Netherlands Team in Palatka

The Netherlands team entered Palatka with a bang!  At a fantastic mansion on the river the team dined with hors d'ourves, the Mayor of Palatka, the chief of Police and the owner of the local funeral home, not to mention, past District Governor Shann Purinton.  As we visited we got caricatures done.  We thank the host family!

The team visited the St. Johns River Water Management District on Wednesday, May 13.  They were treated to a talk by the executive director and asked very honest questions such as why don't you pay more for water, why isn't there a cap on use per person, why not more conservation, why do you let the water go out into the ocean at Jacksonville.  Kirby had good answers-we are not there yet but we are now working on it.  Wow.  My director from operations and land resources had studied abroad in the Netherlands and did a water management tour in the Netherlands last year and had a lot of good exchange to offer.  He explained how farmers in the Netherlands are paid for crops lost to geese eating them for example (here we kill nuisance wildlife that damage crops).  In the US we do something similar to paying farmers for losses.  We pay farmers to not develop their land.  It is for the common good of water storage, less infrastructure needed to manage water, and wildlife habitat.  They took a tour of the District, ate lunch at fabulous local Italian restaurant-Nikos, and went on a tour of the St. Johns River south of Palatka.  

In their last week they were still going strong.  We hope to see them at the airport on their departure.