The Collier County Waterkeeper organization is pleased to announce that longtime clean water advocate and community organizer K.C. Schulberg has been named the Collier County Waterkeeper.
Schulberg served for three years as Executive Director of Lee County clean water nonprofit Calusa Waterkeeper. During his term at Calusa Waterkeeper, he helped steer the organization to significant expansion and success: Revenue quadrupled, membership tripled, the organization won prestigious awards including “Non-Profit of the Year” from the Cape Coral Community Foundation and the “Conservation Award” (2020) from the DAR Estero Island Chapter. His Saving Estero Bay online event won a Florida Public Relations Association Golden Image Award of Distinction. Employing his filmmaking skills, Schulberg produced and directed three award-winning documentaries for Calusa Waterkeeper: Troubled Waters (2018), Eternal Vigilance (2019) and Waterborne (2020).
The appointment marks a return of sorts for Schulberg, who first arrived in Collier County as a young boy when his father and uncle produced the Warner Brothers environmental feature, Wind Across the Everglades, filmed entirely in Everglades City. Schulberg, who has had a significant career in filmmaking, having worked on more than 200 television movies, miniseries and feature films and serving a ten-year stint as Executive VP at Hallmark Entertainment, has lived full-time in Naples since 2012. Earlier this year, Schulberg was honored with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Fort Myers Film Festival for his career in filmmaking.
“I live in Collier County. I breathe this air, I drink and swim in these waters,” Schulberg said. “This is personal for me. It is my honor to help defend clean water for our community today and for generations into the future.”
Schulberg fills the role previously held by Harrison Langley, the founding Collier County Waterkeeper. Langley will continue to serve the organization as its executive director.
Working with Langley and the Collier County Waterkeeper board of directors, Schulberg has identified five priority issues for the organization:
- Climate change
- Wetland preservation
- Harmful algae blooms
- Stormwater run-off
- Coral reef preservation
Another focus of the revitalized organization will be to support the Right to Clean Water / Rights of Nature / FL5.org movement and help them attain the requisite number of signed petitions to get those five legislative initiatives onto ballots for the upcoming election.
Schulberg has also started to build out a prestigious monthly colloquiums known as the Collier County Waterkeeper Water Quality Conferences along with a monthly series of environmental and clean water documentaries. The Water Quality Conferences start in December and the documentary series will begin in January.
For more information about the Collier County Waterkeeper please visit: colliercountywaterkeeper.org or call 239-228-6390. Please find a link to a short introductory video Schulberg and Langley just produced https://youtu.be/1Fr0owugW8I
