the mangrove project
To clean up the Indian River Lagoon, the Brevard Zoo needs Edgewood students' help
For the first time, Mr. Ryan Cilsick, the Marine Science teacher here at Edgewood, has teamed up with the Brevard Zoo for a shore restoration/preservation project whose aim of this project is to send students home with mangroves, giving the students the responsibility of nursing them while they grow. Once they grow they’ll be returned and planted. Though the Brevard effort to plant mangroves has been ongoing since 2011, this is the first year that the student Mangrove project has been brought to Edgewood halls.
If you don’t know what a mangrove is, it’s a special type of tree that can be grown in brackish, or slightly salty, water. These unique trees bring immense benefits to ecosystems that they belong to. For one, they prevent erosion. Erosion can be a huge issue around where we live, especially now during hurricane season. Hurricanes and other storms pose a large threat to our shores. Because Mangroves grow along the shore, their dense root systems help keep our shorelines in one piece. On top of that, mangroves provide habitats for small fish, and are popular breeding areas for many kinds of shellfish.
But the main reason that these mangroves need to be planted is due to the harmful pollution and litter caused by humans. An "algae bloom" is an environmental phenomenon that occurs when the river is overexposed to pollutants. The algae takes dissolved oxygen in the water, and when the entire river is covered with algae, all of the oxygen gets sucked out of the water and “drowns” the fish.
Jake Zehnder, the Conservation Manager at the Brevard Zoo, said, “The [L]agoon is suffering from poor water quality and too many nutrients... The excess nutrients feed algae blooms which in turn cause fish kills and other serious impacts.”
Mangroves, however, can act as a natural solution to this problem. As water makes its way through the mangroves' complex root systems, the nutrients that can act as river pollutants are pulled out of the water. This "filtering" helps both the mangroves, which use the nutrients to grow, and the health of the river.
In order to utilize these natural filters, the project plans to plant Mangroves in and around the Lagoon, using their unique abilities to counteract marine pollution. The main pollutants in the water are phosphorus and nitrogen, which are the two main ingredients of fertilizer. Fertilizer seeps into the river when a person living on the Indian River Lagoon fertilizes their yard and it rains, causing the nutrients to runoff into the Lagoon.
If these nutrients that cause algae blooms are taken out of the water, it will improve the ecosystem tremendously.
But while Mangroves have countless benefits, they also take a long time to grow. In order to eventually have a thriving population of Mangroves around the lagoon, the Brevard Zoo has entrusted some Edgewood students with the task of caring for the Mangroves, assuring their survival until they're stronger and ready for the harsher natural environment. These Mangroves have been passed out as seeds, and it will take several years of careful care by these Edgewood students until the trees are able to be planted on the Indian River shoreline.
This is Jason’s third year here at Edgewood, starting out in 7th grade. This is his first year in magazine staff, though he has taken Journalism classes previously. He enjoys spending his time hanging out with friends and family.