The Tampa Bay Estuary: An Oral History of Community Collaboration to Restore Ecological Integrity

Interviewee

Roy R. Lewis III

Files

Download

Download Full Text (67.1 MB)

Download Transcript_Roy R. Lewis III OH (312 KB)

Loading...

Media is loading
 

Interviewer

Ann B. Hodgson

Publication Date

February 2016

Date

June 2015

Abstract

Roy R. Lewis III is an environmentalist with 50 years of experience in Florida ecological preservation and restoration, most of those focusing on the preservation of Tampa Bay. Lewis remembers his early life as a "junior naturalist" growing up in Daytona Beach and rural Jacksonville, Florida, collecting snakes and lizards and exploring the local wildlife. He was educated at the University of Florida, where he made the decision to change his major from medicine to biology. Lewis completed his graduate education at the University of South Florida in 1966 and soon, through the Save Our Bay group, initiated experimental research on the condition of a very polluted Tampa Bay. He conducted groundbreaking studies on the mangrove and seagrass populations in the bay and was successful in his methods to acquire support from the federal and state level for these projects. Lewis continues his interview sharing his history of environmental activism, the work he's done with Hillsborough County commissioners, protecting the wildlife preserve islands in Florida, and the connection between seagrass and mangrove habitat and fisheries management.

Keywords

Seagrasses, Ecology, Wildlife habitat improvement, Coastal zone management, Mangrove conservation, Environmentalists

Extent

02:26:38; 47 page transcript

Subject: geographic

Hillsborough County (Fla.); Tampa (Fla.)

Language

English

Digital Date

2015

Media Type

Oral histories

Format

Digital Only

Identifier

T43-00003

Share

 
COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright