Marina Mertz
Marina Mertz joined CAVU in August 2023 as the Florida Education Liaison where she will focus on introducing our Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC) to Florida Panhandle educators. Marina is passionate about preserving the earth’s natural beauty for future generations, and driven to address climate change by her love for our remaining intact ecosystems.
Marina also works for Florida Wildflower Foundation as the Panhandle Alliance Liaison. She collaborates with local advocates, alliance members, local governments, and FDOT to establish and maintain wildflower corridors on roadsides, utility easements, public gardens, and schools
Marina holds a degree in Environmental Studies and a Certificate in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University. She is currently pursuing her Florida Master Naturalist and Restoration Florida Master Naturalist certifications.
Her time is also spent volunteering for several organizations including Coastal Plains Institute as a fieldwork assistant on Striped Newt repatriation research, and with 4H as the co-lead for the Youth Master Naturalist program. As an avid gardener, who maintains a bountiful vegetable garden, she is steadily converting the rest of her home landscape to native plantings, with a goal of establishing a small wildlife refuge in the heart of downtown. She loves to be out in the field improving her botanizing skills and removing invasives, and spends her free time hiking, camping, and bike touring with her husband and daughter.
