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Plugs of plenty

Volunteers have 22,250 living reasons to feel optimistic about an abused stretch of Cockroach Bay.

By BRYAN BURNS
Published October 14, 2005

RUSKIN - Bob Bruner and his 11-year-old daughter, Jordan, waded through waist-deep water Saturday, fending off swarms of bugs and sweltering heat, to bring life to a former shell mining pit along the southeastern side of Tampa Bay.

The two volunteers joined up to 300 others in planting 22,250 plugs of salt marsh grass along the shoreline of the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, an environmentally abused area.

"This project hit home because it's where I fish," Bruner said. "Fishermen get a bad rap, but most are actually conservation minded. You have to be able to give back and not just take."

Coordinated by Tampa Bay Watch, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Hillsborough County government, Saturday's planting was the largest of its kind in the Tampa Bay area.

Brandt Henningsen, senior environmental scientist with Swiftmud, said he expect the entire conservation effort to be finished in 18 to 24 months.

"I want everybody who helped with this effort to come back here in a year and watch this bay grow and mature," Henningsen said as he directed volunteers to plant clumps of salt marsh grass 3 feet apart.

He said he hopes the salt marsh grass will help prevent soil erosion and provide a habitat for small fish and wildlife.

Eventually the 651-acre preserve will support a mangrove forest, said Tampa Bay Watch environmental specialist Martha Garcia.

Volunteers worked quickly, transferring the salt marsh grass from large plastic bags placed at each zone into the muck before the tide level rose.

Some canoed to man-made islands to plant while others stayed along the shore, guided by orange stakes indicating the planting boundary. It was dirty work for the mud-covered volunteers, but no one seemed to mind.

"I like planting," said Kayla Carter, a 15-year-old sophomore from Lakeland High School who moved to the area from Las Vegas two years ago. "It's fun to get out in the water and get dirty. We always get dirty whenever we do environmental projects."

"I would like to get into marine sciences, so I volunteered to learn about the environment and how to conserve it," added Chelsea Creaturo, 14, a Lakeland High freshman. "I definitely want to come back to see how it turned out."

The dedication was evident.

"These people have been here since very early in the morning," said Tampa Bay Watch communications director Jamie Cataldo.

"When they're finished, there's really a sense of accomplishment for the volunteers."

[Last modified October 13, 2005, 08:19:05]