North Port plans annual environmental scorecard to track water, air, tree canopy and invasive species

Stefan Califf, North Port’s natural resources manager, told the City Commission at a June 2 workshop that the city will develop an annual environmental scorecard to present water quality, air quality, tree canopy, wildlife and floodplain parameters in a publicly accessible format.

Califf said the scorecard will include measures already monitored by other agencies and by city departments and will synthesize them into visuals that are “simple, yet informative.” He told commissioners the surface-water monitoring program currently measures 11 parameters at seven locations and that the division will incorporate external data sources such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District where possible.

The scorecard’s nut graf is that the city intends to combine multiple existing datasets and a limited…