Sister Keys in spotlight

Longboat Key’s Longbeach Village neighborhood is among the 40 stops featured in a free watershed tour of Manatee and Sarasota counties.

In April, a plaque with instructions on accessing an audio presentation was placed on Bay Side Drive just south of Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant.

Suncoast Waterkeeper board member Rusty Chinnis narrates how citizens came together to protect the Sister Keys.

“You could say that the Sister Keys are the crown jewel in an excess of islands that graze Sarasota Bay,” Chinnis said. “[As] a family of four islands, the Sister Keys are the largest set of undeveloped islands anywhere from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor.”

The program is funded by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Southwest Florida Water Management District and the Florida Beverage Association.