Environmental advocates are applauding Gov. Ron DeSantis for his appointment of Edward "Eddy" C. Bouza II as Florida's new Chief Resilience Officer.
Bouza is a certified flood plain manager and has been director of the Resilient Florida Program, which disburses grants statewide to address the impacts of hurricanes, flooding and sea level rise.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said in a release, he will "continue to lead the state's efforts at maximizing its mitigation investments by coordinating cross-agency mitigation strategies."
Dawn Shirreff, Florida director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said because of his history, she's excited about Bouza getting tapped for this.
"The predecessors to this role did a good job of setting a vision of building up the network so that the stakeholders can collaborate. And now we need someone who really kind of knows how to do the implementation side," she said.
Dean of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida and former Chief Science Officer Tom Frazer said in the DEP release, the Florida Flood Hub has had a productive relationship with Bouza.
"We look forward to further collaboration that increases Florida's resilience and protects its people and their assets," Frazer said.
The executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Florida, Greg Knecht, added, Bouza "has been a champion for Florida's environmental resilience for years."
"So many of us have worked with him to protect our state's natural resources. He is a top-notch addition to Governor DeSantis's team, and all Floridians will benefit from Eddy's knowledge, passion and experience," Knecht said.
Bouza also completed a training through the state's Natural Resources Leadership Institute to learn about nature-based resilience features, like mangroves versus sea walls.
"The facts support over and over again that nature-based resilience features -things like mangroves and coral reefs and marshes — are more protective. They have a better return on investment to protect communities from flooding than just kind of your harder flood walls and what's considered gray infrastructure," EDF's Dawn Shirreff said.
"As we're looking to stretch these dollars and maximize protection, those nature-based features really need to be front and center in how we prioritize resilience, and we believe Eddy understands that."
This coming spring marks five years of Florida grants helping local communities adapt to flooding and rising seas.
Since its establishment in 2021, a total of $1.8 billion has been allocated by the state to support over 320 planning grant awards, according to the DEP's latest Resilient Florida Annual Plan.
Over the years, the grants have funded things like vulnerability assessments for Port Tampa Bay, St. Pete Beach, New Port Richey, and many more.
Then there are the full-on projects, like nature-based flood mitigation for Tarpon Center Drive in Venice, a wetland restoration at Bradco Farm Park in Winter Haven, and the hardening of Anna Maria's city hall.
Last legislative session, state lawmakers appropriated $175 million to the Resilient Florida Program, although Shirreff said there were more than $2 billion in projects proposed.
"We can't get where we need to go without being extremely strategic on how these funds are spent, and then by making deeper investments, which is more the role of the legislature... but it is the Chief Resilience Officer's responsibility to explain the need and the benefits," she said.
The application deadline for this year's Resilient Florida grants is Sept. 1.
Some unfunded projects back in 2024 include the rehabilitation and expansion of the Land O' Lakes Wastewater Treatment Facility, improvements to the Shore Acres Denver stormwater drainage project, and the Davis Island Seawall at Seaplane Basin.
Bouza's appointment comes as Floridians are still recovering from strong hurricanes, flooding events — both from storm surge and record rainfall — plus record-breaking extreme heat.
Shirreff hopes Bouza will stay focused on what the data says about Florida's growing risks.
"And make sure that we're building in the flexibility to respond to it, not get caught up in the politics," she said.
WUSF reached out to Eddy Bouza for an interview, but he did not respond in time for this story.
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