DAPHNE – Don Bates pointed to a bucket of moldy plastic and Styrofoam sitting on the bridge over D’Olive Creek. The trash was collected during a test of a small-stream litter collection device in D’Olive Creek. “That was with no rain,” he said. “When it rains, these things will have a lot more than that.” The device, known as a “Litter Gitter,” is now deployed in the creek upstream from the Gator Alley boardwalk and will be used to intercept floating litter from storm water runoff. Bates, the owner of Osprey Initiative, which developed the Litter Gitter, said 10 of the devices are now in place in Three-Mile Creek and three in Dog River in Mobile County.

Last month I reported on an organization that is doing an amazing work in Aransas County, helping restore the communities of Fulton and Rockport as they get back on their feet after a bad actor named Harvey drew a bullseye on the two coastal communities. The group is Keep Aransas County Beautiful (KACB) and their post-Harvey mission and accomplishments continue to be highly-commendable.

Congressman Tom Malinowski introduced the Protect and Restore America’s Estuaries Act, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the National Estuary Program (NEP).