VOLUNTEERING AT TAMPA BAY WATCH

 

Volunteers are the lifeblood of Tampa Bay Watch! They accomplish restoration and protection activities we could never afford hired staff to complete. Youth and adult volunteers are involved each year in a variety of hands-on habitat restoration projects such as oyster dome construction, oyster shell bar installation, salt marsh plantings and coastal cleanups to help the bay recover from its devastating environmental problems. Volunteers of all ages participate in our projects. Our coastal cleanups and salt marsh plantings are family-friendly and open to all ages. If you would like to be kept informed of our numerous volunteer opportunities, complete our online registration so you will receive our weekly email message which advertises our upcoming environmental restoration projects.

 

Contact Rachel Arndt, communications coordinator, with questions about any of these upcoming events! Call 727-867-8166, extension 233, or Click here to Email Rachel.

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Oyster Dome Construction

Selected weekday mornings

9 AM - Noon

Tampa Bay Watch is recruiting 10-20 hard-working volunteers to help build oyster domes at our Marine Center in Tierra Verde. The project involves pouring marine-friendly concrete into a fiberglass mold to create oyster domes and taking apart the molds that were previously poured.

This project is entirely on land and the domes will be installed at a later date and will ultimately provide a hard structure for oysters to grow. Oyster communities help stabilize shorelines, provide hard bottom habitats for fish and wildlife resources, and promote water quality improvements in the Tampa Bay ecosystem.

The minimum age to participate is 16 years old. It’s a dirty job, but it’ll make a difference for Tampa Bay!

Click here to learn more about oyster domes.

 

Click on a date below to register:

All of our dates are full at this time, but we'll activate them if there are any openings (10/21 | 10/23 | 10/29 I 11/5 I 11/13 I 11/19).

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Oyster Shell Bar Installation

MacDill Air Force Base

11/14 & 12/6

9 AM - Noon

 

Tampa Bay Watch is recruiting volunteers to install an oyster shell bar on the shoreline of MacDill Air Force Base. This project involves shoveling fossilized shell into mesh bags, transporting the bags to the project site and placing oyster shell bags on the shoreline to create a series of oyster bars. It is pretty physical labor with oyster shell bags weighing around 30 pounds each. The goal is to restore lost habitat systems to the bay, prevent further erosion of the shoreline and improve water quality through natural biological filtration. Click here for more information about the oyster bar program.

 

For security clearance at MacDill, we'll ask all volunteers for information from your driver's license in the online registration process. The minimum age for volunteers is 18 years old for this project. You must have a valid driver’s license, vehicle registration, and car insurance to drive onto the base. The deadline for volunteer registration is one week prior to the project to allow time for security clearance so you'll be pre-approved for base entry.

 

Click on a date below to register:

11/14

11/15 - Full

12/5 - Full

12/6

 

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Oyster Shell Bar Installation

McKay Bay

November 7, 8

9 AM - Noon

 

Tampa Bay Watch is recruiting volunteers to create an oyster shell bar on the shoreline of McKay Bay. The project location is Desoto Park, 2617 Corrine St., Tampa, FL 33605.

 

This project involves shoveling fossilized shell into mesh bags, transporting the bags to the project site and placing oyster shell bags on the shoreline to create a series of oyster bars. It is pretty physical labor with oyster shell bags weighing around 30 pounds each. The goal is to restore lost habitat systems to the bay, prevent further erosion of the shoreline and improve water quality through natural biological filtration. Click here for more information about the oyster bar program.

 

Click on a date below to register:

11/7

11/8