"Toast The Coast" For A Chance to Win Tickets To
The Florida Aquarium
Snap a picture of yourself toasting Tampa Bay, post it on our Facebook page and you could win a pair of tickets to The Florida Aquarium!
TBEP is joining its 27 sister National Estuary Programs around the U.S. in a nationwide "toast to the coast" in honor of National Estuaries Day on Saturday, Sept. 28. We invite you to join us by lifting a glass (or mug, or cup) in a salute to our own Tampa Bay and sharing that picture on our Facebook page.
Creativity is encouraged, but all pictures must show the bay in the photograph. Let us know where on (or in) the bay the picture was taken when you post it on the Facebook page.
The deadline for entering the "Toast The Coast" Photo Contest is Sept. 26. The winner will be announced on National Estuaries Day, September 28.
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TBEP Staff Toasting Tampa Bay
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Bay Mini-Grants Deadline Approaching
Applications to apply for a 2013-14 TBEP Bay Mini-Grant are due October 1. Some new categories and goals have been added this year, so be sure to check out our website for complete instructions and application forms. Grant requests for funding up to $5,000 will be accepted; projects should have a positive impact on Tampa Bay and the estuary.
Questions? Call Misty Cladas at (727) 893-2765 or email misty@tbep.org
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Sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary License Tag Fund Our
Bay Mini-Grants
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Save These Dates To "Give A Day For The Bay"
The popular volunteer program that helps to restore habitat across three counties, Give A Day for the Bay, kicks back into gear in October. Six workdays are planned in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties. Work varies but often includes eradicating invasive species or planting native plants. If you can spare a morning to help restore Tampa Bay's habitat, please join us!
We are excited to announce that TECO Energy has come aboard as our
new Emerald Green Sponsor. Funding from TECO Energy will allow us to purchase supplies and provide lunch to our super volunteers. Thanks, TECO Energy, for generously "powering" our workdays!
Mark your calendars for the following Give a Days and watch for upcoming email notices about registration:
October 5, 2013 - Sawgrass Lake Park, Pinellas County (Air Potato Removal)
November 16, 2013 - Florida State Fairgrounds, Hillsborough County (Rain Garden and Bench Painting)
December 14, 2013 - Perico Preserve, Manatee County (Invasive Plant Removal)
January 25, 2014 - Fort De Soto Park, Pinellas County (TBD)
March 1, 2014 - Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa (Task TBD)
April 12, 2014 - Perico Preserve, Manatee County (Task TBD) Click here to sign up for our volunteer workday e-mail list. Questions? Email Colleen Gray at colleen@tbep.org
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TBEP STAFF ON THE GO
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Colleen
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TBEP Outreach Specialist Colleen Gray has been
appointed to the Environmental Lands Management & Acquisition Advisory Committee in Manatee County.This committee advises the county on purchase and management of conservation lands.
Summertime means scalloping time for TBEP staffers Lindsay Cross and Nanette O'Hara. Lindsay searched the seagrasses off Homosassa, while Nanette snorkeled the waters off Steinhatchee and Homosassa recently with family and friends. Both report successful expeditions with delicious outcomes.
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Lindsay (second from left) with friends and puppy Noosa "leaping for scallops."
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Staff biologist Ed Sherwood set sail with his family on a Caribbean cruise this summer. Seems the TBEP staff just can't stay out of the water!
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Community Advisory Committee Spotlight:
Marjorie Karvonen
From the "bad old days" of murky water and thick mats of algae, to the revitalized, healthy Tampa Bay of today, Marjorie Karvonen has seen it all.The steadfast volunteer is the longest-serving member of our Community Advisory Committee, coming on board two decades ago when TBEP was created.  | |
Marjorie Karvonen
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The St. Petersburg resident admits she might be an unlikely candidate for being honored last year by TBEP for her many years of service. "I don't fish and I rarely go out on the water," she says. "But I enjoy tremendously seeing the progress and meeting the people who work so diligently on the Bay." Marjorie has been a devoted volunteer for Tampa Bay Estuary Program, participating in four annual meetings and events such as Give A Days, Estuary Academy, and Marine Quest. She particularly enjoys being on the judging committee for the Golden Mangrove Award. The committee annually selects an outstanding project from that year's Bay Mini-Grant recipients to receive the award. "We go out and visit the grant sites and projects across all the counties," she says. "It's really amazing to see all the dedication." Marjorie was recruited for her seat on the CAC by the City of St. Petersburg, where she was known as a citizen who was passionate about the environment, especially water issues. In 1993, she was elected to the county's Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Advisory Committee. She is an avid gardener and tries her best to "Be Floridian" at home, she says, by not fertilizing, conserving water and using mostly native plants in her landscape. The CAC meets about four times a year and supports TBEP by providing input on programs and policies, assisting with community events and volunteer workdays and selecting our Bay Mini-Grant recipients each year. If you are interested in joining our dedicated group of "citizen-ambassadors," please contact colleen@tbep.org. |
Revenues from the Tampa Bay Estuary plate, also known as the "Tarpon Tag," support TBEP grants to community organizations for projects that directly benefit Tampa Bay. Support the only specialty tag whose revenues stay solely within our community and our bay!
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Scientists Wade Into Seagrass Training to Prep for Fall Surveys
Seagrass scientists from throughout the bay area
spent a recent morning brushing up on their seagrass identification, counting and measuring skills.
 | | Melinda Spall from Tampa Bay Watch measures the length of a blade of seagrass. |
The scientists attended an annual seagrass transect training session coordinated by TBEP staffers Lindsay Cross and Ed Sherwood. The hands-on refresher was held in the seagrass flats off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in south St. Petersburg.
TBEP Environmental Science and Policy Manager Lindsay Cross led the training, showing the participants how to identify, measure blade length and count shoot densities of the three primary seagrass species in Tampa Bay: shoal grass, turtle grass and manatee grass.
 | | Nicole Paul and Carlie Smith from Seagrass Recovery, Inc. assess seagrass abundance within a quadrat (sampling grid). |
Participants also practiced assessing the abundance of seagrass beds using a Braun-Blanquet scale -- a universally accepted method for estimating the amount of vegetation covering an area, from very sparse to very thick.
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Lindsay Cross of TBEP demonstrated how to measure the length of a blade of seagrass.
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Then, armed with GPS units, square PVC grids called quadrats, clipboards, waterproof paper, and snorkeling gear, they waded into the bay to test their skills.
Teams measured random seagrass plots along a 100-meter transect line, recording detailed information about the type of seagrass there, the relative abundance of the species, blade length, number of shoots, and even the amount of algae and other growth on the grass blades.
Scientists from 10 agencies or local governments participated in the training and volunteered to collect seagrass data this fall from about 60 different locations in Tampa Bay. The information, combined with periodic aerial surveys conducted by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, helps managers track the overall health of the valuable underwater grasses, as well as areas where seagrass beds are expanding or contracting.
Collecting the same types of information and using standardized methods ensures that all the data they gather about the bay's seagrasses will be consistent and accurate.
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Rene Baumstark and Mike Wheeler of the Fish and Wildlife Commission count seagrass shoots.
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"The work that they will do this fall is time-consuming but very important," Cross said. "It gives us a very localized picture of how seagrasses are doing in specific parts of the bay, so we can continually improve how we manage seagrasses."
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| Freshwater Wetlands Targets Set
For the first time, TBEP is applying its "Restoring The Balance" approach to habitat restoration to freshwater systems, with the recent adoption of targets for recovering freshwater wetlands throughout the bay watershed.
"Restoring the Balance" recognizes that some habitats have been lost in greater proportions than others. In Tampa Bay's saltwater habitats, for example, restoring low-salinity marshes (such as those found in rivers and creeks) is a priority, since they were historically more abundant than they are now. This approach ensures that the Tampa Bay of today mirrors in habitat diversity the Tampa Bay of yesteryear, providing benefits to fish and wildlife species that depend upon multiple habitats at various stages of their lives.
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Arrowhead is a typical resident of non-forested freshwater wetlands.
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Freshwater wetlands also have been disproportionately impacted. Overall, non-forested wetlands -- those characterized by grasses and low-profile vegetation such as arrowhead -- have been lost in greater proportion than forested freshwater wetlands (like cypress swamps). But the losses vary significantly by basin; the Hillsborough River system, for example, has lost twice as many acres of forested as non-forested wetlands. However, proportionally, slightly more non-forested wetlands have been lost, because there were less of those wetlands to begin with.
The new targets recognize the imbalances, and specify restoration goals that will bring the habitats back to their historic ratios. The targets also ensure no further losses to any type of freshwater wetland within the watershed.
Baywide, the restoration goal for non-forested freshwater wetlands is 17,088 acres. For forested freshwater systems, the goal is 1,615 acres.
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Cypress swamps are a type of forested wetland.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded the project through a Wetlands Development Grant. EPA officials hope the info will be used by permitting agencies to direct restoration or mitigation to habitats that have been disproportionately impacted in a specific basin.
"We hope to better direct where and how restoration and mitigation occurs so that it has the greatest ecological benefit to the bay," said Lindsay Cross, TBEP's Environmental Science and Policy Manager.
Future "Restoring The Balance" targets will be set for coastal uplands, oyster bars and hard-bottom habitats.
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Pulling Up The Welcome Mat
TBEP Participates in Exotic Pet Amnesty Day and Python Patrol Training
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Veterinarian Clay Wilson donated his time to assess the health of every animal surrendered during Amnesty Day. All were deemed healthy and adoptable!
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TBEP is pleased to be a member of the Suncoast Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area -- a partnership of agencies and organizations working cooperatively to address problems caused by invasive plants and animals. The Suncoast CISMA has been very active this summer, co-sponsoring a successful Exotic Pet Amnesty Day in St. Petersburg and coordinating training of volunteers to respond to calls about pythons and other invasive snakes. TBEP has participated in both events.
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Veiled chameleon
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Forty exotic pets, from a diminutive pygmy possum to a 100-pound African spurred-thigh tortoise, were
surrendered by owners who could no longer care for them during the Exotic Pet Amnesty Day at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. Snakes (boa constrictors and ball pythons) and turtles (including multiple red-eared sliders) were the most numerous species brought in, but the most unusual pets were probably a lovely, gentle veiled chameleon (native to Yemen and Saudi Arabia) and a colorful, talkative rainbow lorikeet from Australia.
Pre-qualified adopters certified by the state FWC were on hand, and every single pet went home with a new owner experienced in caring for them at day's end!
Python Patrol Training was held in August at Gamble Plantation in Manatee County. A variety of staffers from agencies such as FWC, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Florida Park Service, as well as some college students, learned how to identify, report sightings and safely capture pythons. The goal of the instruction, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, is to have a trained corps of volunteers ready to respond quickly to python sightings throughout Central and South Florida. Burmese pythons are now a serious problem in the Everglades, but early detection and removal may keep them out of the Tampa Bay area.
A highlight of the training was the hands-on portion, where participants actually captured a python that had been recently removed from the wild!
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Python Patrol Trainees with a hefty albino python.
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About the Tampa Bay Estuary Program
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program is an intergovernmental partnership dedicated to restoring and protecting Tampa Bay, Florida's largest open-water estuary. TBEP is one of 28 "Estuaries of National Significance" designated by Congress.
Our Policy Board is comprised of representatives from Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties; the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater; the Southwest Florida Water Management District; the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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