a Coastal Resources Group, Inc project

Saving the Mangroves on the Edge of Marco Island

There is a PLAN! We can rescue the dying mangrove forest on the edge of Marco Island!

What once was a lush, green stand of mangroves providing nursery habitat for fish and roosting and foraging spots for wading birds has become a muddy moonscape of leafless tree trunks. It looks like a nuclear bomb went off!

The die-off on both sides of SR-92 just west of Goodland has been decades in the making. The constuction of SR-92 in 1938 cut off the water flow into and out of the mangroves fed by Fruit Farm Creek. Heavy rains that came with Hurricane Andrew in 1992 flooded the forest. Too much water essentially drowns the forest by covering parts of the mangroves' root systems needed to deliver oxygen to the trees. Waterlogged soils lead to a building of toxins that causes a "rotten egg" smell that wafts through nearby neighborhoods.

The restoration plan involves building three (3) culverts beneath SR-92 and cutting new tidal channels into three areas of the forest where mangroves are dead or dying. The estimated cost: $600,000.

The Fruit Farm Creek mangroves are part of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, which has been working with mangrove restoration expert, Robin Lewis, president of nonprofit Coastal Resources Group based in Salt Springs, FL and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Together, with a $50,000 grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they have begun the design and engineering for the permit applications. Another $25,000 is needed to finish the permitting phase.

Project Leaders are hoping to win a $450,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to do the restoration work. The grant would require another $150,000 from other sources.

This is a problem we can solve. It is as easy as getting the water to go in and out with the tidal flows . . . Help us make it happen!!

We need your help! We can raise the $150,000.00 required if everyone can reach out in a small way.

See: NDN, Donations needed as Marco Mangrove restoration effort about to begin

Coastal Resources Group, Inc., is a Federally approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit scientific and educational organization and has been in business for 7 years. We have received grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, St. Johns River Water Management District and the Gulf of Mexico Program.

All donations for the Fruit Farm Creek mangrove restoration should be sent to the above address. All donations will be placed in a restricted fund that can ONLY be used for the completion of design, permitting and restoration at Fruit Farm Creek. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law