By Ann Paul, Tampa Audubon President
Saturday, September 14, 9 – noon. Clean-up with Sierra Club at the Westshore Audubon Sanctuary.
Remove trash and debris from a natural shoreline preserve bordering Old Tampa Bay. Wear walk-in-the-water shoes, long pants and sleeves. Gloves, trash bags provided. Contact toddrrandolph@gmail.com or Ann Paul president@tampaaudubon.org for more information.
In the 1940s, the Westshore Audubon Sanctuary was designated as a preserve in a joint agreement between the Tampa Port Authority (now Port Tampa Bay), the Tampa Audubon Society, and the Tampa Bay Group of the Sierra Club. The Port is the owner of the bay shoreline and the bay bottoms located at the bend in the road of San Jose Street.
The agreement gives the Tampa Audubon Society management responsibility for the preserve, working with the Port Tampa Bay staff. The Sierra Club is responsible for trash and debris collection. In recent years, Bev Griffiths has organized the Westshore Clean-Ups twice a year in collaboration with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful. This year, Sierra’s Todd Randolph has taken over this task. Audubon and Sierra volunteers have picked up a lot of trash and flotsam over the years, as the daily tides bring in floating debris and the mangroves, acting as estuary kidneys, hold it for our removal.
This site is one of the last natural shorelines along the west side of the Interbay Peninsula in Tampa. A vibrant mangrove forest has grown in since the 1940s as climate change has eliminated hard freezes in our region and allowed mangroves, a frost-sensitive, essentially tropical tree, to thrive. A sandy dune area has some maritime cordgrass growing. In the water-covered areas, oysters and seagrasses, mostly shoal grass, are found. Wildlife is attracted to the natural habitat site, including Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, Mottled Ducks, sandpipers at low tide, and a lot of fish and crabs. Although the area is relatively small, it seems clear that it is a site worthy of our involvement and attention.
Comments