A Winter Project to Help Restore the Bay

It’s winter, but not too early to begin planning how you can help restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia's rivers. You can sign up to participate in Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) Grasses for the Masses program. Known by many names, including seaweed, sea grass, weed beds, and submerged aquatic vegetation. These underwater grasses are actually flowering vascular plants, and today their importance to the overall health of the Bay is widely recognized. CBF is working to help meet U.S. EPA mandated 185,000 acres of underwater grasses covering the bottom of the Bay and its tidal tributaries by 2025.

Participants in the Grasses for the Masses program will grow wild celery (Vallisneria americana), a type of underwater grass, in a simple aquiculture grow-out system obtained at a CBF workshop (held in January and February) in their homes for 10-12 weeks.

After the grasses have grown, participants will gather to plant their grasses in select local rivers in May to help restore the Bay. The CBF takes care of obtaining the state permit necessary to plant these grasses, and will provide life vests for children to use while planting the grasses and selecting the proper location for planting. (All children participating in the program must be accompanied by an adult.) In northern Virginia grasses will be planted in Mason Neck State Park on the Potomac River in Fairfax County.

Workshops in Northern Virginia are :

 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020 ;6-8 pm

Daniels Run Elementary School

3705 Old Lee Highway

Fairfax, VA

and

Sunday, February 2, 2020 2-4 pm

Alexandria Renew

1800 Limerick Street

Alexandria, VA

You must register for the workshops and though technically the workshops are free, kit rental costs $40. This will be a great family activity for helping the environment with most of the work done in your home. Register for the workshops at this LINK.

According to the CBF, underwater grasses are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The grasses filter polluted runoff, provide food for waterfowl, and provide essential habitat for blue crabs, juvenile rockfish (striped bass), and other aquatic species. They also help settle out sediment and bind the substrate with their roots. Underwater grasses also take up nitrogen and phosphorus that, in overabundance, reducing dead zones. Finally they provide food for benthic (bottom-dwelling) aquatic life and migrating waterfowl.