Wekiva Island Wins Environmental Award

Wekiva Island, an environmentally friendly education and recreation venue has been honored with the 2016 MetroPlan Orlando Clean Air Award.

Wekiva Island strives to be a carbon-neutral recreation destination -- the first of its kind in Florida. The organization's environmental philosophy goes by the acronym CERO -- standing for Conservation, Efficiency, Renewable and Offset.

Since 2008, Wekiva Island has drastically reduced its carbon footprint, and provides education and environmental partnerships along with its unique recreation offerings. It also boasts Seminole County's first LEED Platinum building -- the Mike Barr Education Center, which local environmental non-profits use for free.

Wekiva Island was the final stop on Apopka Ecotourism Day. The Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce and Orange County Commissioner Bryan Nelson sponsored the Apopka Ecotourism Day in April. Chamber members and others got up-close-and-personal with Apopka Ecotourism and enjoyed some of our area’s natural treasures.

Every year, MetroPlan Orlando and the Central Florida Clean Air Team give the award to an organization that demonstrates innovative or unique contributions to preserving our region’s air quality. Because of the wealth of excellent entries in recent years, Honorable Mention awards have been presented along with the Clean Air Award. The winner of the 2015 Clean Air Award was Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) Transportation Division.