Project GreenShores Site 2, constructed in the summer of 2007, encompasses the area of Pensacola Bay from the western shore of Muscogee Wharf up to and including Hawkshaw Lagoon. This site consists of two submerged breakwaters of ca. 600’ x 150’x 0.5’ (below Mean Low-Water line) which were constructed using 25,000 cubic yards of recycled concrete obtained from a decommissioned airfield at NAS Pensacola.  The submerged breakwaters will function to reduce fetch driven wave energy before it reaches the inter-tidal marsh islands and shoreline. In time, the breakwaters will also serve as a living oyster reef as oyster larvae settle and grow on the substrate provided. Three inter-tidal marsh islands were constructed using 16,000 cubic yards of spoil material from a previous dredge of the Escambia River.

The islands were planted with 30,000 Spartina alterniflora (smooth cord grass), grown at the DEP Nursery facility, during a substantial community volunteer effort with the help of local Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops as well as numerous individuals and civic groups in September of 2007. Additional plantings of the salt marsh islands and the shoreline are planned for the early spring of 2008. To establish the seagrass beds at Site 2, plantings of Ruppia maritima (widgeon grass), grown at the DEP seagrass micropropagation laboratory, and Halodule wrightii (shoal grass), obtained from the DEP seagrass salvage program, will occur throughout 2007 and 2008. The seagrass beds will provide habitat for many fish and invertebrate species, help stabilize the Bay bottom thus reducing turbidity, and serve as a nursery area for 70-95% of the commercially harvested species in this region.