The Community Foundation of Sarasota County recently awarded a $400,000 grant to help transform a stretch of land at The Bay into a living shoreline designed to mitigate the impact of future storms and provide lasting environmental benefits to the area. The project will raise shoreline elevations, replace seawalls and other hardened features with natural alternatives and install green infrastructure to filter stormwater. The improvements are expected to reduce the City of Sarasota’s vulnerability to storm surge and coastal flooding, help protect adjacent infrastructure, improve water quality in Sarasota Bay and restore nearby coastal habitat. In addition to the physical changes to the shoreline, the grant dollars will also be used to create public education opportunities so that residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations can learn about the techniques used to create natural shorelines and implement those best practices in their own work.