In the last decade, nearly 500 acres of marshes, mangroves and other critically important native habitats have been restored in the Tampa Bay ecosystem.

Over the next decade, the amount of restored acreage is expected to increase as much as sixfold, as even larger projects take shape and new partnerships are forged between the public and private sector to recreate natural systems damaged by human impacts such as dredging and filling.

Currently, 30 restoration sites are in the works, totaling anywhere from 2,000-3,000 acres, according to Brandt Henningsen of the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Surface Water Improvement Program (SWIM). The SWIM program coordinates baywide restoration efforts, working in partnership with local governments, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP) and other interested organizations.

That figure only applies to publicly financed and conducted habitat restoration, and does not include restoration required of private landowners as mitigation for development projects.

Because of the length and breadth of restoration efforts here, Henningsen believes Tampa Bay has set the standard for habitat restoration in coastal estuaries. Additionally, ambitious land acquisition programs sponsored by the Water Management District and local governments have provided vast laboratories in which to test restoration techniques, since many lands purchased for preservation also require restoration.

“The whole science of restoration ecology is still in its infancy, but for at least 10 years, we have led the curve. Our projects have generally been larger, more complex and more sophisticated,” he said. “But everybody else is catching up, and that’s great.”

Although still new, the science already has evolved considerably, from small-scale projects that often were an acre or two in size to the current emphasis on broad-brush “habitat mosaics” that may involve hundreds of acres and recreate a variety of landscapes, from salt marshes to upland pine forests.

Ten years ago, the largest restoration project involved 14 acres; the Wolf Creek Branch project recently begun in Hillsborough County will span nearly 600 acres. The restoration of Hillsborough’s Cockroach Bay, begun in 1991 and continuing today, is equally large and has been touted as one of the most successful saltwater ecosystem restorations in the state.

The shift toward sweeping “habitat mosaics” is strongly supported by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. In fact, a major goal of the Program’s Management Plan for Tampa Bay is to “restore the historic balance” of habitats in the bay, recognizing that some natural systems have been lost in greater proportions than others.

“Starting in the early 1900s, development along our tidal streams and rivers has impacted low-salinity habitats especially hard,” said Holly Greening, TBEP’s Senior Scientist. At the turn of the century, low-salinity wetlands comprised about half of all bay habitats. In 1990, they accounted for less than one-fourth of the total.

In recognition of that damage, the recovery of low-salinity tidal streams - quiet areas that serve as critical life support systems for a variety of fish and birds - is a special focus of the bay Management Plan.

In contrast, mangrove forests - one of the signature habitats of the bay ecosystem - constituted about 50 percent of the bay’s shoreline in 1900. By 1990, mangroves accounted for about 73 percent of the remaining shoreline vegetation. Although they are by far the dominant habitat type, mangroves - like all of the bay’s “aquascapes” - have experienced substantial declines in acreage.

Specific goals of the Estuary Program’s habitat restoration blueprint include:

• Restoring roughly 100 acres of low-salinity tidal wetlands every five years.
• Maintaining and enhancing existing mangrove forests and salt marshes.
• Recovering an additional 12,000 acres of seagrass baywide over time by ensuring adequate water quality for seagrasses to grow and by reducing propeller scarring of grass beds.

Ecologists have greatly improved their knowledge of how to successfully restore impaired habitats over the years. That experience, along with expanded opportunities for large-scale restoration, have dramatically reduced the costs of restoration. Projects completed in the 1980s often carried a price tag of $25,000 or more per acre; today, the average cost of restoration on publicly owned lands is about $10,000 per acre. In general, Henningsen said, “the bigger the project, the lower the cost per acre.”

Another change, still in progress, involves potential partnerships with private landowners. Some of the largest and most environmentally significant lands in the bay system are in private ownership, and to date state and local agencies have focused their attention almost exclusively on publicly owned lands.

Several landowners, Tampa Electric Co. among them, have initiated their own land preservation and restoration programs, and others have been required to do so as part of a permit request. Cargill Fertilizer, for example, is restoring or preserving some 1,600 acres of wetlands and adjoining uplands along the eastern shore of Tampa Bay as part of the Ecosystem Team Permitting process for its Riverview facility expansion.

Although there is currently no formal process by which public entities can perform work on private lands, new tools such as conservation easements or mitigation banks may allow such joint ventures to occur with greater frequency in the future - if issues such as ensuring public access to the restored lands can be resolved. In fact,. SWIM ecologists and TECO officials are now exploring the potential of a public-private restoration partnership on lands TECO owns near the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve.

“It’s something we’re definitely looking at, but we have to make sure that the public does not perceive this as somehow enhancing the property values of a private landowner,” said Henningsen.

One successful public-private partnership was the Palmetto Estuary project, involving the restoration of an intertidal wetland in northern Manatee County earlier this year. The project was coordinated by the SWIM program, designed by ecologists from SWIM and Scheda Ecological Associates, conducted on publicly owned land, and partially financed by a donation of $156,000 from the developer of the nearby Riviera Dunes residential community. Planting of native plants was accomplished by more than 200 volunteers from fishing and environmental clubs and civic groups. The completed project features a small nature park with educational signs describing the work.

PROJECT PROFILES

Wolf Branch (Hillsborough County)

Located between the Alafia and Little Manatee rivers, this 565-acre restoration project contains mangroves, salt marshes and salt barrens (also called salterns) that have been extensively ditched for mosquito control. Mining and farming also have impacted the natural systems, virtually eliminating native upland and wetland communities. Restoration plans include re-establishing historical wetland habitats with varying hydrological and salinity regimes, restoring the salt barren which historically covered most of the parcel and removing exotic and nuisance plants which now blanket a large portion of the site. To accomplish this, old borrow pits on the property will be filled, and additional areas will be graded or excavated to create wetlands and salt barrens. Low-salinity tidal marshes will be created along Wolf Branch Creek by removing old berms and spoil material placed there during previous dredging activities.

Palmetto Estuary (Manatee County)

This is a 30-acre restoration project sponsored by the SWIM program in conjunction with the City of Palmetto and a private development, the Riviera Dunes Resort. It is designed for use as an urban nature park for residents of Palmetto and nearby areas. Restoration, now completed, involved the construction of 6.45 acres of intertidal wetland habitat, in addition to enhancing the existing 23.5 acres of mangroves present on the site by removing invasive Brazilian pepper and Australian pine. The newly created wetland areas were planted with native plants with the assistance of 225 community volunteers. Much of the design, land clearing and surveying costs were paid by the Riviera Dunes Resort.

Clam Bayou (Pinellas County)