Description
The Friends of St. Andrew Bay, (formerly the St. Andrew Bay Environmental Study Team, or BEST) is a local non-advocacy, volunteer environmental organization that has been in existence in Bay County since 1987. We are non-political. Our mission is to evaluate the status of the St. Andrew Bay ecosystem, identify problems, and initiate corrective actions where necessary. Our goal is to maintain and restore a healthy St. Andrew Bay ecosystem for the benefit of all people.
Our interest and concern is with the health of our local ecosystem. The Friends of St Andrew Bay focus upon Bay County's biologically diverse natural resources and habitat, growth management; the impacts of stormwater and contaminants upon our bay watershed; and, efforts towards community education and outreach. Our activities include: exploring our local habitats to discover and document the diversity of species and the natural resources within our ecosystem; preservation and restoration of seagrass beds and saltmarshes; restoration and preservation of our local shorelines; community education and outreach, and initiation of a watershed wide stormwater study. We also conduct quarterly informational seminars at GCCC that are free and open to the public; and, we provide valuable scientific and ecological information to local decision makers. Our volunteers have published a number of reports about our ecosystem and these reports and studies can be found on our website at www.baybest.org. Finally, we apply for grant funding to accomplish our activities through our Florida not-for-profit 501(c) (3) corporation, The St. Andrew Bay Environmental Study Team, Inc. or, BEST, Inc.
We hope you will join us as we work hard to maintain the beauty, diversity and uniqueness of our local ecosystem!
