Conservation Florida, in partnership with Sea & Shoreline Aquatic Restoration, recently planted more than 250,000 native eelgrass plants along the shoreline of East Lake Tohopekaliga in Osceola County. The project was funded by a $2.6 million state legislative appropriation and is administered through the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
The project covers 50 acres on the northwest shoreline of East Lake. Informational signage has been installed on the lakeshore and around the perimeter of the project area to notify boaters and lake users of the restoration effort.
Eelgrass is a foundational species in Florida’s freshwater ecosystems, and dense underwater meadows are critical habitat and forage for fish, turtles, manatees, and birds. According to the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), eelgrass also stabilizes lake bottom sediments, oxygenates the water, improves water clarity, and absorbs carbon. The East Lake site was chosen due to the decline of its eelgrass, likely due to an overabundance of nutrients from lawn fertilizers and other land runoff.
“Eelgrass is a ‘super cleaner’; a single acre of eelgrass can produce up to 50,000 liters of oxygen per day,” said Sarah Shepard, Communications Director for Conservation Florida.
All eelgrass used in the project was grown at Sea & Shoreline’s Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)-certified aquaculture facility in Ruskin, Florida, and was verified as native through a University of Florida genetics lab.
After planting, protective cages known as growSAV devices—steel frames covered with wire mesh—were installed over the young plants to shield them from wave action, boat motors, and premature grazing by fish and turtles. Once the eelgrass has established strong root systems, typically after 12 months, the growSAV devices will be removed.
The restoration area is being monitored on a monthly basis, and maintenance, such as removing attached vegetation from the cages to ensure sunlight reaches the eelgrass plant, will continue through 2026.
In 2020, the FWC commissioned the planting of one million native eelgrass plants in Lake George, in Putnam and Volusia Counties. The FWC’s Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Subsection, along with researchers at the Freshwater Plants project, is continuing to develop and refine restoration methods for the St. Johns River, Lake George, East Lake Toho, and other sites.
The East Lake project is expected to provide long-term benefits to anglers, boaters, and the surrounding community through carbon sequestration, oxygen production, water quality improvement through nutrient filtration and sediment stabilization, and providing habitat and food sources, such as snails and insect larvae, for wildlife. For more information on Sea and Shoreline Aquatic Restoration, see https://bit. ly/4nXSZiM.
