Photo By Senior Airman Derrick Bole | A student from Richard O. Jacobson Technical High School plants a salt meadow...... read more read more
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MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Students from many schools across the Tampa, Florida, area have teamed up with MacDill Air Force Base and the Tampa Bay Watch (TBW) to strengthen MacDill’s shorelines and support the surrounding ecosystem of Tampa Bay. One such school, Richard Jacobson Technical High School, visited the installation on April 10, 2025, to plant spartina alterniflora, or smooth cordgrass, with the mission of maintaining the integrity of the sandy beaches along MacDill’s coastline.
“This plant species is one of the few plants with adaptations needed to survive in the stressful intertidal zone, which is flooded daily during high tide and exposed during low tide,” said Tara Kok, Tampa Bay Watch Native Planting Program coordinator. “These plants form dense root-rhizome systems that trap and further hold coastal sediment in place, helping to reduce the impact of erosion, and are an important part of our living shorelines.”
Tampa Bay Watch partners with nine schools across the surrounding areas of Tampa Bay to grow and plant these grasses on the installation as part of an initiative titled ‘Bay Grasses in Classes.’ Throughout the year, students work with TBW to learn about and establish a wetland plant nursery with the goal of growing and harvesting smooth cordgrass for the shorelines of the installation. Half of the grass is harvested for transplanting within a coastal wetland restoration site, while the rest is kept to start the process over again in the next school year. Each school participating in the Bay Grasses in Classes program will participate in one field trip within a school year to transplant their plants from the on-campus nursery to a restoration site, like the ongoing MacDill living shoreline project. Students are taken onto base to foster a passion for agriculture and a willingness to serve. They are given the opportunity to see parts of the installation and introduce them to service members on base, too. The tandem goal between TBW and MacDill is to provide an experience that can give students a pathway into a career in the Air Force and instill a sense of pride and ownership in the ecosystems and areas they live.
“MacDill Air Force Base, in partnership with Tampa Bay Watch, is currently working on installing a living shoreline project that includes the addition of oyster reefs and the installation of coastal wetland plants along the base’s southeastern shoreline,” said Kok. “The proposed project has been designed to help stabilize approximately 800 ft. of eroding shoreline at the site of a pilot project created by Tampa Bay Watch in 2004, so that it may continue to provide hard bottom habitats for fish and wildlife resources and promote water quality improvements in the Tampa Bay ecosystem.”
The BGIC program is designed to restore coastal wetlands while encouraging environmental stewardship. Hurricanes, smaller storms and frequent traffic through the bay can cause erosion to the sand and rocks on MacDill’s shorelines. The program, having been in progress for more than twenty years, allows service members on MacDill to focus on their core missions by allowing them to maintain their course of action while on duty.
“We want to keep the base mission ready,” said Eric Plage, 6th Civil Engineer Squadron environmental program manager. “These volunteers continue to help us strengthen MacDill’s shorelines. Every blade of grass and oyster ball planted in the bay helps to protect the facilities on base, and make sure the Airmen here can focus on what they need to do.”
The volunteer work means the duty day can be spent preparing and readying each other for the next fight and remain confident that the steps undertaken to protect the bay are providing a healthy and efficient bay ecosystem. TBW also provides a way for them to volunteer with civilians in Tampa to make a difference in the bay’s ecosystem.
The constant supplementation of smooth cordgrass into the environment at MacDill prevents the shorelines from being eroded. Tampa Bay Watch has multiple volunteer opportunities on base for service members to perform extra-curricular duties alongside civilian volunteers to aid in the restoration of the bay area. Keep an eye on the MacDill Public Service Announcement bulletin for volunteer opportunities with TBW.
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2025 12:28 |
| Story ID: | 495115 |
| Location: | MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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