United States Environmental Protection Agency cxEPA Office pf Water (4504F) EPA842-F-99-QQ4R December 1999 CHARACTERISTICS Tampa Bay Watershed Located on Florida's central Gulf coast, the Tampa Bay estuary is Florida's largest estuary, encompassing 400 square miles of open water and associat- ed salt marsh, islands, tidal creeks, and coastal wetlands. Estuaries like Tampa Bay, where salt and freshwater combine to form a coastal sanctu- ary are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world. The blend of bay environments, ranging from underwater meadows of seagrass to surrounding marshes and uplands, provides shelter and food for a multitude of diverse wildlife types. More than 85 percent of all fish, shellfish and crustaceans spend some part of their lives in the protected estuarine waters of coastal wetlands. Tampa Bay's islands support major bird breeding colonies where more than 40,000 breeding pairs belonging to some 25 bird species come to rear their young. The Tampa Bay system also serves as an impor- tant wintering ground or stopover for many migratory bird species traveling throughout South, Central and North America. Salt or tidal marshes occur along the shore- u,_,.L line where wave action is minimal. These " ._ ,,,'._ marshes, which periodically become submerged, " support crabs, shrimp, snails, oysters, juvenile fish and a vari- ety of birds. The pools and tidal creeks that wind through these marshes serve as primary habitats for sport and com- mercially important fish. Salt marshes serve as a vital link in the marine food web, stabilize sediments, buffer uplands from storms and filter pollutants that run off from the land. PINELLAS COUNTY HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY MANATEE COUNTY SARASOTA COUNTY fcj^S^Afc-:! Estuaries and other coastal and marine waters are national resources that are increasingly threatened by pollution, habitat loss, coastal development, and resource conflicts. Congress established the National Estuary Program- (NEP) in 1987 to provide a greater focus for coastal protection and to demonstrate practical, inno- vative approaches for protecting estuaries and their living resources. As part of the demonstration role, the NEP offers funding for mem- ber estuaries to design and implement Action Plan Demonstration Projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to address priority problem areas, show improvements that can be achieved on a small scale, and help determine the time and resources needed to apply similar approaches basin-wide. The NEP is managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It currently includes 28 estuaries: Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds, NC; Barataria-Terrebonne Estuarine Complex, LA; Bamegat Bay, NJ; Buzzards Bay, MA; Casco Bay, ME; Charlotte Harbor, FL; Columbia River, OR and WA; Corpus Christi Bay, TX; Delaware Estuary, DE, NJ, and PA; Delaware Inland Bays, DE; Galveston Bay, TX; Indian River Lagoon, FL; Long Island Sound, CTandNY; Maryland Coastal Bays, MD; Massachusetts Bays, MA; Mobile Bay, AL; Mono Bay, CA; Narragansett Bay, RI; New Hampshire Estuaries, NH; New York-New Jersey Harbor, NY and NJ; Peconic Bay, NY; Puget Sound, WA; San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, CA; San Juan Bay, PR; Santa Monica Bay, CA; Sarasota Bay, FL; Tampa Bay, FL; andTillamookBay, OR. ------- JIB a sass mmx iiig IIM^^^^^^^^^ :;a.j Tampa Bay receives groundwater and surface water runoff from a large watershed of 2,300 square miles in area. The watershed has already been gready altered by urban and industrial development and by agricultural activities. In this watershed, 2.4 million people live and work in several major cities, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. The population in the three counties surrounding Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties, is expected to increase by 20 percent by the year 2010. Tampa Bay faces the prospect of future impacts resulting from this population boom, as well as the impacts that have already affected its water, wetlands and natural resources. Today, after a century of intensive urban and industrial shoreline development, the character and ecology of Tampa Bay and its tributaries have been significandy altered. Coastal wetland losses have exacerbated shoreline erosion and contributed to poor or decreased water quality within the Tampa Bay ecosystem. Nearly half of all the mangrove forests and salt marshes that once existed in the Tampa Bay estuary have been destroyed. The loss of these coastal wet- lands has resulted in major declines in fisheries and wildlife that depend on these habitats. Populations of economically important fish, shellfish, bait and food shrimp have dwin- dled to near-depletion. Scallop and oyster fisheries in the bay have collapsed. The Tampa Bay community has responded to this tremen- dous loss of habitat and decline in estuarine conditions by undertaking numerous restoration, management, and per- mitting programs to facilitate die recovery of the bay. For example, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program funded a pilot salt marsh nursery program, through Tampa BayWatch. Tampa BayWatch, incorporated in 1993, is a non-profit environ- mental stewardship program for die Tampa Bay estuary, devoted exclusively to the scientific and charitable purpose of monitoring, restoring, and protecting the marine and wet- land environments of the bay. Tampa BayWatch programs seek to build citizen awareness, concern, and participation through educational outreach. Tampa BayWatch has established salt marsh nurseries within the bay region's high school ecology or science clubs. These student-constructed and maintained nurseries produce salt marsh grass available for transplanting into habitat restora- tion projects throughout Tampa Bay. The first high school wetland nursery was established in 1996. Currently, eleven school nurseries have been established, and three more are planned during the 1999/2000 school year. The fourteen nursery ponds will potentially be capable of producing a total of 70,000 to 140,000 plants, provided free of charge to local and state environmental agencies conducting habitat restoration projects. Ideally, enough salt marsh grasses will be grown to restore 14 to 20 new acres of salt marsh per year. This is a significant contribution to the long-term health and recovery of the community's greatest natural resource—the Tampa Bay estuary. The goal of the Tampa BayWatch High School Wetland Nursery Program is to provide educational outreach to involve students in hands-on habitat restoration and protec- tion activities. The High School Wetland Nursery Program will help to improve the long-term health of the estuary through a variety of mechanisms: 1. A consistent and inexpensive source of high-quality salt marsh grasses assists government agencies in restoring habitat cost-effectively. 2. Student volunteer manpower allows more acreage of salt marsh to be planted. 3. Measurable improvements in habitat, water quality, fish and bird populations and recreational opportunities from these restoration activities. 4. Instilling in students an understanding and appreciation of the Tampa Bay estuary, the watershed, and the wildlife that depend on it, raising awareness of problems, and providing incentives to students to change behaviors that impact the bay. A student who has worked to restore bay habitat systems is more likely to become an enlightened bay user, as well as an outspoken advocate for the bay. ------- Once a school expresses interest in hosting a nursery pro- gram, they are evaluated for their long-term ability to pro- vide space and staff to support a salt marsh nursery. After being selected to participate in the program, the nursery is constructed with the help of the students by enclosing a. 16- foot by 16-foot area on the ground with wooden boards. Plastic pond liner material is placed on the ground to hold salt water. Native Sportina alterniflom, more commonly called smooth cordgrass, is planted in a beach sand, vermicu- lite and peat mixture and then placed in rooting trays within the nursery. A battery-operated timer system is used to con- trol flooding with salty irrigation water to mimic natural conditions. After the original construction costs, the high school nurseries are self-sustaining with minimal yearly maintenance costs. The salt marsh grass can be harvested after a six-to-eight month growing period. About half of the nursery plants will be transplanted into a local restoration project while the remaining portion will be used to restart the school nursery for another growing season. The transplanting site must be approved by a local environmental agency, and it must pro- .. vide the appropriate tidal regime for the salt marsh grass to grow. Tampa BayWatch's High School Wetland Nursery Program has been a very successful community project since its incep- tion in 1996. Major achievements include: • Transplantation of approximately 200,000 plants and restoration of approximately 17 acres of salt marsh, • Establishment of nurseries at eleven schools, with other schools expressing interest in joining the program, • School participation in nine habitat restoration events, • Active cultivation of 18,500 plants for bay restoration projects, • Involvement by approximately 1,000 students each school year in the nursery program, • Development of a High School Wetland Nursery Program Operations Manual in 1997 to facilitate program expansion—Tampa BayWatch distributed this manual to school systems, environmental agencies and other non-profit organizations in the nation to serve as a model for hands-on bay restoration efforts nationwide, • Creating networks between students, local scientists and the public agencies responsible for restoring and protecting Tampa Bay. These habitat restoration efforts have won the program a number of environmental awards, including: • The 1995 Tampa Bay Association of Environmental Professionals "Innovative Educational Programs" award, • The 1996 Society for Ecological Restoration "Project Facilitation Award," • In 1997 Governor Lawton Chiles and the Governor's Council for Sustainable Florida recognized the outstanding Environmental Education contribution of Tampa BayWatch's High School Wetland Nursery Program, • The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's Future of the Region Environmental Award in 1998. During the past six years, Tampa BayWatch has learned valu- able lessons to help improve the program. • Planning and implementing such a program can take time. Planning field trips to conduct salt marsh restoration, for example, can take up to a month or more. Experience has shown that one transplanting project per school during a school year is feasible. ------- Tampa BayWatch has also discovered that the salt marsh plants grown in the school nurseries are much higher quality than plants purchased from a commercial nursery. This may be due to the fact that school nurseries are smaller than commercial facilities and the plants are given the utmost in care and attention. Problems can be detected sooner and taken care of more easily. The nursery plants are also allowed to grow longer in larger rooting trays, allowing a larger plant and root to form, making transplanting less stressful to the plants. Schools and plant nurseries alone cannot meet all of the demands of the number of regional restoration projects requiring a large number of salt marsh grasses. Printed on Recycled Paper Report Title Biological Nutrients Removal Project Buttermilk Bay Coliform Control Project Georgetown Stormwater Management Project Texas Coastal Preserves Project Shell Creek Stormwater Diversion Project City Island Habitat Restoration Project Buzzards Bay "Scp Track" Initiative New Options for Dredging in Batataria-Terrebonne Coquina Bay Walk at Letlis Key "Pilot Project Goes Airborne" Tire National Estuary Program: A Ten-Year Perspective Rock Barbs In Oregon's Tillamook Bay Watershed The Weeks Bay Shoreline & Habitat Restoration Project Evaluation of Shrimp Bycatch Reduction Devices in Texas Coastal Bend Waters National Estuary Program Long Island Sound, CT/NY Buzzards Bay, MA Delaware Inland Bays, DE Galveston Bays, TX Puget Sound, WA Sarasota Bay, FL Buzzards Bay, MA Barataria-Terrebonne Basin, LA Sarasota Bay, FL Narragansett Bay, RI General NEP Discussion Tillamook Bay, Oregon Mobile Bay, AL Corpus Christi, TX Date Evaluating Simple, Cost Effective Solutions for Reducing Stormwater and Urban Runoff Santa Monica, CA Bay Scallop Restoration Project in Chincoteague Bay Annapolis, MD Clear Creek Wetland Restoration Project Galveston Bay, TX i:TFpr•"Copies-IJf any of these^publicatioris contactT National Clearinghouse for En^^£^jj^^ 1995 1995 1995 1995 1995 1995 1997 1997 1997 1997 1998 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 1999 Publication # EPA842-F-95-001A EPA842-F-95-001B EPA842-F-95-001C EPA842-F-95-001D EPA842-F-95-001E EPA842-F-95-001F EPA842-F-97-002G EPA842-F-97-002H EPA842-F-97-002I EPA842-F-97-002J EPA842-F-98-003K EPA842-F-98-003L EPA842-F-98-003M EPA842-F-98-003N EPA842-F,-99,-0040 EPA842-E-9S-004P EPA842-F-99-004Q Facsimile: '(513) 489-8695 x>EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency (4504F) Washington, DC 20460 ------- |