Salt Marsh Grass

The first European settlers of the region were amazed by the incredible productivity of the bay, and boasted in letters to friends and relatives back home about schools of fish so thick in bay waters that they "impede(d) the passage of boats." The Tampa Bay estuary probably seemed like paradise to these early settlers, and it retains this image now with 2.3-million modern residents, and more people moving in every day.

Residents of Tampa Bay have depended heavily on the bay for recreational and commercial activities, consistently overwhelming it for more than 100 years with unintentional and often illegal impacts that degrade our natural resources. As a result, Tampa Bay's natural environment has suffered dramatically. In particular, our shoreline grasses and associated upland wetland habitat has been depleted by more than 40 percent from its original state. 
Salt marsh communities are critically important habitat systems that grow on the intertidal fringe of the bay, preventing erosion, buffering uplands from storms, absorbing pollutants, and providing shelter and nursery areas for many fish and wildlife species. Marshes also serve as a vital link in the marine food web.

Salt marsh planting projects have become an environmental tool for restoring our lost habitat. Research and development now allows scientists to include many different habitats in marsh restoration projects. The concept of creating/enhancing/restoring habitat mosaics is now widely used, where a collection of habitat normally found in coastal systems, including uplands, transitional habitats, freshwater wetlands, open water, live bottom, sea grass, beds, low and high marshes, mud flats, salterns, and more is married together into one project.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District - Surface Water Improvement and Management Program has been highly successful in using this concept for habitat restoration and creation projects. In April of 1994, Tampa Bay Watch coordinated its first habitat restoration event to replace marsh communities in Boca Ciega Bay impacted by the August 1993 oil spill. The project involved more than 90 community volunteers and installed 5,000 salt marsh grasses. Since that time, much larger projects have been accomplished such as the ongoing restoration of the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve. Tampa Bay Watch has helped to coordinate several volunteer planting events, including the largest one-day planting ever. On April 10, 1999, 280 volunteers, in less than two hours, planted 24,000 salt marsh grasses over seven acres of new tidal ponds.

Opportunities to participate in salt marsh planting projects arise throughout the year, usually with a 1-2 month notice. Keep an eye on our events page for future project listings. 

For more information, contact Martha Gruber.

Register as a volunteer to be notified of the upcoming Salt Marsh Planting events!