“Welcome to Rock Ponds!” exclaimed Rock Ponds Restoration project co-manager Brandt Henningsen, PhD, during a dedication ceremony near Ruskin for the largest habitat restoration project in Tampa Bay History. Mitch Traphagen photos.
There likely could not be a more appropriate way to celebrate the opening of the largest habitat restoration project in the Tampa Bay area than with the release of wild birds that had been rehabilitated, nursed back to health from injuries. Those birds will join thousands of their feathered kindred, along with mammals of all kinds, animals that have populated the now-restored area for the ages.
Years ago, it could have been the site of a power plant. But the delicate, yet durable eco-system of Rock Ponds was purchased and then restored by multiple agencies and volunteers, headed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) program.
The Rock Ponds restoration project, located on County Line Road near Cockroach Bay in Hillsborough County and bordering the Manatee County Line is, at 1,043 acres, the largest restoration project in the history of Tampa Bay. In comparison, New York City’s famed Central Park totals 843 acres.
“Welcome to Rock Ponds!” exclaimed Brandt Henningsen, Ph.D., who, along with Nancy Norton, was the project co-manager, during the dedication ceremony held on April 13.
“This project is an amazing example of cooperation,” Henningsen said. “We had over 33 different organizations and agencies working on this, and 26 of those were unpaid. We had 1.550 volunteers that provided over 6,400 hours of volunteer time. And we have more plans for the future.”
While Rock Ponds is the largest restoration project in the Tampa Bay area, it is one of 96 restoration projects in the area completed since 1989.
“We have restored more than 4,600 acres of habitat around Tampa Bay,” Henningsen said. “That’s more than 7.2 square miles.”
Henningsen went on to thank the many people involved, including representatives from Tampa Bay Watch, revealing the public-private nature required to complete the project.
The area is stunningly beautiful with freshwater and estuary wetlands marked by pines and hardwood hammock trees. To the west, on a clear Florida morning, ships can be seen traversing Tampa Bay while the St. Petersburg skyline glimmers on the horizon. Further to the south, the faint outline of the Sunshine Skyway marks the horizon, appearing as sculptured art and land bridge.
But the beauty of the Rocks Ponds area itself dwarfs that vista. Today it has been restored to Florida’s abundant natural beauty, with birds flying across the serene waters and trees with the abandon their ancestors enjoyed long before development came to the Sunshine State.
Robert Beltran of the Southwest Florida Water Management District thanked the many county, state and federal officials, along with the many volunteers, who came together for the project.
“This project is really opportunity amazing. It’s amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish,” said Robert Beltran of the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Beltran went on to thank the many county, state and federal officials who all joined in to make the immense project possible, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman and Senator Bill Nelson.
And the sheer scale of the project required a near unprecedented level of help and cooperation.
“We moved 1.6 million yards of dirt,” said Joe Rodi, the operations manager for QSG Development, the principal contractor on the project. Rodi compared that much dirt to an area the size of a football field and as tall as the 42-floor Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa.
The volunteers came from organizations as varied as the Boy Scouts, numerous area schools — ranging from East Bay High School to private and public schools in Tampa — Hillsborough County Public Works, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and area businesses, along with at least 1,500 individual volunteers.
The entire project involved the planting of more than 980,000 upland and wetland plants, and included the largest one-day volunteer marsh planting effort in the history of Tampa Bay, with 289 volunteers installing 40,000 marsh plugs in November 2015.
Already officials and volunteers have seen the results of their efforts, with sightings of snook, mullet and tarpon in the waters; great egrets, roseate spoonbills, sandhill cranes, pelicans, ospreys and bald eagles nesting in the trees; and bottle-nosed dolphins, deer and bobcats enjoying the clean, fresh air.
Ed Straight, president of Wildlife Inc., releases rehabilitated birds into the Rock Ponds ecosystem.
As part of the dedication of the newly restored Rock Ponds ecosystem, Wildlife Inc. released several rehabilitated birds back into the wild, including this crested caracara, the largest falcon in North America.
And, importantly, they are seeing the work they completed, nature being nursed back to health, beginning to take root on its own, with the growth of new seagrasses and other plant life.
At the end of the ceremony, Ed Straight, president of Wildlife Inc., released birds that had been nursed back to health after injuries, into their beautiful and expansive new home. Included was a sandhill crane that was injured by a golf ball, a hawk that had been hit by a car, an osprey and a crested caracara, also known as “Mexico’s Eagle,” the largest falcon in North America.
“Some of the birds are anxious to go, some may not fly away quickly,” Straight said. And then, adding with a smile, “If they fly into the crowd, you don’t have to run faster than the birds can fly, you just have to run faster than everyone else.”
There were no such worries. Despite how they arrived there or from where, all of the birds seemed to know they were home. The osprey and hawk immediately took to the air, while the sandhill crane and crested caracara simply stepped out of their cages and calmly took stock of their new surroundings before flying off into freedom.
Rock Ponds is a treasure of stunning beauty that is unique to Florida. It is a home and respite both for wildlife and for us. It existed for ages before development arrived and now, thanks to the dedication of numerous organizations, scientists and volunteers, the largest restoration project in the history of Tampa Bay will exist for the ages to come, and for the people who come after us. The years of work restored the land, and now nature is taking over that work. Like seeing an osprey or a hawk fly off into a new home, Florida is truly amazing and beautiful.
“This project is a labor of love,” Henningsen said, gazing out at the healthy and beautiful vista, the result of humanity’s passion and work alongside nature’s miracles.
