CEDAR KEY SHORELINE UPDATE…G STREET, AIRPORT ROAD

July 19, 2020

…a note from Dr. Savanna Barry, Nature Coast Biological Station 

Timeline for sand. We have had some delays that resulted in the sand placement being pushed back to begin in mid-August. The size of the contract for sand required an extra level of review and a formalized bidding process that we did not anticipate when I sent my last note out. The reef balls on Airport and the castle blocks on G Street are in place, and the last element of Phase 1 (oyster reef enhancement) is the oyster sill on G Street. That will go in just before the sand arrives. We had planned to put it in already, but are holding off until closer to the start of Phase 2 (sand placement) due to the potential for accidentally trapping wildlife behind it. I’ll give you all as much notice as I can for when you’ll see movement out there again.

Volunteer activity. For the time-being, we have paused all volunteer activity on the shorelines due to COVID-19 spikes. We are going to re-assess our volunteer policy in early August. As the sand arrives, hopefully we will be able to resume volunteering for the plant installation. This will be the time that we need the most hands. So perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that the sand will be delayed, since we would not be able to engage volunteers to plant the many, many plants that will be going in if we were on schedule.

Routine monitoring. Routine fish monitoring will occur Mon/Tues next week so you will see the fish traps and nets on the shoreline sites.