The third, and last, professional stakeholder workshop of this series was held on June 4th, 2013, in Marineland, FL. Nine participants with backgrounds in development, real estate, and business were welcomed by Micheal Shirley, Director of the GTM Research Reserve. The University of Florida project team then presented participants with an analysis of potential sea level rise impacts to the Matanzas Basin, and a primer on adaptation planning. Afterwards, participants provided input towards future planning scenarios through a visioning exercise and a sea level rise adaption strategy role-play game.

The workshop provided an excellent forum to discuss ways to ensure the Matanzas area’s continued vitality. The project team thanks participants for a productive workshop and engaging conversations. The input provided by participants will inform the next phase of the project that generates maps of future land use scenarios. These maps will be shared with all stakeholder groups and citizens in late fall of 2013.

Doug Davis (far right) discusses his group’s results from the sea level rise adaptation strategy game.

Workshop participants identified their top priorities from the visioning exercise by placing a red dot by their preferences.