From the first day European settlers staked their claims to Sarasota bayfront real estate, wetlands essential to the bay’s survival have been systematically destroyed.
As it became apparent that the loss of the wetland habitats would ultimately lead to economic and social decline, rules were adopted to turn the tide. Regrettably, Sarasota Bay had already lost about half of its estuarine wetlands before wetland protection laws were enacted. Despite rules that assume a “no net loss” policy to protect remnant wetlands, there is no mandate to restore wetlands where they once existed.
Expecting a bay to function without half of its wetlands is like expecting a body to function without half of its organs.
If we are sincere about restoring wetlands in Sarasota Bay, we have two basic options. Either waterfront property owners replace their seawalls, boat docks and channels with mangroves, grass flats and oyster beds, or we restore these same environs on lands already in public ownership. While the former would be more productive, as most of the destroyed wetlands are in private ownership, I can’t envision or dream of it ever happening.
Little Edwards Island is public land. It became a mangrove island, ringed with seagrasses “shortly” after emerging from the bay, following the last glacial recession. Despite periodic setbacks from tropical storms, hard freezes and the occasional Indian gathering oysters, the island remained relatively unchanged for about 3,000 to 4,000 years. Then all at once, with the advent of Europeans, the island, its estuary and hinterlands to the east were severely compromised.
In place of the mangrove island, with current passing through it on high tides, we dumped piles of dredge spoil, and introduced an alien plant from Australia that prohibits local native plants from growing. The current that once flowed freely throughout all reaches of the shallow bay was imprisoned within a deep channel constructed for boats. Many of the grassflats that once flanked the island have been thoughtlessly buried to provide waterfront home sites.
We cannot expect to recapture the original beauty of Sarasota Bay; it is forever lost. However, what remains is worth an extraordinary effort to preserve.
The proposed plan to restore not only Little Edwards Island, but also many of the interior bay islands, is one such effort. The spoil and the alien plants that man dumped on the islands will be removed. In their place will be shallow water, landscapes including mangroves, buttonwoods and intertidal grass flats.
Rather than having Australian pine trees that are used mostly by suburban birds, such as European starlings, mourning doves and great blue herons, the native estuary plants will provide habitat for threatened species such as reddish egrets, tricolor herons and American oyster catchers.
It is these less common species that the island restoration project is targeting. Additionally, the Little Edwards Island restoration project alone is expected to create eight acres of habitat supporting a substantial increase in juvenile fish, crab and shrimp production.
The natural resource managers who are responsible for bay restoration must wade through a long and tedious permitting process. The red tape is overwhelming, even for a government project. Agencies responsible for wildlife preservation will review the application to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The spoil that is to be removed from the island and used to elevate a portion of the bay bottom to the photic zone for new grassflats, must be closely analyzed. If the spoil contains too much silt, clay or other contaminants, it cannot be returned to the bay.
From the bay’s point of view, we have been inordinately selfish. We dredge, we fill, we take, we consume and we destroy. No source can be sustain extractions indefinitely. If we wish to continue to take from the bay, and I assure you we will, we must replenish it. Wetlands are the vital organs of the bay, if we cannot restore them on our public lands, then where?