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Viewing A Restoration Jewel

STAFF photo by ROBERT BURKE / Tampa Tribune

Richard Sullivan sprays water on ryegrass seedlings on Mount Cockroach, with part of the restored area seen in back. A group of dignitaries will be touring the site and will be viewing it from the top of long-stacked dirt mound.

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

RUSKIN - It has been more than a decade since state habitat restoration crews started turning back time on a piece of eastern Tampa Bay shoreline called Cockroach Bay.

Deep pits mined for shell and sand, fields plowed for crops and ditches cut for mosquito control have taken their turn with the bulldozer or industrial-sized ax. About 425 acres now sport a look that Mother Nature would approve.

Through the years, workers piled a mound of spoil on the site overlooking the restoration area. People who take care of the preserve call it Mount Cockroach. Dignitaries and interested residents will gather at its summit Nov. 2 to celebrate 20 years of the state's Surface Water Improvement and Management program that helped mimic nature at the preserve.

'It's really quite stunning up there,' said Brandt Henningsen, a senior environmental scientist with SWIM who has overseen the project since before work began in 1996.

'That's been a very popular destination. You can see so much from the top of that mound.'

From the stockpile's peak, visitors have a view of a braided tidal creek, freshwater wetlands and uplands planted with native species, all courtesy of SWIM and partnerships forged through the program.

Henningsen is quick to point out that the anniversary celebration is not just about Cockroach Bay. Thousands of acres of projects aimed at improving habitats or water quality have occurred throughout the 16-county Southwest Florida Water Management District that oversees the program.

But the 500-acre Ruskin site, which is more than a year away from completion, is representative of SWIM's coastal habitat restoration efforts at their most successful, Henningsen said. When finished, the project will have 282 acres of wetlands and 218 acres of uplands.

White pelicans and other migratory birds make the restoration area a regular stop in their travels, Henningsen said. The coastal wetlands teem with fish, crabs, oysters and clams. Migratory songbirds flock to the uplands areas.

Scientists, engineers and students from the Caribbean islands and Gulf of Mexico states, as well as from as far away as London, China, Japan and India, have trekked to Cockroach Bay to learn about habitat restoration, Henningsen said.

Some of the dirt that makes up Mount Cockroach will be needed soon, as the SWIM program, an arm of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, prepares to start the final phase of the 500-acre project. Henningsen said the mound's popularity and value as an educational tool for tour groups led to a decision to keep a substantial portion of the mound intact.

Included will be rehabilitation of two more pits that were 20 or more feet deep when Henningsen first saw them years ago. The pits have received some fill dirt and material from dredging near the mouth of the Alafia River for ships that visit the Mosaic Fertilizer plant, Henningsen said.

The pits have not been sculpted into the new lagoon and wetlands they will become. The remaining 75 acres are expected to be completed by 2009, bringing the cost of the whole project to about $4 million, Henningsen said.

Because water management district crews performed most of the construction on a 'pay-as-you-go' basis, the project has been one of the most economical for its size for the SWIM program, he said.

Besides habitat restoration, the SWIM program has retooled numerous stormwater drainage systems. Since 1987, the Southwest Florida program has completed more than 200 habitat and water quality improvement projects, totaling more than 3,000 acres, according to information from the district.

Work has targeted 10 water bodies, mostly lakes and estuaries, in the 16-county district, including Tampa Bay.

Henningsen said he hopes visitors to Cockroach Bay will ponder the changes as lawmakers consider slashing $10 million from the SWIM budget statewide.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: 20th anniversary commemoration of the SWIM program

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Nov. 2

WHERE: Cockroach Bay Preserve, 3709 Gulf City Road, Ruskin

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Speakers will include former Gov. Bob Martinez. Land and water tours will follow presentations. Participants are welcome to bring canoes and kayaks. For information or to make reservations, call the Southwest Florida Water Management District at 1-800-836-0797, Ext. 2101.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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