by David Chapman
Staff Writer
For Neil Armingeon, being St. Johns Riverkeeper doesn’t exactly mean cruising down the river on a daily basis or taking messages from a floating office.
Instead, his main workspace is a small office that he shares with the Riverkeeper Executive Director Jimmy Orth in the heart of Jacksonville University.
“People think just because I’m ‘Riverkeeper’ it means that I do nothing but stay on the water,” said Armingeon, laughing. “I actually don’t get out to the water very often ... not nearly as much as I hope.”
Armingeon and St. Johns Riverkeeper do patrol the waters but they also do their work in the courtrooms, conference rooms and board meetings across Northeast Florida, doing what they can as a “watchdog” to ensure the safety and health of the River.
But they shouldn’t get too comfortable with their current digs.
They’ll be one of the tenants of the new JU Marine Science Center Institute, a 30,000 square-foot facility on the banks of the St. Johns River that’s slated for groundbreaking within the next several months.
“We’re (St. Johns Riverkeeper) extremely happy with all the help JU has given us,” said Armingeon, “and the new facility is going to be amazing.”
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