Project GreenShores – Twice the Success

In 2001, DEP’s Northwest District launched an inventive public-private partnership to restore marine habitat in Pensacola Bay. The tremendous community restoration effort along Highway 98, Project GreenShores, began with a limestone rock foundation that would evolve into 15 acres of salt marsh. Completed in 2002 with modifications in 2003, the project survived several hurricanes and storms to produce an increasing number of marine creatures including crabs, oysters, shellfish, fish and birds. Its success earned the project national recognition with the 2003 Coastal America Partnership Award and 2004 Gulf Guardian Award.

This year enthusiasm continued with nearly 1,000 students attending educational programs, assisting with 700 Juncus plantings and participating in numerous island and shoreline cleanups. GreenShores staff and the local high school marine science program conducted quarterly monitoring of water quality analysis, fish seining, bird surveys, bi-annual seagrass and emergent vegetation surveys and bi-annual bi-valve surveys. The results showed high juvenile species counts and high species diversity, reinforcing the importance of Project GreenShores as a nursery within the Pensacola Bay System.

Now there is another seemingly triumphant endeavor -- Project GreenShores Site 2 along Bayfront Parkway. Constructed on submerged lands owned and donated by the city of Pensacola, Site 2 consists of about seven acres of submerged oyster reef and eight acres of salt marsh. The primary goals are to protect the shoreline from erosion using submerged breakwater reefs and to restore estuarine habitat by creating oyster reefs and marsh islands. Monitoring has already revealed mangrove snapper, mullet and high juvenile fish counts.

Site 2 is the culmination of partnering efforts by federal, state and local government, businesses, academic and community representatives. A Design Focus Team with a committed interest in coastal ecosystems planned the habitat project...more