Deadmans Island Restoration

Spring is coming! 2012 will be a busy year for the City of Gulf Breeze’s
Deadman’s Island Restoration Project and schools and volunteers are needed!

A Part-time Biological Technician is needed please send resume to hreed@ecologicalconsultingservices.com

Please call if you have any contacts for students (middle school to high
school) and volunteers for the upcoming months :

March- help create replicas of historic artifacts found at Deadman’s Island for our underwater educational kiosks

April- Monitoring existing seagrass and monitoring oyster reefs (preferred SCUBA certified but snorkeling can be performed during some sites).

Some of these are paid poistions of $10/hour but degree experience is preferred for paid monitoring.

Also in April, we need volunteers to help place barriers for May’s wetland creation deployment.

June and July- snorkelers and certified divers to help count fish, oysters, hermit
crabs,oyster drills etc- they will learn important scientific monitoring
techniques

Sediment accretion- snorkle gear only

Planting wetland vegetation

Please call Project Manager, Heather Reed at 346-2073

Ecosdiscs are made by Reefmaker (www.reefmaker-ecosystems.com ). The first oystershell prototype was created by students from Little Flower School and Pensacola Catholic High,  using fossilized and recycled oyster shell (They placed the oyster shell in the mold).             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmH1GDZgRws .  Funding was graciously provided by the South Eastern Aquatic Resources Partnership and the US Army Corp of Engineers from the Estuary Habitat Restoration Program, which originally started, by the ACOE Mobile district, the restoration project process and has now returned to finish the majority of the funding for the five phase project.  Deadman’s Island is also a study site for the Gulf of Mexico Sediment Managment action plan.  Deadman’s Island, when the restoration project is finished, is in the 1992 Aquatic Preserve Managment plan,  to become part of the Fort Pickens Aquatic Preserve. A special thanks to Shelley Alexander, the North West District Aquatic Preserve manager, and her staff for their many efforts and hardwork.

Despite the forecast of thunderstorms and dark skies surrounding Pensacola Bay, we were blessed with overcast mixed with sunshine and somewhat calm water on Deadman’s Island today. Our attendance was 38 people with an RSVP of 45 people. Oyster drills were picked from the reef and brought onshore into buckets and bags. Volunteers seem to enjoy removimg the oyster drills and also expressed enjoyment of the marine life on the oyster reef. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers! See the pictures  http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadmansisland/?saved=1 and also check out Outdoor Gulf coast magazine website! http://www.outdoorgulfcoast.com/photos-from-oyster-drill-picking-party-and-beach-cleanup/ A special thanks is also given to GE Healthcare for donating Biodegradable Trash bags and Subway on Barrancus St in Pensacola FL for there special packaging to ensure the freshest sandwiches!

A beach Clean up and Oyster Drill Picking Party is scheduled for Saturday July 16, 2011. 9am -12pm Wayside Park Gulf Breeze Boat Ramp for a boat shuttle to Deadmans Island.

Why? (1) We are cleaning up the area for people to enjoy.

Why collect oyster drills? (2) Oyster drills are a vital part of the oyster reef ecosystem. Oyster drills feed on oysters.
A dead oyster leaves a substate for new oysters to settle and habitat for small fish. They give the reef a balance. Unfortunately, last year there was a die off of the oyster reef and the tissue contained Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the DIESEL range. This March the salinity levels in the bay became so high the oyster drill population and eggs increased and the already weakened reef ecosystem and the new settling spat are being consumed by the drills. Normally, it’s good to let nature recover on it’s own, especially by naturally removing contaminated oysters. However, at this rate it will be another spat season or two to start the recovery process.
Saturdays event will help give the reef ecosystem a boost by removing as many oyster drills as possible to allow the weakened reef to rebuild.
(3) How fast an oyster drill consumes and moves from one area to another is unknown- we are going to catch about twenty oyster drills and mark them with a special adhesive and number to monitor the migration patterns and rate of travel.
So come on out and enjoy the day at Deadman’s Island! bring your snorkel gear, gloves and if have one, a bucket and of course waterproof sunscreen.
Lunch and drinks will be served by ours sponsors.  Additonal Boats for transport is always appreciated!   Also, to add to the fun, rent a paddle from Coastal Paddle Company right next to the boat ramp! http://www.coastalpaddlecompany.com/ also join the Sup’n Girls for their Paddleboarding events! http://www.supngirls.com/

See what else is happening on the Gulf Coast!   www.outdoorgulfcoast.com

Deadman’s Island Event Schedule What an exciting day! Friday May 13th General Electric from Baptist Healthcare volunteered time to explore habitat monitoring or the oyster reefs at Deadman’s Island. Despite the chilly water, dedicated snorklers and divers assessed the health of the reef and noted the marine life around the reef. In addition, they conducted a beach clean up on Deadman’s Island using environmentally friendly biodegradable green bags purchased by GE. Lunch was sponsored by Subway of Baptist Hospital and Gulf Breeze. Drinks were sponsored by Publix of Gulf Breeze and a fun demonstation of paddle boarding with the newest craze of YOLO boards were sponsore by Coastal Paddle Company in Gulf Breeze! Thank you to all our sponsors and especially Greg Walters of GE for putting together such a great day!

You can see the pictures here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadmansisland/5727223706/in/photostream

We will be affixing quadrats to the oyster units with cable ties. Created by GB Eagle Scouts Kyle McKissack and his troops.
We will be meeting at 9am at Wayside Park (Gulf Breeze Boat ramp at the end of three mile bridge).

OK, Rules and suggestions since we are around water: You do need to have your own mask and snorkel, glove and water boots encouraged. Hats, Surf shirts or t-shirts are encouraged to prevent sunburn on the back. It’s not a good idea to have a lot of sunscreen on and possibly washing off from people and chancing sunscreen to impact the reef.

It will be high tide but the deepest area is around five feet. Parents need to be responsible for kids. Divers are welcome for underwater attachment of the structures but because of depth freedivers are fine too.

As usual boats are needed for transporting people and lunch is sponsored by Lenny’s Sub Shop. Please RSVP? (346-2073 or email heather_reed@juno.com) ? if you can so I can get a lunch count. I would like to have three lookouts and three data collectors who prefer not to get in the water.

If you would like to get community services hours for school or other please bring your form for me to sign.

It should be a really fun day! Hope to see you there!

Hi everyone!
Wow! Despite the weather, St Francis and St Ann volunteered to have the event indoors making the quadrats needed to monitor the oysters before the proposed oil spill impacts Pensacola Bay.

Saturday was such a productive day! The team created monitoring quadrats AND planting shoreline vegetation! This event was followed by a wonderful lunch hosted at the home of Robert and Sara Lee Menzer, whose home overlooks the beautiful Deadman’s Island.

The community of St Ann and St Francis ROCKED! I will be planning a monitoring event most likely this Saturday or sooner (when the water calms down) if you are available please let me know. I have no idea how the oil spill will affect our Bays or this event. I am hoping it wont get here or possibly be contained beforehand. However, the quadrats you all made are extremely important to this project and the especially important in helping with the pre-monitoring of the oysters before any possible spill contamination.

You can view your pictures by clicking on the link for the May 1 2010 Event? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? http://www.flickr.com/photos/49394100@N05/
Jessica Brosofsky
Meredith Brosofsky
James O’brien
Fr. Paul Lambert
Jodi Kenworthy!
Mike O’brien
Matthew Kenuoawy
Matthew Levi
Kevin Elswick
Krista Reed
Emily Brosofsky
Leslie Brosofsky
Marilee Martin
Jimmy Martin

Anamarie Wright

If I have misspelled your name or overlooked someone, please let me know! Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed having a part in? helping? to preserve? Deadman’s Island!
Thank you very much!

Hi Friends of Deadman’s Island,
For everyone’s safety, the Project on Saturday has been canceled. Unfortunately, the weather forecast shows Thunderstorms from Friday to Tuesday. If you have any questions please call Heather Reed 346-2073

Good Morning Friends of Deadman’s Island!

I wanted to thank everyone all your hard work and dedication to the Shoreline Stabilization project on Saturday. This project could not have happened without you! Saturday was such a productive day and has jump started this year’s stabilization efforts! Everyone worked extremely hard and Donna DeSeno has proof! Donna did a fantastic job taking pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49394100@N05/

Here are some highlights of Saturday- everything was performed at high tide and in the water!

A total of 48 Volunteers-

200ft of coir logs created and placed along the shoreline for plant protection

1000 plants were not just planted, but two layers of geo material were cut into, dirt was placed in these holes and then the vegetation was planted!

500 ft of turbidity curtain was moved, repositioned and re-anchored using what was already present

Very heavy remnants of the curtain that were ripped off and hanging from the old curtain, were brought back on shore

There was an “Island wide” trash cleanup afterwards–compliments of Troop 10 boyscouts and James Neyman

Other groups:

UWF students rocked! Gary Ghioto Class!

Chain Reaction was fantastic!

A special thanks to our boat drivers and those who donated their boats and time to the project the day before and the day of to transport volunteers.

The Deseno Family for the pictures

The Pardonner Family

I did not have Jennifer Dragoo or Micheal Hobbs email so if someone knows them and can pass this email, that would be greatly appreciated!

I doubt I will ever have work as hard as Saturday’s efforts, since YOU have set the foundation for this summer’s stabilization efforts.

The rest of the events will be easy and I would love to have you back! May 1st will be our next event.

We may be creating more of the Ecodiscs!

If you would like to come out to snorkel and monitor (count fish, oysters, crabs, drills) next month (this month is too cold and will be just myself) please send me an email if you are interested.

Shoreline vegetation planting-Note:Our future plantings will not consist of cutting through the Geo fabric and will consist of just digging sand and planting

Hello Friends of Deadman’s Island! ? Everyone is welcome to help? plant vegetation and set up coir logs saturday from 9am-2pm.? If your kids need any type of volunteer hours, please have them bring their form on that day and I can sign off on their time.? The tide will be high so we can determine if upland plants are suitable so bring your waders or wetsuits if you want.? There will be a few waders available. ? We will be building Coir log stabilizers and planting shoreline vegetation.? If anyone has access to a pontoon boat to load light weight supplies, please let me know. ? It would be extremely helpful to transport materials Friday afternoon.? I am also looking for anyone who can volunteer the use of their recreational boat to transport people from the Three-mile Bridge City Boat Ramp to Deadman’s Island (1/4 mile).? If you can help in anyway, please email or call me on my cell phone.? Drinks and sandwiches will be provided by sponsors so please RSVP.? If you have gloves and a shovel, please bring them! ? If you have a kayak and prefer to kayak over, you may launch at the boat ramp. ? ? ? The only thing mandatory is Sunscreen!? Hope to see you there!? ? Contact Heather Reed: 850-416-7008, 850-346-2073 (cell preferred)