PROFILE: Jim Anderson Growing Grasses on Land and Sea Jim Anderson is probably best known as the "sod farmer who invented a seagrass planting machine." His patented equipment - a revelation to some, controversial to others - is the first to mechanize the back-breaking work that's critical to many underwater restorations.

But lately it's his land-lubbing sod that's garnering attention. Grass gets a bad rap among people who care about the environment. Most lawns require more water, fertilizer, pesticides and pruning than any other plant. Even Anderson agrees that St. Augustine lawns - the lush "fluorescent green" species found in almost every new development - won't survive without constant attention and aren't environmentally friendly.

So he switched to Celebration, a hybrid Bermudagrass from Australia that's drought, shade and salt tolerant, and requires a minimum of fertilizers and pesticides. It's catching on among some key players, including MiraBay, the 750-acre upscale community in Apollo Beach. Nearly 250,000 square feet of Celebration turf has been installed in the community's common areas, and deed restrictions require that builders use the salt-tolerant variety on waterfront homes.

"People really like Celebration," he says. "When it's dry, it preserves water by storing it in sheaths that cover the roots. It handles traffic well, and it stays naturally green."

While Celebration is an excellent alternative for homeowners concerned about environmental impact, Anderson is even more excited about a native paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) he's growing a few miles south. It began when he noticed "the only spot of green for miles around" during a hot dry April, flourishing in the runoff from Port Manatee's upland dredge disposal facility. In a joint venture with TECO, he transplanted some paspalum to land the utility had purchased for a nuclear power plant that never materialized. It's thriving with no potable water - in some cases, growing over sand so salty it's white, and into ponds filled with saltwater from the adjacent fish hatchery.

"You can plant this right up to the shoreline - and it's even better than marsh grass because it grows in thickly to reduce sediment loss and catch more trash," he says.

While some of the hybrid paspalums have deservedly bad reputations for either dying off or taking over, the native paspalum is a tough plant that handles difficult situations without becoming a nuisance, he said. Mowed like a traditional lawn, it resembles a dark green Bermuda grass but thrives without fertilizer or potable water.

"On waterfront property, someone could plant a traditional lawn around the house and then use the paspalum when the land begins to slope down," he says. "It will be very happy growing in the runoff and absorb those nutrients before they get in the water."

The Florida Department of Transportation planted Anderson's paspalum on the St. Petersburg side of the Howard Frankland causeway seven years ago and it's still growing, he notes. Planted at Cockroach Bay as an experiment, "it's done everything it was supposed to do," says Brandt Henningsen, senior environmental scientist with the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Surface Water Improvement and Management program. "It's a great grass that grows abundantly in high marsh and transitional areas," he adds. "It takes fire, famine, floods and freezes."

In fact, it handles so much abuse that David Crewz, a seagrass expert at the Florida Marine Research Institute, helped Anderson draft a letter to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection asking them to consider spraying the paspalum fields with partially treated water from the abandoned Piney Point phosphate mine - located directly across U.S. 41.

"The paspalum could easily handle the Piney Point water," Crewz said. "It's a tough, tough plant that grows anywhere from sand dunes to flooded ditches, in salt water or in fresh, without becoming a nuisance plant."

For more information, contact Anderson at 813-918-7373.