Tampa Bay Watch Salt Marsh Planting

Tampa Bay Watch sponsored a salt marsh grass planting in Terra Ceia, adjacent from the Bishops Harbor boat ramp this morining. My youngest children, a couple of their friends, and I had been planning on it for quite some time but circumstances dictated that neither of their neighborhood friends could attend so it was just the three of us.

The first thing I learned was that Bishops Harbor road has a different name on the right hand side when heading East on US 41 (smiley here). I hadn't been there, and had very good directions but with two kids in the cab of a pick up... I missed it by about seven miles because I was just looking to the right for road signs. (figured there had to be another blining yellow.

Salt marsh grass is an essential component in the intertidal regions for maintianing the integrity of the shoreline and providing habitat for native species. Tampa Bay Watch has been involved in coordinating these types of events for over fourteen years and hosted the largest salt marsh planting in history. For more information on salt marsh grass and opportunities to get involved we encourage you to visit their web site http://www.tampabaywatch.org.

At any rate, we made it and had a great time! The folks at Tampa Bay Watch divided the volunteers into different groups and went over the process of planting salt marsh grass. Most of the plugs have been grown by bay area schools and it was good to see so many young people participating.

Elora and Connor worked with a group of about twenty others and fanned out over one side of the habitat. One person went a long to creat the holes, followed by one more with a fertilizer scoop and others followed with the plugs. The tarteted regions were marked by little red flags, presumably indicating the low and high tide areas. If the plug was planted in the water, no fertilizer was added.

My children had a great time and. with our group, went through about three or so of the large garbage bags of salt marsh grass plugs. They were doing great, enjoying the activity and people until the allure of the muddy water overcame any vision of their purpose.

Connor was first with an "oops, look what happened", and he was wet and covered with mud up to his chest. When Elora saw the smirk on his face I guess she figured she had to join the fun. When we'd left home I told my wife that I felt we'd be lucky to get an hour of work out of them as they are quite young and easily distracted. Having made it through an hour and a half I couldn't be displeased so we got them into some dry clothes and made the trip back to the point.

I would like to thank the people of Tampa Bay Watch, their supporters and volunteers for making such a tremendous opportunity available. Getting our youngsters out there in the field and getting dirty in making a difference will be a lesson not soon foregotten and we're all looking forward to the next effort.

To learn more about Tampa Bay Watch, salt marsh grass or the various opportunities to get involved please take a moment to visit the following links:

Tampa Bay Watch | Volunteer Opportunites | Salt Marsh Plantings