ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Volunteers and staff were hard at work Wednesday as the City of St. Pete partnered with Tampa Bay Watch on the Maximo Park Living Shoreline Project.
“It’s not really work,” said Tracey Hempel. “It’s the dirtiest fun you’ll ever have.”
Heavy lifting and getting her hands dirty were all part of a day’s work for Hempel.
On Wednesday, she and other volunteers helped install oyster reef balls and shell bags along the southern shoreline of Maximo Park.
“We’re basically creating estuaries for our oysters and our young fish nurseries as well as preventing shoreline erosion around the Tampa Bay area,” said Hempel.
The city said the project aims to create a living shoreline spanning more than 7,800 square feet, positioned to help reduce erosion, restore coastal habitats, and enhance water quality.
“We’ll come in with the reef balls, the shell bags, the plants, and try to mimic a natural shoreline through those by recruiting the oysters to them, bringing those native plants along with it, and not only does it stabilize the shoreline, but it creates those ecosystems that are so important to creating buffer zones that help pull excess nutrients out of the water and create habitat for all our native species here in the Tampa Bay estuary,” said Eric Plage, the Oyster Reef Ball Program Coordinator at Tampa Bay Watch.
Volunteers filled bags, loaded them on carts, and stacked them on boats, along with the reef balls.
“We started yesterday, on Tuesday,” said Plage. “We put 200 oyster reef balls in the water with about 8 tons of oyster shell bags. Today, we did a similar thing: 200 oyster reef balls with 8 tons of shell. And then tomorrow, we’ll be back out here again.”
Volunteers recognized the important work to help protect the shorelines we know and love.
“This is what’s going to preserve this and keep this for our children and our children’s children,” said Hempel.
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