Tampa Bay Habitat Restoration StoryMap

Tampa Bay Estuary Program

GIS Sustainability, LLC

This StoryMap highlights examples of restoration in relation to:

Tampa Bay Restoration History

In 2006, the federal Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) required all restoration practitioners to record the total acres of restored habitat on an annual basis. This GPRA information, combined the Water Atlas material, and data from the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (SWFWMD) Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) program (1989 on), provides an inventory of all the habitat restoration work that has been completed in the Tampa Bay vicinity through 2019 (Table 1). Information gleaned from these sources helps to inform future restoration planning through identification of locations that have been previously restored, and may also indicate opportunities for future monitoring and assessment efforts. Direct habitat restoration efforts, defined as land form changes for ecosystem creation/ restoration, was tallied by habitat type: estuarine, freshwater, mixed, or upland (Table 1).

Table with the following values: Habitat Type Estuarine = 2,091.52 acres, 48,713.00 linear feet (shoreline). Habitat type Freshwater = 1,191.10 acres, 250.00 linear feet (shoreline). Habitat Type Upland = 870.86 acres, 0.00 linear feet shoreline. Habitat type Mixed = 1,195.36, 0.00 linear feet shoreline. Total = 5,348.84 acres, 48,969.00 linear feet shoreline.

Table 1. Acreages Recreated/Restored 1971-2019

Compare 1965 Cockroach Bay Florida Aerial Imagery & Current Aerial Imagery

Community & Ecology

This StoryMap was made possible thanks to a mini-grant provided by Tampa Bay Estuary Program

Tampa Bay Habitat Restoration Best Management Practices

Tampa Bay Estuary Program

Table 1. Acreages Recreated/Restored 1971-2019