Our Stance on Issues

Message to County Commissioners 10/28/21:

 

The Tampa Audubon Society supports the Hillsborough County Commission's efforts to increase protection of our waters in the County, including our rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and Tampa Bay itself, by approving an ordinance to preclude fertilizer use during the rainy season and when strong storms bring rain to the region.

 

Fertilizer is water-soluble, dissolves in water and floats into our county's waterways with storms and seasonal rains. By restricting fertilizer use to the dry season, the benefits of the fertilizers on lawns and landscapes is allowed. Distribution of fertilizer during the rainy season or when storms occur is a waste of money, as it runs off the area on which it is placed, and places these chemicals in waters where they promote unnatural algal growth spurts and red tides, shadowing bay seagrasses and causing the death of fish and other wildlife. This unfortunate result causes terrible impacts on our valuable natural resources and also negatively affects our human use of the waterways and Tampa Bay and the economic assets that these sites provide.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the position of the Tampa Audubon Society regarding reasonable constraint to the public use of fertilizer in Hillsborough County. Thank you for your support of this fertilizer restriction measure.

Sincerely,
Ann Paul, President

Tampa Audubon Society