SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION Maegan Mikkelson

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation announced that its second Pfeifer Conservation Fellow is Maegan Mikkelson, a graduate student in landscape architecture at the University of Florida.

A Southwest Florida native, she grew up spending weekends on Sanibel beaches. As a student at North Fort Myers High School, Mikkelson received a Disney Summer of Service Grant and founded the Adopt a Mangrove Foundation, which led to the propagation and planting of 8,000 mangroves in Lee County wetlands. For her efforts, she received the 2019 Conservation Stewardship Award from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“My passion for coastal resilience stems from being personally affected by the catastrophic Hurricane Ian that hit our hometown in 2022,” Mikkelson said. “Using this fellowship, I plan to dedicate my graduate terminal project to the prevention of natural disaster impacts and integrating innovative design into my work.”

As the 2024 fellow, she will focus her graduate terminal project in landscape architecture on Sanibel under the supervision of UF’s School of Landscape Architecture and Planning Director Dr. Jules Bruck, who specializes in coastal resilience. Mikkelson will also work with last year’s fellow and UF Professor Emeritus Tom Ankersen, who will continue to work with the SCCF to support the city’s Sanibel Plan update concerning coastal resiliency and related matters.

In honor of the city’s 50th anniversary, Mikkelson will also work with the SCCF, UF Department of Landscape Architecture and firm WRT to create a museum-style exhibit and forum celebrating the historic plan, which is scheduled for the fall. WRT wrote the original Sanibel Plan and will provide archival material for the exhibit.

The Pfeifer Conservation Fellowship was created by Eric and Mary Ellen Pfeifer to support the ongoing research relationship between the UF and SCCF in water quality and coastal resiliency.

“I am extremely excited and thankful for the opportunity the Pfeifer fellowship is giving me to advance my graduate terminal project and for their ongoing support of research on our beloved Sanibel,” she said.