Students prevent shoreline erosion

UCF students have been working to save historic shell mounds around Florida's coast from erosion using natural solutions.

Using a method known as "living shorelines," or implementing the installation of oyster mats, spartina grass and mangroves to absorb the energy of the tide, their efforts have garnered national attention.

"We have recently received funding from the National Park Service to begin living shoreline stabilization of five additional shell middens within Canaveral National Seashore," Dr. Linda Walters, UCF professor of biology, said. "We will be looking for volunteers to help prepare and deploy materials over the next 12 months."

Field & Stream recently acknowledged the team as "Heroes for a Day" because of their efforts to save Turtle Mound, a historical Native American site located in New Smyrna Beach, from erosion.

"Greg Harrision, who we met through the Coastal Conservation Association and who volunteers on my projects, was the magazine's hero," said Walters, UCF's resident oyster expert. "Through this, we received support for our project from Field and Steam and everyone who participated that weekend were called Heroes for a Day."

On April 31, Walters and more than 250 volunteers covered more than 200 meters of shoreline in an attempt to stop erosion of the largest shell midden in the state.

A midden, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, is a mound or deposit containing shells, animal bones or other materials that indicates the site of a human settlement.

Turtle Mound shows the history of the Timucua tribe.

"It contains a lot of their refuse, including oyster and clam shells, fish and mammal bones, pottery, etc., thereby giving us a glimpse of the amazing history of the area and are extremely important to Native American cultures," Walters said. "This midden dates back to the year 700 and will be excavated later this month by National Park Service archeologists."

It took nearly two years to put the two-day event together.

"We had dozens of volunteer events to prepare the oyster shell mats," Walters said. "We began working with teachers in seven central Florida schools in August to grow mangroves and spartina. Then, there were over 100 pages of permitting. Getting all the materials procured and on site, and finding and organizing volunteers, were all complicated and fun jobs. It was an amazing weekend, so it did all come together really well."

Colleen Devlin, a second-year conservation biology graduate student, was one of the many student volunteers at Turtle Mound.

According to Devlin, she used her independent study with Walters to volunteer with the Turtle Mound project.

Devlin was driven to volunteer due to the beauty of the shoreline, a love of the outdoors and a strong interest in shoreline restoration.

"I thought it was cool to be a part of something much bigger," Devlin said.

According to Walters, all of the volunteers were delighted to be recognized for their efforts to save Turtle Mound, as they knew that the work they were doing for the environment was important.

Jennifer Manis, a second-year graduate student in the biology program, used the efforts to reduce erosion at Turtle Mound as part of her thesis, "Living Shorelines in Communities."

"Our project was basically to place ecologically friendly types of shoreline restoration to try to mitigate the erosion caused by boat wakes," Manis said.

Although Turtle Mound is now safe from erosion, there are still many more shell middens that need protection from the elements. Walters and Manis have already begun testing on other areas of the Indian River.

"Many shorelines in the Indian River Lagoon are rapidly eroding due to boat wakes, wind wakes and sea level rise," Walters said.