Restoration Week

We had a visitor to our class on Wednesday from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Never before did I realize how much work they put in to our local community. 

The department has a project going on right now that has been very successful in the past, sea grass restoration! The project is taking place all over Northwest Florida water systems. Basically, the department grows sea grass in a lab, attaches it to mats that are biodegradable, takes it out and puts it onto the seafloor with staples. The sea grass grows roots into the ground through the mats and creates new sea grass beds. After the roots are successful, the department goes back and digs up the staples, so the area can return back to a natural habitat.  

Another project they are working on is building oyster reefs in Pensacola Bay. The oyster reefs protect the estuary system (where the freshwater from the river meets the saltwater from the bay). The oyster reefs are important there because any oyster, harvest-able in size, can filter about 50 gallons of water per day! 

The problem now, is that the environment in the water currently is not favorable for the oysters to grow to a size big enough for them to be able to do that. 

One of the main problems underlying the restoration process is the funding. The government calculates value of these reefs and sea grass beds in a much different way than the department does. It is very hard to get enough funding to complete enough of the projects to make a difference. 

The general public access is also a problem for the rebuilding of the habitats. Sometimes the best things aren't the prettiest things. For example, our guest speaker mentioned a portion of land that is private property. Most or all of the sea grass in some of these locations is gone, and the land owners want it to stay that way because they enjoy the "sand beaches" in their back yards. She mentioned that the initial switch takes a little bit of convincing sometimes, but once it is finished, the end product is beautiful too! 

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