With the help of many volunteers, Tarpon Cove and Monceaux Park got a little greener this past spring.
Palm Beach County hosted eight separate events at Tarpon Cove, welcoming over 230 volunteers who helped plant the two northern islands with over 2,300 red mangroves donated by MANG Apparel and 8,000 saltmarsh cordgrass, purchased by the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM). Many volunteers came from the El Cid community and partner organizations instrumental in creating Tarpon Cove, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida League of Cities Inc. and the City of West Palm Beach. Additional volunteers included County Mayor Gregg K. Weiss, members of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club and Angler Action Foundation, Palm Beach Day Academy, and many residents. From Monceaux Park to the islands, participants were shuttled by boats provided by ANGARI Foundation and LagoonKeepers.org.
Palm Beach County partnered with the School District of Palm Beach County for Earth Day in April. Over 40 students, teachers and administrative staff headed to the shoreline to help Palm Beach County plant the two living shorelines along the park's seawall. The group planted 100 red mangroves (donated by MANG Apparel) and 700 salt marsh cordgrass seedlings in planters lined with rocks. The students also got close to some of the creatures living in the lagoon. Getting wet and muddy with the students were Conniston Middle School Science Teacher Elizabeth Eck and Principal James Thomas. We were also pleased to have School District of Palm Beach County Chief Operating Officer Joseph Sanches and Superintendent Michael J. Burke at the event. The Monceaux Park Living Shoreline is a partnership between ERM and the City of West Palm Beach to bring much-needed wildlife habitat to seawall-lined sections of the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Some videos from the event:
Planting Mangroves in Lake Worth Lagoon - Monceaux Park - YouTube
Burke at Work: Earth Day Edition – YouTube
For the fifth year, a pair of America Oystercatchers successfully nested, raised and fledged a chick at Tarpon Cove in June FWC staff banding the chick U23. In May, biologists from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserve, documented a bird fledged from Tarpon Cove in 2020 (W24) that was spotted over 83 miles to the north in Saint Sebastian River. While Least Terns and Black Skimmers have been occasionally spotted foraging around Tarpon Cove this summer, unfortunately, they did not nest on the islands this year.
Restoration work at Tarpon Cove continues with the final grading of the 17,500 cubic yards of material acquired from the Sawfish Island project in Jupiter. The placement of this material is estimated to create an additional 14 acres of seagrass habitat surrounding the islands. The placement of 10,000 tons of limestone is ongoing and will create over 1.8 acres of oyster habitat surrounding the islands. The reefs at Dyer Road were completed on July 13. Before using the sand to create a seagrass habitat the remaining sand will be used as a location to stage the rock to complete the remaining oyster reef components of the project. In addition, six aid-to-navigation signs will be installed. This phase of the project is scheduled to be completed by early fall.
The county is currently working with FWC to help manage the bird islands at Tarpon Cove and other restoration projects throughout the Lagoon. Palm Beach County is currently developing a schedule to organize volunteer events focusing on “trash clean-ups" on the island and “weeding for the birds" events removing unwanted vegetation and maintaining open sandy areas for birds to continue to nest successfully. These events are expected to begin in October and go through March. As soon as the schedule is finalized, the county will reach out to the El Cid community and advertise all upcoming activities. At this time, county biologists are monitoring the islands and will determine if additional planting events will be needed in the fall and spring as the weather cools.
Visit the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management's
Facebook page for updates on Tarpon Cove, Sawfish and other county projects. In addition, Tarpon Cove was highlighted in the series Wild Palm Beaches. The 30-minute episode, produced by Jeff Aderman of AA Video Services, aired July 22 on Destination America and was shared on Facebook and YouTube.
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