The Coastal Habitat and Water Quality Initiative

Turning Scientific Research into Real-world Restoration

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Who We Are — preview

Who We Are

C-HAWQ is a science-first Florida nonprofit writing the playbook on water quality and habitat restoration. Here's how:

University-backed research

Partnering with Florida researchers to build a library of trusted best practices.

Nature-based solutions

Heron standing among cattails, representing blue-green infrastructure

Living shorelines and natural systems that restore water quality for good.

Technical assistance grants

Providing the pathway to design, fund, and build restoration projects.

Community outreach

Public meetings and education that bring residents into the process.

Working with municipalities across Florida

From the Panhandle to the Keys, we're already partnering with canal communities on nature-based solutions — living shorelines, oyster reefs, and better circulation that solve water quality problems for less than traditional infrastructure. If your municipality is facing the same challenges, our technical assistance grants can help fund the path forward.

Map of Florida with pins marking active canal communities and project sites along the coastline — Active canal communities and project sites across Florida's coastline.

Our Research

We're writing the playbook on water quality and habitat restoration, starting with a gap nobody has closed: residential canals, the man-made waterways found nowhere more than Southwest Florida. In 2026 we joined the Gulf Ecosystem Initiative — a $3.5 million partnership with NOAA and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis — to map canal degradation, trace its link to harmful algal blooms, and build indicators municipalities can use to plan restoration and measure whether it worked.

Read Our Research

Our Advisors

Chris Stallings, PhD

Professor, USF College of Marine Science
Holden Harris, PhD

University of Florida
Micheal Allen, PhD

Professor, UF School of Forest, Fisheries & Geomatics Scienceshere
Director, UF | IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station
Christopher B. Burke, PhD, PE, D.WRE, Dist.M.ASCE NED,

Professor, University of Illinois - Chicago College of Engineering
David Kaplan, PhD

Professor, UF Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment
Director, H.T. Odum Center for Wetlands
Associate Director, UF Center for Coastal Solutions
Vincent Encomio, PhD

Extension Agent, Martin & St. Lucie Counties, Florida Sea Grant, University of Florida IFAS