Flannery was instrumental in helping protect the Little Manatee and Alafia rivers
Hillsborough County, Fla. (April 16, 2025) - The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners honored Michael S. "Sid" Flannery of Tampa with the 2025 Theodore Roosevelt Hillsborough Forever Conservation Award during the Board's meeting on Wednesday.
A graduate of the University of Florida, Flannery is an environmental scientist in water resources management, specializing in the ecology, hydrology, and management of water resources. Flannery's career in aquatic ecology and resource management spanned 35 years, including more than 29 years at the Southwest Florida Water Management District. As chief environmental scientist for the water management district, he supervised crucial ecological research on the region's rivers and was instrumental in developing the percent-of-flow method for establishing minimum flow regulations for streams and rivers.
Flannery worked extensively on the application of this method to develop environmentally protective withdrawal schedules for the Alafia and Little Manatee Rivers in Hillsborough County, among other work. He also was instrumental in assessing the effects of water withdrawals from the Hillsborough River and Tampa Bypass Canal.
In the 1990s Flannery nominated lands along the Little Manatee River for preservation and interacted with Hillsborough County staff to write sections of the County's land development code for minimum setbacks near perennial streams. Since his retirement in 2014, he has served as a member of the water management district's Environmental Advisory Committee, a stakeholder group for the Lower Hillsborough River minimum flows, and on an environmental feedback group for the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County. He also continues to provide valuable input by authoring technical reports and collecting biological data.
About the award
In 2017, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners established the Theodore Roosevelt Hillsborough Forever Conservation Award to be presented annually to an individual or group of individuals who exemplifies dedication to preserving the County's natural resources. The award was created in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States and noted conservationist.
Considered to be the nation's first conservation president, Roosevelt established the United States Forest Service, 51 bird reserves, four game preserves, and 150 national forests. He also signed into law the creation of five national parks and placed 230 million acres under federal protection.
Links: Photos from today's ceremony, photos, videos of Manatee River