Working under the leadership of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, the Broward County Environmental Protection Department’s mission is to sustain and enhance the quality of life in Broward County by promoting effective and efficient regional uses of environmental resources through environmental planning, management, and regulation. 

From their website:

‘Environmental protection emerged in Broward County in the 1970’s. During the initial decades, programs and organizations were created to address a specific environmental pollution issue or because of federal or state government mandates.  In 1991, the focus of the agency underwent a radical change, as did its organizational structure. It was recognized that the County’s natural resource systems are fundamental to our economy, communities, and quality of life, and the structure of agency changed to address these goals; creating separate divisions for water resources, air quality, pollution prevention, and biological resources.’

One of their focus projects has been the North Fork New River, in particular the planning and implementation of the New River Restoration plan (link or pdf) that has included over 2 million dollars of state of Florida primarily administered by the South Florida Water Management District funded projects (with county in-kind match) over the past 11 years.  Numerous governmental partners in the effort to restore the river include but are not limited to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Broward County Health Department, Broward County Streets and Highways, Broward County Parks and Recreation, Broward County Water and Wastewater Services, City of Ft. Lauderdale, and the City of Lauderdale Lakes.

Public education and outreach has been a major part of the effort as well as the formation of a successful Adopt-A-Waterway Program .  The numerous homeowner associations have been very instrumental in providing public input.  Several academic partnerships have also flourished including studies and projects with the Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University, the Kids Ecology Corps, Stranahan and Dillard High Schools, North Fork Elementary, and other portions of the Broward County School Board.  Last and definitely not least, the Audubon Society, the Wildlife Research Team and the Broward Urban River Trails have been active non profit organizations.