Tampa Bay Estuary Program Awards $120,000 in Grants

COVERING TAMPA BAY AND ITS WATERSHED

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Tampa Bay Estuary Program Awards $120,000 in Grants

Twenty community groups, ranging from the Florida Aquarium to Wilson Lake Neighborhood Association, have received a total of $120,000 in grants from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.

Funds for the grants come from sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary license plate - also known as the "Tarpon Tag." License plate revenues can only be used for projects such as the Mini-Grant program that directly help to implement bay restoration goals.

The 2004-2005 recipients are:

The Florida Aquarium Art-O-Fishal-Fun	$5000
"Art-O-Fishal-Fun" is a summer camp that educates economically disadvantaged youth about the connections between people and water resources. Participants create artwork and write an essay or poem based upon their camp experience.

Manatee School for the Arts Art of Water Quality Analysis	$7115
Middle-school children will collect samples for water quality analysis and identify local plants and animals. The students will create educational displays to share the results of their analysis of the Manatee River.

Madeira Beach Middle School Brazilian Pepper Removal/ SPC-Madeira Beach Middle	$7500
Students will work with community volunteers and county staff to remove Brazilian pepper trees along their school's waterfront, and replace them with native plants.

Volunteer Services of Manatee County EnviroTEENS Camp 2005	$7500
Camp participants will complete organized service projects such as artificial reef or riverbank cleanups, during spring break and summertime camp sessions.

Manatee County Audubon Society Felts Preserve Educational Features	$2899
This project involves posting educational signs on trails throughout Felts Audubon Preserve so visitors can identify Florida's native plant communities and some of their functions.

Tampa Audubon Society's Hillsborough River Greenways Task Force Frog Listening Network Exhibit at Lowry Park Zoo	$7000
This grant will fund the construction of a Frog Listening Network exhibit to be housed at the zoo's Discovery Center. The interactive exhibit will include nine glass enclosures containing a variety of frog species found throughout west-central Florida, and highlight the importance of frogs as indicators of ecological health.

Weedon Island Preserve Help Wanted: Manager for Tampa Bay Coastal Habitats (A Coastal Education Workshop)	$3700
Second-year funding for this project will support a five-day educational workshop held for 18 teachers to introduce them to various habitats in Tampa Bay. Three "outdoor classrooms" at Weedon Island Preserve, Shell Key Preserve and Brooker Creek Preserve will provide the setting for hands-on education.

Museum of Science and Industry Marine Gang Environmental Outreach	$7500
Funding will support the Marine Gang, an environmental theater group featuring costumed characters that use music and humor to educate children about water pollution and preservation of Tampa Bay.

Kinnan Elementary School Planting Our Future Grasses In The Classroom	$7500
More than 800 students at Kinnan Elementary will partner with government agencies to plant long-leaf pine tree saplings at Duette County Park. Students will also develop a wetland nursery at their school to grow marsh grasses for use in area habitat restoration projects.

Braden River Middle School Preserve Our Wetlands: An On-Site Field Trip	$7050
Students will research the importance of wetlands and water quality to humans and native plants and animals. The students will monitor water quality using scientific instruments and improve wetland habitat by removing invasive plants.

Around the Bend Nature Tours Scrub Jays for the Future - Field Study at Rye Wilderness	$7480
Through field trips to this unique scrub habitat, students will witness habitat restoration efforts and monitor resulting plant growth and animal activity, focusing on the importance of scrub landscapes to the imperiled scrub jay.

Manatee County Extension Service Second Annual Water Wise Expo	$3292
Funding will support the Second Annual Water Wise Expo, a one-day public awareness and learning event promoting water conservation.

Audubon of Florida, Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Signs for Posting Bird Colonies	$3845
Funding will assist in replacing hurricane damaged signs that identify and protect important nesting islands for colonial waterbirds in Tampa Bay.

Ft. DeSoto Park Habitat Restoration and Interpretive Signage	$7461
Volunteers will plant an estimated 18,700 sea oats during fall and spring plantings and post signs adjacent to developing dunes to foster public awareness.

For more information on minigrants, including criteria and the 2005 application deadline, visit www.tbep.org.

South Shore Diamond Habitat Award Program South Shore Intertidal Habitat Project	$5430
This pilot project will evaluate the feasibility of enhancing seawalls using man-made oyster reefs. Recipients will test various littoral shelf designs within waterfront community canals in the Ruskin area and monitor recruitment by crustaceans, fish and mangroves.

Save Our Seabirds SOS Oiled Wildlife Response Van	$7500
This grant will help fund a new van to tow the new Oiled Wildlife Response Mobile Unit so that SOS can immediately respond to an oil spill emergency anywhere in the Tampa Bay watershed.

University of Tampa Tampa Bay Seahorse Survey - Year Two	$7500
Second-year funding will support the University of Tampa and the Florida Aquarium in their ongoing investigation of the distribution, population demographics and habitat preferences of seahorses and their pipefish relatives throughout Tampa Bay.

Lowry Park Zoological Society Working as Advocates for Vanishing Ecosystems (W.A.V.E.) Middleton High School students	$6575
Middleton High School students will study ecosystems in and around the Hillsborough River and Green Swamp Endangered Species Preserve. The students will create a web site and make presentations at the zoo highlighting wetland preservation and water conservation.

Wilson Lake Neighborhood Assoc. (WLNA) Little Lake Wilson & Wilson Lake Management Plan and Maintenance	$2400
Residents of neighborhoods surrounding Little Lake Wilson and Big Lake Wilson will complete a lake management plan to identify water quality problems and outline specific actions for improvement.

Students from Lakewood High School's environmental technology and marine science program were awarded a $7,400 grant from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program last year to visit sites around Tampa Bay to help create an Environmental Education Center at the St. Petersburg school.