Water bodies, watersheds and stormwater

Facts about wetlands restoration
in Volusia County

• What is the Volusia County-Mosquito Lagoon wetland restoration project?
• Where did the dragline ditch restoration effort originate and who has adopted/permitted it?
• Does the public have input into these restoration efforts?
• Who is paying for the Volusia County project?
• Are “economic recovery funds” being used for this project?
• Is this restoration necessary?
• What are the timelines for this restoration project?
• What benefit will this restoration have to the local community?
• The immediate appearance of the restoration site looks like a sandy mudflat. How can that be a good thing?
• This is a popular saltwater sport fishing area. How will that be affected?
• Some oyster bars were damaged by machinery during restoration activities. What is being done to address this and prevent damage in the future?

What is the Volusia County-Mosquito Lagoon wetland restoration project?

This is a project to restore, to as natural a state as possible, dragline ditched wetlands in the Mosquito Lagoon region that were altered by people in the 1960s for mosquito control. The ditching damaged the native wetlands, resulting in less productive ecological communities in about a 1,200-acre area. The Volusia wetland restoration project will restore approximately 600 acres. Phase I of the project is currently funded and roughly 300 acres will be restored using existing funds.

This restoration effort is a partnership of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), St. Johns River Water Management District (District), Volusia County Mosquito Control (VCMC) and public land owner/managers.

Where did the dragline ditch restoration effort originate and who has adopted/permitted it?

The first pilot project was conducted in Canaveral National Seashore in 2000 by a team that included the National Park Service, the District and VCMC. A second project was conducted in Tomoka State Park. Dragline ditch restoration was subsequently included in District-developed, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)-approved Indian River Lagoon and Northern Coastal Basins Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) plans. It was also included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan and DEP’s Mosquito Lagoon Aquatic Preserve Management Plan. FWC’s Division of Habitat and Species Conservation fully supports these efforts.

These projects are implemented under environmental resource permits issued by DEP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Habitat Conservation Division.

Does the public have input into these restoration efforts?

Yes. All of the planning efforts included input and comments from members of the public who attended meetings, and through letters and emails provided to agency representatives. Presentations about this and similar wetland restoration projects in the region have been provided to local homeowners, civic groups, county/city commissions, state/federal legislators, and non-governmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Coastal Conservation Association.

Who is paying for the Volusia County project?

Phase 1 is funded primarily by a $520,000 federal grant to FWC from the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program (NCWCGP), a program administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with revenues from federal excise taxes paid by manufacturers on fishing equipment, and motorboat and small engine fuels. Project total is $780,000.

FWC is responsible for overseeing the federal grant, which supplies about 65 percent of the funding for this effort. FWC, the District and VCMC combined supply a 35 percent match in state funds, and implement on-the-ground restoration work.

These state and local matching funds are broken down as follows:

• FWC is supplying $5,000 in in-kind services.
• The District is supplying $215,000 in matching cash.
• VCMC is providing approximately $40,000 in in-kind services (fuel, equipment maintenance/operation, and field supervision).

The FWC has contracted with the District to implement the project, which has sub-contracted with VCMC to perform the actual restoration work with its specialized equipment.

Are “economic recovery funds” being used for this project?

No. Funds are a grant from the NCWCGP, which funds both purchase and restoration of coastal wetlands habitat for fish and wildlife conservation purposes. This funding is from federal excise taxes paid by manufacturers on fishing equipment, and motorboat and small engine fuels. For more information on the program, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s site for these grants.

Is this restoration necessary?

Restoration of this nature is a goal of the management plans for these public lands. The benefits to the public are much greater in terms of fishery production, maintenance of wildlife diversity and abundance, property protection from storms and mosquito control.

What are the timelines for this restoration project?

The current Volusia wetlands restoration project in the Mosquito Lagoon began in 2009 and, assuming continued regional, state and federal funding, will be completed in 2013. Mosquito impoundment and dragline ditched wetlands restoration in the Indian River and Mosquito lagoon system has been ongoing for the past 20 years or more.

What benefit will this restoration have to the local community?

When completed, the effort will result in some 30,000 pounds of fish per year moving freely into the Mosquito Lagoon to support recreational and commercial fisheries. That’s 15 tons of fish, and that’s after all the other animals that eat fish have taken their share of the marsh’s bounty. Scientific data show restored, properly functioning wetlands in this region provide up to 50 pounds of fish per acre per year to surrounding Mosquito Lagoon waters, and this supports vibrant recreational and commercial fisheries.

Also, restored wetland systems provide coastal property protection from damages caused by tropical storms and hurricanes by buffering wind and wave energy.

Wetlands restored using the techniques employed with this project still do not produce mosquitoes in appreciable numbers, as small fish that live in the system feed on the larvae in the restored shallow ditch waters.

The immediate appearance of the restoration site looks like a sandy mudflat. How can that be a good thing?

Restoring habitat to a more natural system takes time and there is a period of time when the construction makes the restoration area look relatively barren. Even so, the natural wetland begins to recover almost immediately. Within weeks after work has ceased, fiddler crabs return to the restored marsh in large numbers. After a few months, marsh plants such as sea purslane and glasswort begin to come back and establish productive wetland habitat. These plants trap seeds of black mangroves and other marsh plants that are on nearby lands, and in 3–5 years, the restored areas are well on their way to fully functioning black mangrove wetland systems.

During the restoration, the large amphibious track hoe machinery used to fill the man-made ditches leaves behind a seemingly devastated landscape. Mangroves have lined the ditches and mixed native upland and nonnative exotic plants have grown on the mounds of spoil created when the original ditches were dug. At restoration, the spoil mounds are leveled to fill the ditches to return the area to the same elevation as the surrounding wetlands. In the process, the plants are removed and buried on site. The result is a landscape with appropriate elevations relative to water levels that supports natural, native salt-loving plant communities.

This is a popular saltwater sport fishing area. How will that be affected?

Sport fishing is ultimately enhanced through the increased productivity of the restored, fully functioning wetland systems. Small marsh-resident fish supply larger sport fish with a more abundant food supply, and juveniles of those sport fish have a larger habitat resource to enhance their survival. The often deeper waters at the mouths of the restored ditches also act as great fishing “holes,” as predatory sport fish ambush baitfish at these locations. Miles of shallower restored ditches are still available for shallow water anglers fishing from kayaks and canoes, especially during seasonal high-water conditions.

Some oyster bars were damaged by machinery during restoration activities. What is being done to address this and prevent damage in the future?

The large amphibious backhoes used in this restoration effort have caused some identified damage to oyster reefs while moving from one site to another. In early 2010, when moving during high water conditions, an operator could not see three submerged oyster reefs and inadvertently ran over them, causing damage. After being made aware of the damaged oyster bars by area residents, the partners in this project responded quickly to evaluate the situation, and developed and began to implement a remediation plan for the damaged areas. After the oyster bars are repaired, the partners will monitor these systems to confirm that oyster “spat” settle on the relocated shell and the oyster reef’s functions return rapidly.

The standard operating procedures for this project changed immediately when the impact was brought to the attention of the project partners. While operators had always avoided impacts to oyster reefs that were visible, the partners have added several steps to the process of moving equipment between restoration sites and provide operators with more resources to avoid those beds that are submerged. High quality aerial photography of the permitted restoration areas with oyster reefs clearly visible are now in the cabs of all equipment. When they become available, oyster maps currently being produced by Dr. Linda Walters’ team at the University of Central Florida will also be provided. In addition, all moves between marsh islands will be carefully planned in advance. Aerials and maps will be consulted in planning the route to ensure that no submerged resources are impacted during equipment movements. The proposed route will also be scouted by boat or on foot to ensure that no sensitive resources exist in the track area.

The large backhoes used in this project are also valuable tools in restoring oyster reefs in the Mosquito Lagoon. By grading down dead oyster reef margins in areas where this is needed as part of an integrated restoration effort, these machines have accomplished in hours what an army of volunteers take days to complete.