Latest / 2MC / 2MC Podcast Eps 71 - Champion of Conservation
Transcript
- 00:00:05:17 - 00:00:28:25 MAK & Courtney Hey, everybody, I'm back. And I'm Courtney, and we're back with UMC. Why are you so weird today? I like being weird. We have a special guest today. I'm super excited. Yeah. Of all I have to say, I love doing this podcast with you. I like doing this podcast with you and William and William, too. Yeah. He's not like this. 00:00:29:01 - 00:00:52:21 MAK & Courtney He's behind the camera. But anyway, it's a fun way for us to get information out to our community. And I think, I don't know, I enjoy it. Yeah. So there and back to. Yeah. Today's program. Today's program? Yes. We have a special guest, John Maile. He is the environmental resource division administrator administrator, and he's been here with us before. 00:00:52:25 - 00:01:14:16 MAK & Courtney He has, but we have a pretty cool topic. We've covered it at the board meetings. We've talked about it here, but we kind of wanted to dig a little dive deep into that, right? Yeah, yeah, we had some donations, from a private citizen. I think it's really cool. It's really cool. And to our community, to different areas in our community. 00:01:14:18 - 00:01:41:00 MAK & Courtney Yeah. So let's head on over to that interview. Okay. Let's go. And we are back with John Male. And welcome back. Yes. Great to be back before. And he's back. I know you have some cool stuff going on. I feel like well you always do. This is true. But yes, the past few weeks have been really amazing for Martin County land and residents and gracious donor. 00:01:41:07 - 00:01:42:22 MAK & Courtney Yeah, I we talk about it. 00:01:42:24 - 00:02:04:18 John Maehl Yeah, it's kind of probably one of the most, rewarding and exciting things I've got to work on in a long career of doing pretty cool stuff for the public. You know, we've worked on land donations before, but they always had some flavor of, you know, it's too crass to say quid pro quo, but it was in lieu of or for something. 00:02:04:22 - 00:02:26:24 John Maehl Right. And in this case, this, there's a. Yeah, a remarkable gal who, winters here in Jensen Beach. We just had a real conviction that, their natural spaces are limited, and we're not making any more of them. And she wanted to do her part to try to protect, what was left of some really cool ecosystems in Martin County. 00:02:26:27 - 00:02:31:20 John Maehl Her name is Louisa Iser. She goes by wheezy, which is a perfect name for her. 00:02:31:23 - 00:02:35:24 MAK & Courtney And. Okay, we need to come. We they. 00:02:35:27 - 00:02:47:06 John Maehl Yeah. She's a she's really a wonderful person, just full of life. And, she's very happy giving, obviously. Humble person. 00:02:47:09 - 00:02:48:14 MAK & Courtney Nice. Yeah. 00:02:48:16 - 00:03:05:17 John Maehl So she, she came up with this idea. She works through her broker to make some connections to figure out, you know, who you could work with to do this and what? What paths were available to her. And, we got connected, and, we kind of started laying out some options. 00:03:05:19 - 00:03:15:07 MAK & Courtney So what did you do? Just kind of look at, look at all of the county and find some spaces that had availability and you were interested in. 00:03:15:12 - 00:03:37:24 John Maehl Yeah, we kind of we, we know the terrain. Sure. We kind of know what's out there and what's special. At first we were thinking that, her interest might be best leveraged by working on one of our larger, you know, kind of landscape changing acquisitions. Okay. And she would be kind of a funding partner with that and someone who could advocate. 00:03:38:01 - 00:03:59:05 John Maehl So like when we go up to Florida forever and we make an argument that we'd like to partner with them and get some funding through that program. Having additional partners is is hugely helpful. Sure. But when you have a private individual who says, I'm going to write a check for this, because I believe in it, it's it makes it really competitive on the For Forever program, right? 00:03:59:07 - 00:04:14:03 John Maehl Yeah. So we were kind of thinking along those terms and as we were working on some of these, you know, large landscape acquisitions, it became kind of clear that, you know, she wanted to do something sooner than later. And these were just going to take years. 00:04:14:06 - 00:04:14:29 MAK & Courtney Okay. Yeah. 00:04:15:03 - 00:04:42:01 John Maehl And so kind of like, have or reading off of that interest from her, we decided, okay, what could we do that would, materialize something for the, the public sooner? And we have this. It's not a list, but we just kind of have this awareness of of, properties that are out there that, you know, have development pressures or maybe they're, development requests that have come in and have been denied. 00:04:42:01 - 00:04:52:01 John Maehl And so it's like, well, if that landowner can't do this, what's this property for? And people just, you know, we'll start turning about different ways to, to make a property productive. 00:04:52:01 - 00:04:52:27 MAK & Courtney So interesting. 00:04:53:05 - 00:05:10:04 John Maehl Yeah. And we just know they're out there. Well, once we decided that that, the best application for Mr. Iser was, was something more immediate. We we narrowed that list down to properties that Martin County forever couldn't invest in. 00:05:10:09 - 00:05:10:25 MAK & Courtney Okay. 00:05:10:27 - 00:05:34:27 John Maehl Martin County forever is this wonderful program. We have a dedicated funding source for the first time in a long time, and we have a path forward with those. Right? But there's these little enclaves or, carve outs that don't fit into the program, you know, by the definition of our ordinance. But they still have incredible ecological value. They may be adjacent to existing, county managed preserves or natural areas. 00:05:35:00 - 00:05:55:17 John Maehl And, the community just would have a, a significant interest in having those be preserved. So we showed her that list. We went around the county and looked at some of those properties. We came back to the county and and kind of went through, a presentation on each of these and what their significance might be. 00:05:55:17 - 00:06:13:17 John Maehl And, the, the group that we showed her, we got to the end of that conversation and, and, and I believe it was Tyson Waters who was an attorney that was helping her with this process. Said, well, do any of these interest you? And she goes, yeah, yeah. And and he goes, well, which ones. 00:06:13:19 - 00:06:13:29 MAK & Courtney Yeah. 00:06:14:04 - 00:06:18:24 John Maehl You would you like to kind of move to the next step? And she goes, well, I want to get them all. 00:06:18:27 - 00:06:22:03 MAK & Courtney Wow. And so how does that how did that feel sitting at that table. 00:06:22:04 - 00:06:36:24 John Maehl Well honestly it felt a little like okay, well wait a minute. Do you know what you just said? You're like, you know, there's asking prices on these are appraised values. And we kind of started to talk about, well, you know, here's what that might mean. And she goes, yeah, I want to buy. 00:06:36:26 - 00:06:45:07 MAK & Courtney What an amazing position to be in to really give back to a community that is meaningful. Yeah. You know, to her obviously. Yeah. And, 00:06:45:10 - 00:06:51:05 John Maehl Wow. Well, and she's just a, such a special person to do this. She is. 00:06:51:07 - 00:06:53:04 MAK & Courtney We did have an opportunity to meet her. 00:06:53:06 - 00:07:23:24 John Maehl She's so pleasant, and she's so approachable. Unassuming. And so all through this, she has been sharing her story of her inspiration for. For why she would want to make this sacrifice for the public. And it is deeply rooted in, her family heritage and just a kind of a legacy of reaching all the way back to a great grandfather and aunts and uncles and and cousins who, who were interested in leaving, place better than they found it. 00:07:23:26 - 00:07:47:13 John Maehl And in so many different ways. And, they, they had a lot of activity over in Naples and Naples. Zoo, came about through their family and, one of her, one of the kind of the negative sides of, of, of that, that that inspired her. Also was this, she talks about it in the board meeting, where, one of the board meetings where we were accepting a donation. 00:07:47:13 - 00:08:05:06 John Maehl Is this, property that her father had conveyed to someone in some kind of purchase agreement that that went sideways somehow, and and it ended up that someone else ended up with this, and and and totally violated the spirit of the transaction that her father had intended it for. 00:08:05:06 - 00:08:05:16 MAK & Courtney Right. 00:08:05:20 - 00:08:06:17 John Maehl And it ended up not. 00:08:06:23 - 00:08:07:29 MAK & Courtney Lives on with people. 00:08:08:00 - 00:08:14:07 John Maehl Oh, yeah. You know, it really bothers her to this day when she drives by, as she, you know, oh. 00:08:14:09 - 00:08:25:19 MAK & Courtney I think she can feel really good about what she's done. Yeah. For our community, those parcels are, Remind me. I know we have some in Hope sound. 00:08:25:21 - 00:08:47:03 John Maehl Yeah. She bought, I believe, 13, eight, nine, ten, 11, 11 properties, adjacent to the Hope Town Square Preserve and and they all have a, significant ecological value. But but more than that, the location where it's it's adding to, an existing, special preserve. 00:08:47:10 - 00:09:00:02 MAK & Courtney So will that become part of Hope sounds from. Yeah. And Hope town scrub. Is that, like one of the last remaining? Yeah. I'm trying to remember what we talked about with that scrub preserve. 00:09:00:04 - 00:09:05:02 John Maehl And it's our most recent, new preserve, and and it we. 00:09:05:02 - 00:09:07:21 MAK & Courtney Just the papa. Has that been following up on. 00:09:07:21 - 00:09:12:05 John Maehl Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And this added, like 15% to that. 00:09:12:07 - 00:09:12:22 MAK & Courtney That's also. 00:09:12:22 - 00:09:30:29 John Maehl Of of the footprint of Hope South Scrub Preserve and, it what it, it also prevented, the development of, you know, like three storey townhouses right on top of the entrance to the park. So it would have fundamentally kind of changed the the feel of entering that. 00:09:31:00 - 00:09:36:01 MAK & Courtney Yeah. When you when you pull into that, you just you're right in an already. Yeah. 00:09:36:03 - 00:09:53:19 John Maehl So we've got some work to do on that. You know it's, it's, it's just going to become part of hope sounds scrub. But you know, we'll take a look at, are there some exotic removal that needs to happen on those properties. Would we, you know, how do we change the fencing? Is there an opportunity to kind of enhance the the entrance to that? 00:09:53:19 - 00:10:15:17 John Maehl And maybe, maybe at some point we'd go back in and, and and restore some of what was impacted to create the entrance that was there with, with, what she has provided in this. So there's some signage that needs to happen. We're kind of working with her. I have a meeting with her this afternoon, which is I don't know, we're recording this on a Tuesday. 00:10:15:20 - 00:10:39:09 John Maehl To talk about, you know, how we acknowledge her contribution in the naming of these parks and, and, ultimately, the board will have to approve those things, but we want to tee something up. Yeah, that meets with, you know, her intentions. Sure. The other, one just up the road that she acquired is a four acre addition to a stormwater treatment area that was recently built. 00:10:39:12 - 00:10:41:13 John Maehl So he's four Creek right on us. 00:10:41:16 - 00:10:42:19 MAK & Courtney Yeah. 00:10:42:22 - 00:10:47:15 John Maehl You can't miss it if you're. If you're northbound, it's on the right side between. 00:10:47:15 - 00:10:55:01 MAK & Courtney It's beautiful. It is? Yeah. It is. The, vegetation has really grown in in a way that it it looks like a park. Yeah. 00:10:55:02 - 00:10:57:14 John Maehl Yeah, it looks like a park, but there's no way to use it. 00:10:57:14 - 00:10:58:10 MAK & Courtney So it's perfect. 00:10:58:10 - 00:11:16:21 John Maehl It's really no where to park. There's nowhere to pull off. And so you can drive by and you can see it. But for the public to actually get out and walk and enjoy it, there's just no way to do that. So there was this four acre piece on the north side that had some really cool, coastal scrub and some nice wetland in the back. 00:11:16:24 - 00:11:43:16 John Maehl There was a proposed storage unit facility last year that got denied by the board. And, and then, the owner had put it under a contract with another purchaser. This is kind of a cool story, too, just about the timing of this. When when she had decided, when we had decided that this was a property she was interested in buying for the county, we reached out to the realtor who had listed this property, and he said it went under contract just a few days ago. 00:11:43:16 - 00:11:44:17 MAK & Courtney Oh my gosh. 00:11:44:19 - 00:12:14:07 John Maehl And and the contract, he said, was, a pretty limited due diligence period of like 30 days and with no qualifying factor. So he said this is probably gone. And I said, well, keep my number. If if something changes, just let me know. And then, he did. He called back a couple weeks later and apparently the, the purchaser, in fact did have, a desire to change the zoning to do something different than what it was entitled for. 00:12:14:09 - 00:12:33:25 John Maehl And I don't think that person had a lot of experience with Martin County and the process of working through, rezoning or comp plan amendments in Martin County. And, and when they got engaged in that, they realized they needed more time. So they, reach back out to the seller and asked if they could extend their due diligence period. 00:12:33:27 - 00:12:43:19 John Maehl And the seller was like, nope, we got a buyer. And so that contract, they were able to, to, to to get out of that. And then and Weezy put it under contract, the next morning. 00:12:43:19 - 00:12:44:26 MAK & Courtney Wow. That's amazing. 00:12:44:26 - 00:13:04:06 John Maehl So what we'll do with that four acres is we'll do a very, very limited, low impact recreational features. We'll create some parking, pervious parking and, trailhead, some signage, that talks about the function of the stormwater treatment area, the scrub, the wetland will create some trails and. 00:13:04:08 - 00:13:07:09 MAK & Courtney Ties it all together. That's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, that's really nice. 00:13:07:15 - 00:13:15:18 John Maehl I think we'll probably put a cheeky hat in there for people, like I said, at a picnic table to have lunch. So so there's some work for us to do there, but it'll be so much fun. 00:13:15:18 - 00:13:18:00 MAK & Courtney To get after it. Yeah, right, right. Yeah. 00:13:18:03 - 00:13:19:21 John Maehl I know some people can get it done. 00:13:19:23 - 00:13:20:26 MAK & Courtney Yes. Yeah. 00:13:21:02 - 00:13:48:03 John Maehl And then the last piece that she bought was, kind of up near where she lives in Jensen Beach in North River shores. And she drives by this, this, vacant lot, regularly. And it's it's really three parcels that make up an acre, and, and it's kind of right near the entrance to North River shores. And she drives by this, and she saw someone starting to build, like apartment buildings on this thing. 00:13:48:03 - 00:14:12:14 John Maehl And, I think that developer ran into some cash flow problems, and it just sat there was a cinder block structure that sat there for several years. Another, owner bought that, tore that down and was, planning to build multifamily on that whole acre. And, you know, it probably could have been 30 units, on that spot. 00:14:12:16 - 00:14:23:04 John Maehl And, we got that under contract and that'll, that'll become a small neighborhood park with, some kind of water feature or a wetland or pond. That's awesome. And she'll get to drive by that all the time. 00:14:23:05 - 00:14:31:19 MAK & Courtney Talk about changing the landscape of community. Just like small little parcels kind of pieced together. But really. Yeah, a huge impact. 00:14:31:23 - 00:14:33:25 John Maehl Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. 00:14:33:28 - 00:14:34:20 MAK & Courtney It's exciting. 00:14:34:23 - 00:14:41:04 John Maehl And she's, not shy about challenging the community to follow her lead. Which is, which is really. 00:14:41:04 - 00:14:46:19 MAK & Courtney Cool. Yeah. We need her on camera. She can just look right down the she would camera lens and say, I challenge you. 00:14:46:22 - 00:14:58:15 John Maehl She would too. I think at the last board meeting, she she said something like, I know there's more of you out there that can do this. Yeah. So, so that's kind of cool to do. Just a leadership role that she's embraced with this lens. 00:14:58:15 - 00:15:11:18 MAK & Courtney Amazing. That is amazing. Yeah. It's exciting. It is exciting. And it's just I mean it's benefiting everyone. Everybody community. Yeah. And I mean that's definitely a legacy to who she is. 00:15:11:18 - 00:15:16:14 John Maehl Yeah absolutely. Yeah. But that's the Martin County difference right. That is how we are. 00:15:16:16 - 00:15:22:23 MAK & Courtney Yes. Yeah. What else? I mean that's a lot. Do you have any anything exciting that people. 00:15:22:24 - 00:15:27:10 John Maehl We have another Environmental Lens Oversight Committee meeting coming up in June. 00:15:27:10 - 00:15:36:20 MAK & Courtney That and just for our our folks listening, that's that is our committee that reviews all these properties that we can purchase with the sales tax. Yeah. 00:15:36:21 - 00:15:58:24 John Maehl They're citizens. They, you know, they, they, they're made up of organizations that represent the different stakeholder groups that would be engaged in conservation, land acquisition or easements. And, they're going to review ten more properties and score those and queue them up for the board. And then if the board approves those, those go into the program when we start due diligence negotiations. 00:15:58:24 - 00:16:20:09 MAK & Courtney And this I mean, you've seen this probably in communities around the country, but I feel like this has moved really quickly. Maybe not on the back end. Maybe it doesn't seem like that to you. But I feel like once, once that sales tax happened and our residents agreed to start doing that. Yeah, we we're in it. Yeah. Yeah. 00:16:20:09 - 00:16:21:11 MAK & Courtney We're we're going. 00:16:21:11 - 00:16:39:22 John Maehl Yeah. If we were trying to measure speed you know we internally you know we kind of do this maybe for our own egos. But you know our staff like Mike used to is really been running this program. And he put all this together in record time. And we can look at how long it's taken other local governments with similar programs. 00:16:39:26 - 00:16:40:04 MAK & Courtney Yeah. 00:16:40:04 - 00:17:04:15 John Maehl And it's it we for our benefit, we enjoy talking about how fast, this this came about, and, and also we've gotten lots of validation from our funding partners at Florida forever or at the water management District, or in particular, one of our new funding partners is the Rural and Family Lands Program at FDX. So they do agricultural easements. 00:17:04:17 - 00:17:05:24 John Maehl And we've done, 00:17:05:27 - 00:17:10:26 MAK & Courtney Was that one of our most recent, easements? The Barbee Ranch. 00:17:10:29 - 00:17:12:11 John Maehl Barbee was a Florida forever. 00:17:12:16 - 00:17:14:10 MAK & Courtney Okay. Forever. Okay. 00:17:14:13 - 00:17:38:04 John Maehl We there's an ag easement that was done out in western Martin County north of 714 on Bull Hammock. It was at the time, the largest easement that FDX had done with their new program. And we're working on three more that the board just approved funding agreements for. And, and then there's 2 or 3 more that are probably in the next cycle that, that, that we're going to try to get done. 00:17:38:04 - 00:17:50:25 John Maehl And we're in a really unique position, with, with that program. A lot of the local governments that have these conservation funding programs didn't contemplate easements as a tool for acquisition. 00:17:50:26 - 00:18:04:29 MAK & Courtney I feel like we've done a good job. Yeah. Sort of a combination of what we're looking at. Yeah. It's all you know, public land. Some of it's for recreating, some of it's for true preservation and and the easements to. Yeah. 00:18:05:00 - 00:18:20:05 John Maehl The easements are a cool tool because the county doesn't take on the burden of managing those properties. And if there's a family that's been, you know, caring diligently for that property for 100 years, and they want to keep doing it like more power to them. 00:18:20:05 - 00:18:23:18 MAK & Courtney Yeah, we had to do some research on it because it was something I wasn't familiar with. 00:18:23:22 - 00:18:33:02 John Maehl But yeah, it's really and you don't pay as much as you would. And when you're buying, you're basically buying the development rights off of that property. And we've got such great funding partners for that right now. 00:18:33:04 - 00:18:35:28 MAK & Courtney And that's forever. Right. Those development rights for. 00:18:36:00 - 00:19:00:00 John Maehl Yeah, yeah, the conservation easement, the easement word is pretty generic, and it's applied in a lot of different ways. And it's important to, to, to distinguish between a government purchased easement versus one that's regulatory or it's offered subject to, development order. Those those are, you know, I'll call them manageable or editable. 00:19:00:00 - 00:19:00:25 MAK & Courtney And okay, you can. 00:19:00:25 - 00:19:22:15 John Maehl Exchange one for another. When when the government purchases an easement that's perpetual, it's irrevocable. It is what it is. And it's it's forever attached to the deed. So even if that owner sells that to somebody else, they're selling it with that deed restriction. And we have, you know, we own that portion of that deed that that, is the development rights. 00:19:22:15 - 00:19:25:19 John Maehl And so, it is it's forever. 00:19:25:22 - 00:19:26:29 MAK & Courtney Yeah. It's awesome. 00:19:27:01 - 00:19:42:19 John Maehl And we're one of the few, local, local organizations that can partner with FDX. And so for axes, marching orders are to rank and award the easements that have 50% funding partners. 00:19:42:19 - 00:19:44:14 MAK & Courtney First, okay. 00:19:44:14 - 00:19:46:01 John Maehl And so we're in the list of our. 00:19:46:01 - 00:19:47:07 MAK & Courtney Yeah, we're in a very good list. 00:19:47:07 - 00:19:53:13 John Maehl And there's very few others that are in that. Okay. So we're going to have a lot of success with that program while it's funded. 00:19:53:20 - 00:19:58:00 MAK & Courtney That's awesome. Yeah yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. 00:19:58:03 - 00:20:00:18 John Maehl We've also got some good news on Everglades funding. 00:20:00:24 - 00:20:02:14 MAK & Courtney Oh tell us. 00:20:02:16 - 00:20:37:15 John Maehl So the state just passed a budget. The legislature just passed a budget last week that has been will be transmitted to the governor, and he'll have to sign it before July 1st. And it included over $500 million, again for Everglades restoration. During the session, there was, the the offerings from both chambers weren't that amount. So whatever horse trading happened in Tallahassee to get to to to a sustainable funding level to keep Everglades moving forward at the the rate we've been enjoying for the last six, seven, eight years. 00:20:37:17 - 00:20:44:04 John Maehl That was good news. And then at the same time, the, in, in DC. 00:20:44:06 - 00:20:46:23 MAK & Courtney I was going to ask anything at the federal. Yeah, the federal level. 00:20:46:25 - 00:20:54:11 John Maehl Two things that happened last week. The, Transportation Infrastructure Subcommittee for appropriations, transportation Infrastructure. 00:20:54:13 - 00:20:55:12 MAK & Courtney Easy for you to say. 00:20:55:14 - 00:21:15:29 John Maehl They passed the FY 27 version of Everglades funding. That puts it back at 425, which is what they've been doing year in and year out. And, which was great news. You know, we the president's budget proposal for 27, alarmed us at first because it was like 250 million. We're like, wait, that's that's a huge, setback. 00:21:16:01 - 00:21:34:28 John Maehl But then they explained to us that they just approach it a little bit differently. This year. They separated out the actual contract, dollars from the staffing dollars that are associated with it. Okay. So it worked. As it turns out, when we were able to kind of dig into it, it's the same amount that they've they've been doing for the last eight years. 00:21:34:28 - 00:22:01:22 John Maehl So that was good news. And then we got an update on the integrated delivery schedule, which is this might master document that programs and publicizes what the state and federal, work projects will be, you know, how they're going to schedule and get things done and when things get expected to be done. And, they program in the dollar amounts that they are anticipating. 00:22:01:22 - 00:22:30:08 John Maehl And, and it's, it's we all kind of bated breath to see this every. Yeah. And we were, expecting to see some bad news on the Indian River lagoon South project. Largely because there's this new hyper focus on completing the Everglades agricultural area, which is a great thing. We support it. We know there's great benefits. And in that project for the Saint Lucie Estuary, we just are concerned about what that does to other projects. 00:22:30:08 - 00:22:50:18 John Maehl Right. And, we were kind of expecting to see, some delays on particularly like the C 23, 24 north and south reservoirs, which, are shovel ready projects. They're right, you know, they're ready to turn dirt on those. In fact, the North project, the the Corps of Engineers has already started the pump station, and you're going to have a pump station built. 00:22:50:25 - 00:22:51:23 John Maehl You got to have a reservoir. 00:22:51:24 - 00:22:52:01 MAK & Courtney Yeah. 00:22:52:01 - 00:23:05:05 John Maehl Right. And so when we got the ideas, we were pleased to see that it didn't, dramatically impact those. And it appears they're still full intention from the state and federal, partners to to finish the IRR South projects. 00:23:05:05 - 00:23:06:27 MAK & Courtney That's good news. Yeah. 00:23:06:29 - 00:23:08:00 John Maehl Yeah, that's great news. 00:23:08:02 - 00:23:28:15 MAK & Courtney Yeah, yeah. All right. Oh, I feel like that's everything that I. Yeah it was a lot. It was good stuff though. Thank you. Thanks. That was such an interesting interview with John. It was I feel like we could have we should have pulled up the chairs because I feel like we could have just talked to him. Yeah, forever. 00:23:28:15 - 00:23:55:25 MAK & Courtney Well, I feel like he could have talked about it for this team. Does such like incredible things. And it's always really like throughout the whole community. So, you know, I to be fair, a lot of our departments do a lot of unique things. They do. People don't see just on the front end. Yes. Public facing. But the, the things that his team is working on is very, I mean, like they're doing aren't they doing the, they do the seagrass restoration. 00:23:55:27 - 00:24:19:23 MAK & Courtney We've talked to Jessica about the shoreline stabilization projects. What were those? The clams. Yeah, yeah. And I knew it was not an oyster, but I knew it was a thing in their clams. Right? Yeah. That's still happening. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're they work on a ton of, like, really cool scientific kind of things. Yeah. It's interesting, I like it. 00:24:19:23 - 00:24:54:22 MAK & Courtney Yeah. All right. Well, I think that was all we had. I know I have something to say. Okay. Don't forget to, like, comment, follow and share. Whoa. Yeah, that was it. You did great. And. Oh, okay. I just have a question that I want people to comment their answers. Okay. I want to know if you think comments are candy or just a meant. 00:24:54:24 - 00:25:14:17 MAK & Courtney I hope that you are focusing in on my eyes because Courtney knows the answer to this. Yeah. I just don't know what everybody else knows. Thanks. Yeah, it's candy. I just know you can eat it. I I've always considered it a man, so I want to know what people think. Okay. Please do share your thoughts with us. Yes. 00:25:14:17 - 00:25:17:23 MAK & Courtney Okay. That's all I had. I'll see you guys next time. Bye bye.