MacDill volunteers build eco-friendly oyster reef along base shoreline

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Anna-Marie Wyant
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Approximately 30 volunteers from the 927th Air Refueling Wing, 6th Air Mobility Wing, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command volunteered their time this morning to move oyster domes along the base shoreline in an effort to stabilize and restore it.

The 120-pound, concrete oyster domes will act as a sort of reef to which oysters will attach and grow, said Jason Kirkpatrick, a contractor with the 6th Civil Engineer Squadron and the oyster reef project organizer and manager.

"This project protects the shoreline, stops erosion and restores our natural habitat," Mr. Kirkpatrick said. "It also improves water quality; oysters are excellent filters, filtering up to nine gallons of water an hour with 300-400 oysters per dome."

At this rate, the 180 domes set up today will eventually help filter approximately 15 million gallons of water each day. In addition to cleaner water, Mr. Kirkpatrick stressed the importance of stabilizing the shoreline.

"We are losing one to two feet of horizontal land each year due to erosion of the shoreline," he said. "We are losing real estate."

Mr. Kirkpatrick said he developed the project design, found the funding, and organized the labor pool to install the domes with the help of Tampa BayWatch, which secured all of the permits necessary to build the reef.

Volunteers, many of whom had never met before today, worked efficiently to get the job done as a team. This was the first time Tech. Sgt. Matthew W. Jordan from the 927th Maintenance Squadron volunteered in this project, and he said he enjoyed his experience.

"We had a large group of motivated people who all took turns moving the beds into the bay," Sergeant Jordan said. "In order to move each bed you needed two people, one on each side to lift and then walk the bed into the bay. We all worked together and had a member of the Environmental flight directing us to its final location."

In addition to helping the environment and meeting new people, Sergeant Jordan said he enjoyed spending some time outdoors and in the water. He said he and other members of his unit would be interested in volunteering for another similar project in the future.

The project, which has been ongoing since 2004, has been funded in part by Headquarters Air Mobility Command, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.