The North Fork Polar Bears have partnered with CCE Marine's Back to the Bays to establish a new Back to the Bays Stewardship Site in support of water quality and habitat improvement in local waters and we need your help!
With funding support from the community, CCE Marine Program will be hosting a Marine Meadows Workshop on 10/20/24 at 10am where we will be bringing adult eelgrass shoots to shore for processing into our biodegradable burlap planting units. Once stocked, these eelgrass "tortillas" will be planted at our restoration site by CCE Marine's Dive Team where they will provide essential habitat for finfish and shellfish, help improve water quality and coastal resiliency of our shorelines.
This Marine Meadows Workshop is just the first in a series of efforts that funds are being raised for. Learn more about our Back to the Bays x North Polar Bear Stewardship Fund goals here: https://backtothebays.org/northforkpolarbears
About CCE's Marine Meadows Program: The main purpose of the CCE Eelgrass Program is to restore and monitor eelgrass, our dominant local seagrass species. Eelgrass meadows provide essential habitat for many species of finfish and shellfish during part or all stages of life. Due to the structure and protection they provide, eelgrass meadows are the most biodiverse marine habitats in our region. These meadows also help to prevent or lessen erosion from storm events and help control turbidity by slowing currents and settling particulates from the water column. Eelgrass meadows also capture excess nutrients, such as nitrogen, and sequester carbon to combat ocean acidification and climate change. Unfortunately, eelgrass populations have declined dramatically over the past 75 years due to many reasons, and without our help, will not likely make a comeback in the near future as there are no ready sources of propagules (seeds or adult shoots) to naturally vegetate these areas. This situation is called propagule limitation and it is the basis for our restoration work. The more seeding and planting we can can do, the better the outcome for our local marine meadows, so we encourage you to get involved by participating in our workshops and contributing to these important efforts.