Bay Grasses in Classes
Source/Author: Shorecrest
September 15, 2012
On August 31, the eighth graders tended to the Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) nursery on campus, a plot near the football field that serves as the year-round service-learning project for eighth grade Marine Science. The goal for the first day of work was to flatten out the plot, weed the grasses of invaders, and return the entire area back to conditions that will allow growth.
Students worked with shovels and rakes to lower the level of the plot, making the water level better for the grass to grow. They weeded and then replaced all the grasses back into the nursery. Their excellent work has prepared the nursery to proliferate as we maintain it over the next few months.
The ongoing work by the students, in conjunction with Tampa Bay Watch, will check for salinity of the water and later harvest half of the grown grasses to be transplanted in an area identified for restoration in the spring. The remaining grasses will be recycled to begin the process all over again for the 8th year of the project.
