Please join the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in celebrating its 20-year anniversary by visiting one of the County’s natural areas for a guided tour on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Four natural areas with public-use facilities will be showcased: the Jupiter Ridge, Royal Palm Beach Pines, High Ridge Scrub and Yamato Scrub natural areas. Tours will leave the parking lots at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., and 11 a.m. Light refreshments will be provided.
To reserve your spot on one of the tours, please call 561-233-2457 or email Vivienne Burnett at vburnett@co.palm-beach.fl.us. For more information and/or directions to these natural areas, go to
www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/erm/index.asp and click on "ERM Anniversary" under HOT TOPICS.
The natural area system is one of ERM’s most successful programs, encompassing more than 35,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands purchased with taxpayer-supported bond dollars. Natural areas are open for self-guided tours from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week including holidays.
For 20 years now, ERM has worked to protect, preserve and enhance the land and water resources for the residents of and visitors to Palm Beach County. The department has come a long way from very humble beginnings. On October 1, 1987, the Board of County Commissioners created the Department of Environmental Resources Management and appointed Rich Walesky as its first director, a position he has held ever since. At that time, ERM consisted of the director and 38 staff positions. Fifteen positions were designated to implement the new Wellfield Protection Ordinance and other environmental programs; the remaining positions were transferred to ERM from two existing County programs – Mosquito Control and Beaches.
Over the next year, the department’s mission statement and basic organization were approved; the Wetlands Protection and Surface Water Quality Monitoring programs were transferred from the Palm Beach County Public Health Unit; and the Pollutant Storage Tank Clean-up and Compliance programs were created. In October 1989, the County Commission approved 20 new positions, including the first position for natural areas acquisition and management.
Today, ERM administers 19 environmental programs and employs more than 150 people in five divisions. From Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean, ERM programs cover Palm Beach County. If you have dived on an artificial reef, walked a beach, or explored a natural area, then you have enjoyed the fruits of ERM’s labor.
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