward to your participation!
