Nassawadox, Va.
Unbeknownst to most Eastern Shore residents, a group of dedicated scientists and community volunteers have been quietly and effectively restoring eelgrass to the southern coastal bays since 1999. Their efforts, helped along by Mother Nature, have resulted in the largest seagrass restoration ever in the world and it’s happening right here on the Eastern Shore.
Now this same group of scientists, led by Dr. Bob Orth of VIMS and operating under the banner of the Seaside Heritage Program, part of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program funded by NOAA, is looking to increase the scale of on-going eelgrass restoration efforts in the coastal bays and needs your help. They are looking for up to 100 local community volunteers, most especially recreational divers and snorkelers, to help collect up to 20 million eelgrass seeds this spring.
Volunteers will be utilized to collect reproductive shoots containing seeds from the eelgrass plants in the seagrass meadows in South Bay offshore of Oyster Va. The water will be about waist deep, so swim fins are not necessary, but wetsuits and hoods are recommended. There will be some wetsuits available for volunteers who don’t have them. The reproductive shoots will be transported to tanks at a new seagrass facility recently constructed on Oyster harbor and funded by a grant from The Norfolk Foundation to The Nature Conservancy. The reproductive shoots will drop their seeds in the tanks over time where they will be collected for planting in the coastal bays in the fall.
Tentative dates for the seed collection are late May to mid June (tentative dates are May 31 to June 16) and the seed collection will be timed around the daily low tides. Collection trips will last 4-5 hours and boat transportation to the site from the public boat ramp in Oyster will be provided. A training workshop for interested volunteers will be held Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. at the Anheuser-Busch Center for Coastal Research in Oyster. Volunteers will learn about the ecology of eelgrass and how to identify and collect the reproductive shoots from the plants.
Volunteers must pre-register in order to participate in the restoration project. You can pre-register at the training workshop or by contacting Jennifer Rich, volunteer coordinator, at 434-951-0572 or jrich@tnc.org, or Bev Watson at the Virginia Coast Reserve at 442-3049 or bwatson@tnc.org.
Sign up now to become part of the largest seagrass restoration in the world!
To view the flier click here.
For directions to the Anheuser-Busch Center at UVA click here.