Palma Ceia Spring Restoration

In the late 1800’s a natural spring basin along Bayshore Blvd. was used as a swimming hole, however as the spring flows diminished this spring basin was reduced to a concrete lined bowl with green water. Ecosphere is working with the City of Tampa and the Tampa Garden Club to assess the restoration opportunities at this former natural spring location. The Rose Club raised $35K as a match for Ecosphere’s 2024 EPC Pollution Recovery Fund grant application ($50K). Should we be selected for funding, these funds will be used to formulate a restoration plan for this site. The city recently spent $63K removing trash and debris from this concrete bowl in anticipation of our proposed plan to restore this spring basin.

Taylor-Willow Lake Preserve – Ecosystem Restoration Project
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The Taylor-Willow Lake Preserve is centrally located on the western side of Pine Island in Charlotte Harbor, Florida. This 32-acre preserve is being managed by the Calusa Land Trust (CLT) and they are seeking our assistance to restore 8 acres of this parcel and design a shoreline resiliency plan to protect the old-growth oak trees and provide space for the estuarine habitats to naturally migrate upslope in response to sea level rise.  Ecosphere will be applying for a $143K grant from the CHNEP in late 2024 to restore this important coastal site.

Establish an Amphibian Listening Network

Ecosphere will be applying for funding via the TBEP’s 2024-2025 TBERF grant to assess amphibian usage at several of our habitat restoration sites. In addition, we plan to establish a means so citizens can record frog/toad calls, and these audio calls can be identified to create a database of amphibian activity within the SE. This also includes providing local/seasonal amphibian audio calls so amateur ecologists can readily identify frog and toad calls as part of a Frog Listening Network.

Genetic Diversity of Targeted Seagrass Assemblages in Florida Research Grant
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Ecosphere in conjunction with USF was awarded a grant from Mote Marine Laboratory/UF to examine the genetic diversity of seagrass populations and associated field stressors across Florida; and to develop a genetic library of Florida seagrasses. Our efforts will be directed at field sampling a suite of shoal grass (Halodule wrightii) populations representing naturally persistent assemblages from which we will collect baseline information on the genetic diversity of this species. Our findings will provide critical information to guide selection of seagrass genotypes for possible plantings and contribute to building a seagrass archive for future use.