Shell Club Speaker Series Highlights Mangroves Importance

On February 2, 2024, Vanessa Booher, a biologist from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, was the Shell Club’s second speaker for the season. Vanessa began with a brief overview of the types of Mangroves found in the Gulf Coast of Florida.

There are four species in the mangrove family: the red mangrove found closest to the water, the black mangroves, the white mangroves, and buttonwood and they all thrive in the tidal zones growing in salty and brackish water.

Red mangroves are often called “walking trees” easily identified by their above ground prop roots that transport air to their waterlogged belowground roots. They look like they are walking on water.

Black Mangroves have roots poking up out of the sediment (most roots grow into the ground). These are called pneumatophores, which means “air breathing roots,” which act like snorkels allowing the tree to get air in while standing in soggy salty mud. If you look closely at the leaf, you may see crystals of salt on the surface. They can take up saltwater and put the salt out onto their leaves.

White Mangrove is the most upland of the three mangroves. The Buttonwood is not a true mangrove but is generally found further inland than all three mangroves and is an excellent buffer for winds and storm surges.

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), “Florida's estimated 600,000 acres of mangrove forests contribute to the overall health of the state's southern coastal zone and beyond. Mangrove roots act not only as physical traps but provide attachment surfaces for various marine organisms which filter water through their bodies and trap and cycle nutrients.”

According to the Conservancy, “mangroves proved their worth following Hurricane Irma, as the damage to Collier County’s population and associated real estate would have been so much worse without the mangrove systems that absorbed a lot of the storm surge and wind velocity.”

Conservancy biologists have been researching mangrove systems since the Conservancy’s inception and have one of Florida’s longest continuous mangrove monitoring projects. Their mangrove research primarily focuses on forests adjacent to human development, such as the Clam Bay Estuary and Fruit Farm Creek, aka the Goodland die-off. 

According to Kathy Worley, Environmental Science Director for the Conservancy, “In the early 1990s, this one beautiful black mangrove forest collapsed, leaving a landscape of dead trees. Even mosquitoes avoided this area since there was no life even to sustain them.”

According to the Conservancy’s monitoring report, “their biologists have been studying this area since the late 80s when the forest was still alive. In 1996, the Conservancy and Rookery Bay began to raise the alarm in an attempt to gain interest in restoring the area.”

The Conservancy has committed its environmental science department to conduct all the floral and faunal monitoring required to assess the success of the restoration initiative at the Fruit Farm Creek since 2012.

As a biologist with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida for more than 12 years, Booher is dedicated to critical environmental issues and protecting the water, land and wildlife. She is part of the “restorative” team for Fruit Farm Creek and responded to questions on the project.

According to FDEP, the Fruit Farm Creek Project is the site of Florida’s largest mangrove restoration, a partnership between FDEP, FWC and City of Marco Island. It consists of 220 acres off County Road 92 or San Marco Road with the goal to bring back life to the mangroves. Culverts were installed to connect the mangroves from the north to the south of San Marco Road to provide life-giving tidal flow.

The Project broke ground in September 2021 and took two years to complete. According to FDEP, tidewaters now reach 209 acres of previously impounded wetlands.

As a reminder, Shell Club Scholarship applications and grant applications are due by March 8, 2024. Applications and information are available on the website at: marcoislandshellclub.com. You will be contacted after March 8 on the status of your application.