About 120 volunteers helped plant 9,000 marsh plugs at Cockroach Bay, provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
About 120 volunteers recently got messy and muddy for a marsh. The volunteers helped plant 9,000 marsh plugs at Cockroach Bay as part of the final phase of restoration of the tidal lagoon borrow pit. The project is part of the Cockroach Bay Ecosystem Restoration Project, one of the most complex coastal ecosystem projects developed for the Tampa Bay estuary.
Volunteers were led by District employees Brandt Henningsen, Carol Hackney, Adam Hange and Lizanne Garcia. Tampa Bay Watch helped coordinate the volunteers. The plugs were harvested by inmates at the Manatee Correctional Facility from a marsh owned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.