Articles
- Farm raises boutique oysters:
Project shows business potential for oyster growers - Program lands charter-boat operators in classroom
- Extension trains leaders
to market foods online - Volunteers create habitat
on Deer Island - Ole Miss School of Law wins environmental moot court competition
- Deborah Jefferson joins Sea Grant
- John Grigsby marks 10 years
- Group aims to encourage climate-adaptation efforts
- Facilitators learn about resilience self-assessment
- Kay Bruening retires after 20 years
- Girl Scouts to grow oyster garden
- From the Director
Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.
Editor: Melissa Schneider
This newsletter is available in PDF
format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs
MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico
Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8838
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 011-012-01
Volunteers create habitat on Deer Island
Volunteers with the Mississippi Master Naturalist and Master Gardener programs recently took part in a two-day planting of dune grasses on Deer Island. Volunteers were assisted by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Coastal Preserves Program, Mississippi State University, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and Dune Doctors.
Re-establishment of dune plants is an important step in ecosystems restoration.
“The opportunity to volunteer for this project appealed to me because of my interest in fishing and coastal ecosystems,” Jack Kelly, a Master Gardener from Ocean Springs.
In the Community Grass Gardens restoration project, volunteers planted a total of 2,300 dune plants covering more than 10,600 square feet or just under a quarter of an acre of crucial habitat on East Deer Island. They planted sea oats, panic grass, red morning glory, white morning glory, beach elder, sea purslane and sea golden rods.
“I see the preservation and restoration of our natural resources as critical, our responsibility,” said Harrison County Master Gardener Margaret McCrary of Gulfport. “Our coastal areas are a unique environment which provide habitat for rare and sometimes endangered wildlife and organisms but also buffers us from weather extremes. At the same time, healthy coastlines provide seafood for us to eat, many sporting opportunities for our pleasure and natural beauty beyond our imagination.”
“We appreciate the assistance from the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Environmental Education Network who provided the funding for this project,” said Chris Boyd, Master Naturalist coordinator with the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and Mississippi State University. “Community Grass Garden projects provide opportunities for communities to restore natural habitat while increasing their knowledge of local ecosystems.”
