Existing dredge disposal sites in Tampa Bay may be full to capacity within five years unless steps are taken soon to expand the storage areas or find alternative disposal methods, according to a recently completed study financed partially by the Tampa Bay Estuary program.

The study, conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, illustrates the challenges of balancing economic and environmental concerns in an urbanized estuary such as Tampa Bay. Routine dredging of the ship channels that criss-cross the bay facilitates maritime trade that has made the Port of Tampa one of the nation’s busiest harbors. But finding environmentally benign or even beneficial places to put the material that is scooped from the channels is an ongoing struggle.

Material that fills in the bay’s “nautical highways” - some as deep as 43 feet - must be routinely removed to maintain safe navigation. Muck, silt and sand dredged from the lower part of Tampa Bay typically is barged to an offshore disposal site in the Gulf of Mexico that is not in danger of filling up, according to the report. But material dredged from the middle and upper bay - where most of the dredging occurs - is usually piped onto two large manmade islands in Hillsborough Bay that are rapidly reaching capacity.

Raising the dikes that prevent the dredge material, or “spoil” from washing into the bay may extend the life of those islands until about 2020, according to officials with the Port of Tampa. But after that, even they will be critically short on space.

An economic analysis of gradually raising the dike on island 2-D from 20 to 40 feet, by actually scooping material already placed inside the island during previous dredging projects, is now underway, according to Dave Parsche, environmental manager for the Port of Tampa. That project could begin in Fall 2002.

A key recommendation of the “Dredged Material Management Strategy” is that the Army Corps, bay managers and other interested parties work together to identify new, ecologically friendly uses for dredged material that will address long-term needs. Among the suggestions:

• Using suitable dredge material on area beaches. For example, material dredged earlier this year from Bayboro Harbor in St. Petersburg was placed on the beach at Egmont Key to slow erosion threatening natural and historical resources.

  Additionally, the report recommends that beach-quality material be removed or “mined” from the disposal areas on islands 2-D and 3-D, thus extending the lifespan of the islands while augmenting public beaches.

• Exploring and pursuing the use of dredge spoil in area habitat restoration or enhancement projects, such as filling in borrow pits to create shallow wetlands; filling in deep dredge holes in the bay to promote seagrass growth; or creating additional bird nesting habitat on rookery islands. A pilot project to examine the feasibility and impacts of filling in dredge holes in the bay is now being conducted in the bay near MacDill Air Force Base, where the Corps has partially filled a deep dredge hole and is now monitoring water quality and changes in fish use. If the project is a success, future filling of dredge holes in the bay will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking into account cost and impacts on fisheries, said Bill Fonferek, a biologist with the Corps’ Jacksonville office.

  Another beneficial use project on tap is the partial filling of a large manmade lake at the Harbor Isle Lakes subdivision in St. Petersburg. Fonferek said material from the routine maintenance dredging of Cut G near MacDill AFB will be piped to the lake to reduce its depth and improve water quality and habitat for fish and wildlife.

• Developing a list of possible upland disposal sites, as well as a list of beneficial use/habitat restoration sites, specifically for use by non-federal or private parties such as marina operators or canalfront homeowners.

Promoting better coordination of dredging projects to reduce environmental impacts, while maximizing beneficial uses of dredge spoil, is a key goal of Charting The Course, TBEP’s management plan for Tampa Bay. Specifically, Charting The Course calls for development of a comprehensive, long-term dredge management plan for the bay.

The Corps of Engineers agreed to develop such a long-term strategy, and TBEP kicked in $40,000 to assist in the effort.

The resulting plan predicts severe shortfalls in disposal sites for dredged material unless solutions can be found that are both fiscally and environmentally feasible. Maintenance dredging alone removes more than one million cubic yards of material from the bay bottom each year; new projects such as widening of turning basins or creation of new berths and marinas, add to this amount.

By 2025, projections show, there may be no place to put one-third of the dredge material generated - or some 15 million cubic yards.

To help address the shortfall, the Army Corps has volunteered to provide engineering services to assist with permitting of potential beneficial use projects. The Corps also will participate in discussions with bay managers in the coming year to identify and prioritize potential habitat restoration projects where dredge material could be utilized.

More than 300 people picked up trash, helped to build an oyster reef, took nature walks at Weedon Island Preserve or marked storm drains with anti-pollution messages during “Give A Day For The Bay” in April.

The half-day series of events celebrated the Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s 10th Anniversary and Earth Day 2001, by offering bay enthusiasts an opportunity to directly lend the bay a helping hand. Trash cleanups took place on the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Cross Bayou in Pinellas County, and Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve in Manatee County. An oyster reef was constructed in the shallow waters off Whiskey Stump Key in Hillsborough County to reduce erosion threatening an important bird rookery. Homeowners in Pinellas County applied special markers to storm drains to prevent dumping of oils, greases and other materials that pollute the bay. And members of TBEP’s Community Advisory Committee gave informative and entertaining guided walks exploring the natural and cultural history of Weedon Island Preserve.

Lunch and t-shirts were provided to all volunteers participating in the cleanup and restoration events. Everyone not only worked extremely hard and had a good time doing it - they left knowing they had personally made a difference in the health of our bay. In fact, “Give A Day For The Bay” was so well-received that we’re going to do it again next year, so be on the lookout for ways in which you can participate!

We extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the following partners who helped to make “Give A Day For The Bay” a tremendous success:

Hillsborough River Cleanup
Friends of the River
Hillsborough River Greenways Task Force
Keep Hillsborough Beautiful

Cross Bayou Cleanup
Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management
Southern Estuary Association
Keep Pinellas Beautiful

Terra Ceia Cleanup
Southwest Florida Water Management District
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Wildlife Rescue Service of Manatee
Keep Manatee Beautiful

Whiskey Stump Oyster Bar Project
Tampa BayWatch
National Audubon Society
Coastal Conservation Association

Storm Drain Markers
Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management

An innovative $1.25 million project sponsored by Pinellas County will restore tidal flows to shallow back bayous of Fort DeSoto Park that have been separated from Tampa Bay for decades by causeways.

The project is expected to greatly improve water quality and potentially restore more than 200 acres of seagrass.

Fort DeSoto Park, at the southern tip of Pinellas County, was once a group of separate islands. During the park’s development in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the main island was connected to the smaller islands by dredging and filling two causeways - one to provide access to the mainland and other to create a maintenance area and Park Manager residence. Construction of the causeways cut off circulation between the back bays, raising water temperatures and creating stagnant pools where marine life and seagrasses struggle to survive.

The county proposes to remove a portion of each causeway and replace it with clear span bridges that will allow water to flush in and out of the back bays, renewing the area with regular tidal flows. The bridges will be high enough for canoes to pass underneath, and the bridge on the main entrance causeway to the park will have a fishing catwalk on one side and a bicycle trail on the other. Beneath each bridge, blocks of limestone will be placed to prevent the bottom from scouring as the current rushes through, and create hard-bottom habitat that is currently in short supply in the bay ecosystem.

With its sandy white beaches, shady hammocks and lush mangrove forests, Fort DeSoto Park is a mecca for beachgoers and nature enthusiasts, attracting more than 2 million visitors a year - all of whom must travel the main entrance road where one of the bridges will be installed. Because of the park’s popularity, “This is a very high-profile project,” said Eric Fehrmann, environmental program manager for the Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management. “In the beginning, we were just going to put in a couple of culverts, but when the numbers showed that wouldn’t do the job in terms of restoring flow, we started thinking about how we could make this really a model project.”

Funding for the project is being provided by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Gulf of Mexico Program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Grant funds also are being sought from the Pinellas County Environmental Foundation.

Officials now are seeking permits for the project, and hope to begin work this fall - with completion expected in 9-12 months. In addition to improving water quality and encouraging seagrass growth, Fehrmann says fishermen also should be pleased with the results.

A $1,000 Bay Mini-Grant from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program helped residents of the Town N’ Country area of Tampa make a large dent in the thick tangle of Brazilian pepper trees shrouding the shoreline of Rocky Creek.

The grant was used to purchase herbicide, backpack sprayers, hand pump sprayers, safety glasses and other equipment used by members of the Town N’ Country Park Home Owners Civic Association to wage war on the tenacious, non-native Brazilian pepper trees. The residents, working with resource managers from the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department, removed more than 250 pepper trees along the banks of the creek during two separate workdays earlier this year. The area they cleared is part of the extension of the Town N’ Country Greenway, a popular paved recreational trail in northwest Hillsborough.

County officials provided chain saws and chippers to devour the pesky pepper trees, while civic association members donated significant “sweat equity” by helping to cut the trees and load them onto trucks. It’s hard work, since Brazilian pepper trees typically spread so fast and form canopies so dense that more useful native plants are squeezed out, resulting in huge “mono-cultures” of pepper trees that provide few habitat or water quality benefits.

Around the Bend Nature Tours, an ecotourism provider in Bradenton, recently received a $5,000 Bay Mini-Grant from TBEP to enlist Manatee County schoolchildren in the fight to eliminate an exotic pest plant, the air potato, from Emerson Point Nature Center.

Students from elementary and middle schools throughout Manatee County were transported to Emerson Point for a fun, yet educational, field trip. The adventure included a one-hour nature walk where students were given a tally sheet to record and draw the types of exotic and native plants they saw, along with any birds, reptiles, animals, and animal habitats. After being taught to identify several species of native and non-native plants, the students were paired up and put to work for an hour ‘spud busting’. The teams aided in removing non-native air potato vines around the Temple Mound to promote the growth of native plants which are the benchmark of a healthy ecosystem.

At the end of the field trip, prizes were given to the teams with the largest and smallest potatoes found, in addition to prizes for the most vines pulled, by weight. Offering the prizes was a great incentive to get the students to dig in and pull up those exotic potatoes!

In case you are wondering what happens to all the pulled potatoes, they are soaked until they rot and then disposed of.

The following new titles are available this quarter from TBEP’s Video Lending Library:

• “Motor”
  A 38-minute documentary exploring the conflicts posed by use of motorized vehicles in national forests and on other public lands. Produced by High Plains Films and The Ecology Center.

• “This Old Pond”
  This 15-minute video offers step-by-step instructions from experts to help property owners maintain their stormwater systems.

• “Stop Exotics, Clean Your Boat”
  Featuring John Ratzenberger (Cliff from the TV show “Cheers”) this 11-minute video shows simple steps all boaters can take to help prevent the spread of invasive plants and animals, such as zebra mussels, hydrilla and water hyacinths, that can be both ecologically and economically devastating.

• “Plants Out of Place”
  This 15-minute video summary of a 60-minute national television documentary examines the environmental and economic toll taken by invasive plant species imported to the United States either intentionally or unwittingly. Part of the Techno 2001 series produced by Information Television Network, this documentary was partially funded by the Gulf of Mexico Program.

Videos are free and may be borrowed for up to a month. Instructions for returning the videos, along with a pre-paid postage strip, are included with each video.

Been wanting to give us a piece of your mind? Now’s your chance! Stand up and be counted by taking our quick and easy online Bay Opinion Poll, available on the TBEP website at www.tbep.org

Developed with support and input from TBEP’s Community Advisory Committee, the short survey asks for your perceptions of Tampa Bay, whether you are optimistic about its future, and what you believe are the most important challenges facing the bay. We also want to know how long you have lived in our region, and whether you use the bay for fishing, boating, wildlife viewing or simply sunset-gazing.