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Grants help groups improve environment

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 11, 2007

A private school and a conservation group in Clearwater are among more than two dozen groups receiving grants for projects to improve the Tampa Bay area's waterways.

St. Paul's School and the Pinellas chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society will receive a total of more than $13,000 to restore a pond and turn a small park into an environmental education showpiece, respectively.

"Through these projects, we're hoping to reach more folks out in the community and have them realize why it's important to protect and restore Tampa Bay and what changes they can make in their life to help with that," said Misty Cladas, project manager for the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, which awarded the grants.

Altogether, 25 organizations in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties will receive $160,000 for projects that include planting native plants, monitoring migratory birds, cleaning up Bayboro Harbor and reducing litter in Fort De Soto Park.

The estuary program has been awarding minigrants to community organizations since 1993. Since 2000, the money has come from sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary specialty license plate, popularly known as the "tarpon tag."

This year the grant program received a record 52 applications, Cladas said. Twenty-five were recommended for full or partial funding by the program's community advisory committee.

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Middle school students looking for science fair ideas spearheaded the pond restoration project at St. Paul's School.

The stormwater pond drains into Allen's Creek and is on the school's campus at 1600 St. Paul's Drive, south of Belleair Road and east of Keene Road.

The students tested the water to see how clean it was, said Hope Kennedy, a technology teacher at the school.

That prompted them to ask, "Well, what could we do to make it cleaner?" said Kennedy, who is also involved with the school's marine science program.

The school received a grant of $5,973 from the estuary program. Teachers and students will work together to restore the shoreline pond by removing exotic plants and replanting native plants. They'll also do a neighborhood outreach campaign about the pond improvements.

The idea is to make the pond a more natural habitat for the varied species of birds that frequent the pond, including blue herons, roseate spoonbills and ospreys, Kennedy said.

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The Pinellas chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society plans to use a small park at Rainbow Drive and S Mars Avenue to educate the public about conservation. The group received $7,500 from the estuary program for the project.

"I want it to be fun for the neighborhood and something pretty to look at," said Elizabeth France, society board of directors member and project manager for the group's estuary grant. "But far more important is to teach people we can conserve our resources, money, labor, and time and make it a beautiful world."

France said the group will plant native plants and make a butterfly garden, all without using excessive fertilizers and water. Chemicals used in the fertilizers run off into the stormwater causing algae overgrowth in neighboring ponds and percolate into the ground causing contamination. The park should be complete by mid December, France said.

Tampa Bay is the state's largest open-water estuary. It covers 398 square miles at high tide and is home to more than 200 species of fish, according to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program's Web site, www.tbep.org/index.html. More than 4-billion gallons of oil, fertilizer components and other hazardous materials pass through Tampa Bay each year.

The object of the minigrant program is to mobilize as many segments of the public as possible to help restore and save the waterway.

The estuary program is a partnership of county and city governments in the three counties, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

When to apply

The next application period for minigrants awarded by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program is in October. To learn more, call Misty Cladas at 727 893-2765, e-mail misty@tbep.org or visit www.tbep.org/index.html

[Last modified January 10, 2007, 20:47:49]